I Walked with Giants

Jimmy Heath is widely recognized as one of the greats in jazz. A saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator, Heath grew up in Philadelphia with his renowned brothers, Percy, the longtime bassist with the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Albert “Tootie”, a highly respected drummer. The three formed the Heath Brothers Band in the ’70s. Jimmy Heath directed the Jazz Studies master’s degree program in performance at Queens College (CUNY).Joseph McLaren  is Professor of English at Hofstra University, the author of Langston Hughes: Folk Dramatist in the Protest Tradition, 1921-1943, and editor of several additional titles.

"I have long admired Jimmy's passion heard so clearly in his music; he is a soulful musician and a consummate educator. In these pages he gives a new voice to his love of life and music. He once told Dr. Camille Cosby that ‘our history is a mystery,’ so here he pulls back the veil and sets forth a wonderful collection of reminiscences culled from a long life of accumulated wisdom." -Nancy Wilson, song stylist"A masterpiece that will stand out as a classic for years to come." -Douglas Henry Daniels, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Lester Leaps In: The Life and Times of Lester “Pres” Young"Jimmy Heath is the hippest, coolest, deepest, wittiest, most in-the-pocket and on-the-money, bebop-brained, backward-absorbing, forward-looking, constantly sharing saxophonist, flutist, educator, composer, arranger, bandleader, sideman, jam-man, and now memoirist any of us will ever know. It is typical of Jimmy to call his autobiography I Walked with Giants, but make no mistake: He, too, is a giant, and all the other giants know it. This book is a treasure for jazz lovers, by a man who has been at the center of jazz for sixty years, ever since he was a Little Bird." -Gary Giddins, author of Jazz (with Scott DeVeaux), Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, and Visions of Jazz

• Foreword: In the Basement, by Bill Cosby AcknowledgmentsIntroduction, by Wynton MarsalisPart One First Chorus (1926–1949) 1. Finding a Rhythm: Philadelphia and Wilmington, North Carolina 2. Big Band Connections 3. Organizing and MelodizingPart Two Second Chorus (1949–1969) 4. High Note–Low Note: Dizzy and Miles 5. Sharp Dissonance to Smooth Harmony with Mona 6. On the Riverside 7. Maintaining the GroovePart Three Third Chorus (1969–1986) 8. Stretching Out: Jazz Transitions 9. Marchin’ On: The Heath Brothers 10. “For the Public”: The Heath BrothersPart Four Fourth Chorus (1986–) 11. Reharmonization: Queens College 12. Up-Tempo Mode 13. Aroma of the Roses 14. Endless StrollAppendixes Appendix A: Unique Names Appendix B: Honors and Awards Appendix C: Selected Discography Appendix D: Compositions Appendix E: Chronology Index