The neglected small group swing sound of the 1940s–60s takes its place in the pantheon of jazz literature.Finalist for the 2024 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Performing Arts & Music category Jazz with a Beat is the first book on the often overlooked but vitally important genre of small group swing jazz. Coming into being in the early 1940s, small group swing answered the need in the Black community for a form of jazz that was more accessible (and more danceable) than the new bebop. An adaptation of the big band Black swing (Erskine Hawkins, Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb) of the 1930s to small combos, and with a more vigorous beat for the new generation, this music developed and was beloved through the 1940s, continued to be enjoyed through the rock and roll years of the 1950s, and was a major influence on the soul jazz of the 1960s. Among the many hit artists portrayed in these pages are Illinois Jacquet, Louis Jordan, Big Jay McNeely, Joe Liggins, Nat "King" Cole, Red Prysock, Ruth Brown, Nellie Lutcher, Camille Howard, T-Bone Walker, and Ray Charles. Dismissed as "rhythm and blues," this music has been ignored by jazz historians. Jazz with a Beat honors this music as a legitimate genre of jazz and is a stirring evocation of an era. It should be of interest to lovers of jazz and Americana.

The neglected small group swing sound of the 1940s–60s takes its place in the pantheon of jazz literature.Finalist for the 2024 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Performing Arts & Music category Jazz with a Beat is the first book on the often overlooked but vitally important genre of small group swing jazz. Coming into being in the early 1940s, small group swing answered the need in the Black community for a form of jazz that was more accessible (and more danceable) than the new bebop. An adaptation of the big band Black swing (Erskine Hawkins, Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb) of the 1930s to small combos, and with a more vigorous beat for the new generation, this music developed and was beloved through the 1940s, continued to be enjoyed through the rock and roll years of the 1950s, and was a major influence on the soul jazz of the 1960s. Among the many hit artists portrayed in these pages are Illinois Jacquet, Louis Jordan, Big Jay McNeely, Joe Liggins, Nat "King" Cole, Red Prysock, Ruth Brown, Nellie Lutcher, Camille Howard, T-Bone Walker, and Ray Charles. Dismissed as "rhythm and blues," this music has been ignored by jazz historians. Jazz with a Beat honors this music as a legitimate genre of jazz and is a stirring evocation of an era. It should be of interest to lovers of jazz and Americana.

America in 1953 seems hell-bent on squandering the flood tide of international goodwill earned in WWII. Senator Joe McCarthy is on a red-hunting rampage in Washington, and the fledgling CIA under Allen Dulles is starting to dabble in nation-building.   Into this moment of history wander Nick Carraway and Jake Barnes, refugees from Fitzgerald''s The Great Gatsby and Hemingway''s The Sun Also Rises. They begin a correspondence that leads to a close friendship, and widens to include a bizarre cast of characters. From the classic fiction of the period come Larry Darrell (The Razor''s Edge), Alden Pyle (The Quiet American), Lady Brett Ashley and Robert Cohn (The Sun Also Rises), and from real life, Roy Cohn (Robert''s nephew) and his pal Davey Schine, Roy''s boss Joe McCarthy, the Dulles brothers, the Weavers, French intellectuals Sartre and De Beauvoir, Iranian premier Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, novelist Jackie Susann, music moguls Jerry Wexler and Ahmed Ertegun, and sex-change pioneer Christine Jorgensen. Jake discovers a CIA plot to cause a coup in France, and Nick and Jake must do their best to save their country from itself while affairs of the heart change both of their lives and teach them lessons about life and love. Nick & Jake finds the uproarious comic potential in a chilling period of American history that has alarming echoes in our own.

A complete chronicle of one of the greatest postwar jazz labels.Founded by jazz enthusiast Bob Weinstock, Prestige Records recorded the leading jazz artists of its day, many of whom were at or approaching their creative peak, from its inception in 1949 until 1972. It documented the changing jazz styles as they emerged, from bebop and post-bop, to third stream, hardbop, free jazz, and soul jazz, while honoring the previous generation of jazz musicians. Prestige was also among the first labels to work with recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who revolutionized the way jazz was recorded. The 1950s were a growth era for jazz, as modern jazz came to be accepted as part of mainstream American music. Prestige captured the leading artists of the era, including the Modern Jazz Quartet, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and especially Miles Davis, all of whom did some of their most important work for the label in this period. The 1960s saw an exciting and challenging new avant-garde, making the music that came to be known as "free jazz," epitomized by leading Prestige artists Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin. Other musicians looked back to their roots, developing the earthy, danceable style called soul jazz or jazz funk. Prestige became the epicenter of this new sound, thanks to artists such as Gene Ammons, Shirley Scott, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Brother Jack McDuff, and George Benson. Listening to Prestige presents the author's lifelong enthusiasm for the label and takes a deep dive into Prestige's impressive catalog, documenting the key artists who shaped postwar American jazz.

The neglected small group swing sound of the 1940s–60s takes its place in the pantheon of jazz literature.Finalist for the 2024 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Performing Arts & Music category Jazz with a Beat is the first book on the often overlooked but vitally important genre of small group swing jazz. Coming into being in the early 1940s, small group swing answered the need in the Black community for a form of jazz that was more accessible (and more danceable) than the new bebop. An adaptation of the big band Black swing (Erskine Hawkins, Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb) of the 1930s to small combos, and with a more vigorous beat for the new generation, this music developed and was beloved through the 1940s, continued to be enjoyed through the rock and roll years of the 1950s, and was a major influence on the soul jazz of the 1960s. Among the many hit artists portrayed in these pages are Illinois Jacquet, Louis Jordan, Big Jay McNeely, Joe Liggins, Nat "King" Cole, Red Prysock, Ruth Brown, Nellie Lutcher, Camille Howard, T-Bone Walker, and Ray Charles. Dismissed as "rhythm and blues," this music has been ignored by jazz historians. Jazz with a Beat honors this music as a legitimate genre of jazz and is a stirring evocation of an era. It should be of interest to lovers of jazz and Americana.

The neglected small group swing sound of the 1940s–60s takes its place in the pantheon of jazz literature.Finalist for the 2024 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Performing Arts & Music category Jazz with a Beat is the first book on the often overlooked but vitally important genre of small group swing jazz. Coming into being in the early 1940s, small group swing answered the need in the Black community for a form of jazz that was more accessible (and more danceable) than the new bebop. An adaptation of the big band Black swing (Erskine Hawkins, Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb) of the 1930s to small combos, and with a more vigorous beat for the new generation, this music developed and was beloved through the 1940s, continued to be enjoyed through the rock and roll years of the 1950s, and was a major influence on the soul jazz of the 1960s. Among the many hit artists portrayed in these pages are Illinois Jacquet, Louis Jordan, Big Jay McNeely, Joe Liggins, Nat "King" Cole, Red Prysock, Ruth Brown, Nellie Lutcher, Camille Howard, T-Bone Walker, and Ray Charles. Dismissed as "rhythm and blues," this music has been ignored by jazz historians. Jazz with a Beat honors this music as a legitimate genre of jazz and is a stirring evocation of an era. It should be of interest to lovers of jazz and Americana.

America in 1953 seems hell-bent on squandering the flood tide of international goodwill earned in WWII. Senator Joe McCarthy is on a red-hunting rampage in Washington, and the fledgling CIA under Allen Dulles is starting to dabble in nation-building.   Into this moment of history wander Nick Carraway and Jake Barnes, refugees from Fitzgerald''s The Great Gatsby and Hemingway''s The Sun Also Rises. They begin a correspondence that leads to a close friendship, and widens to include a bizarre cast of characters. From the classic fiction of the period come Larry Darrell (The Razor''s Edge), Alden Pyle (The Quiet American), Lady Brett Ashley and Robert Cohn (The Sun Also Rises), and from real life, Roy Cohn (Robert''s nephew) and his pal Davey Schine, Roy''s boss Joe McCarthy, the Dulles brothers, the Weavers, French intellectuals Sartre and De Beauvoir, Iranian premier Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, novelist Jackie Susann, music moguls Jerry Wexler and Ahmed Ertegun, and sex-change pioneer Christine Jorgensen. Jake discovers a CIA plot to cause a coup in France, and Nick and Jake must do their best to save their country from itself while affairs of the heart change both of their lives and teach them lessons about life and love. Nick & Jake finds the uproarious comic potential in a chilling period of American history that has alarming echoes in our own.

A complete chronicle of one of the greatest postwar jazz labels.Founded by jazz enthusiast Bob Weinstock, Prestige Records recorded the leading jazz artists of its day, many of whom were at or approaching their creative peak, from its inception in 1949 until 1972. It documented the changing jazz styles as they emerged, from bebop and post-bop, to third stream, hardbop, free jazz, and soul jazz, while honoring the previous generation of jazz musicians. Prestige was also among the first labels to work with recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who revolutionized the way jazz was recorded. The 1950s were a growth era for jazz, as modern jazz came to be accepted as part of mainstream American music. Prestige captured the leading artists of the era, including the Modern Jazz Quartet, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and especially Miles Davis, all of whom did some of their most important work for the label in this period. The 1960s saw an exciting and challenging new avant-garde, making the music that came to be known as "free jazz," epitomized by leading Prestige artists Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin. Other musicians looked back to their roots, developing the earthy, danceable style called soul jazz or jazz funk. Prestige became the epicenter of this new sound, thanks to artists such as Gene Ammons, Shirley Scott, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Brother Jack McDuff, and George Benson. Listening to Prestige presents the author's lifelong enthusiasm for the label and takes a deep dive into Prestige's impressive catalog, documenting the key artists who shaped postwar American jazz.