BOOK REviewS
This section includes reviews of books on jazz subjects by a number of writers. Reviewers interested in contributing are welcome to contact the editor by filling out the form in the CONTACT tab. When contributing please include the title of the book and its author, the name of the publisher, the date of publication, the book’s ISBN number, and the number of pages in the book. Please also provide, if possible, a high resolution scan of the book’s cover. Readers can click on the INDEX button for a list of reviews in this folder.
WORLD’S BEST JAZZ CLUB: THE STORY OF BENNETTS LANE
by David James
Reviewed by Joseph Cummins
Music Trust website, October 1, 2014
Is Bennetts Lane the world’s best jazz club? David James’s new book on the iconic Melbourne jazz venue makes a compelling argument that it is. Considering the recent news that Bennetts will close in 2015... the release of James’s history of the club is fitting, if slightly jumping the gun…
JOTTINGS OF A JAZZMAN: SELECTED WRITINGS OF LEN BARNARD
Edited by Loretta Barnard
Reviewed by John Shand
Extempore, May, 2010
In 1987 Len Barnard applied to the Australia Council for a grant to write his memoirs. The ensuing rejection was stupendously short-sighted, as the proposed book would have tied together periods of Australian jazz history like no other. Barnard—a gifted and ebullient drummer, bandleader, pianist, composer and raconteur, who died in 2005 — would have been uniquely placed to pull together the 1940s with the 1980s, Melbourne’s scene with Sydney’s, classic jazz with mainstream and modern…
BOB BARNARD’S JAZZ SCRAPBOOK: A PICTORIAL MEMOIR
by Bob Barnard with Loretta Barnard
Reviewed by Jazza35
jazzramble.com, November 13, 2012
Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat (although I must confess that in my long and eerie life I’ve never had goose for Christmas). Anyhow it’s time to start thinking about the perfect present for that special person in your life. If that person is a jazz lover, here’s a suggestion for a great stocking stuffer: Bob Barnard’s Jazz Scrapbook, compiled by Bob with his daughter Loretta...