For those jazz heads who wanted to see what the scene was like when jazz music was like in the American jazz clubs pre and post World War II, here’s your chance. Author Jeff Gold captures this whole scene perfectly with exclusive interviews with icons such as Quincy Jones and Sonny Rollins, as well as jazz historian Dan Morgenstern, Kennedy Center Fellow Jason Moran, Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion critic Robin Givhan (who explores the history and culture of style and the music), among others. The reader gets to peek into the places to be in great jazz cities such as of New York City, Atlantic City, Washington D.C., Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Back then, it wasn’t about color in the clubs, it was about how good you can play. Racism would’ve been over in the 1950s if they’d listened to the jazz guys.

Quincy Jones

These jazz clubs were some of the first places that black and white were mixed, long before sports personalities like Jackie Robinson would break the color barrier,. Whether it was in the audience or on the stages, the jazz music brought people together. People were there for one thing and for nothing else but that and a good time. That thing was jazz music. There are over two hundred plus photos (most never seen before) and club souvenir photos of fans cozying up to people like Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Charlie Parker among other greats in this book. It’s a great inside look at a part of American music culture that has not been seen in this kind of detail. A must for any jazz buff and lover of the history of this valuable time in music, Out on November 17th via Harper Collins.

Order a signed copy here.

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