Frank Driggs (1930–2011)

I love jazz and I've long been a fan of KC-style. I was aware of the roster of jazz greats that hailed from KC, and I thought it would be interesting to learn more about its jazz history. This book is, as best I can tell, the only thorough history written on the subject.

And it's extremely thorough (although I wish the authors had spent a bit more time on the history of KC jazz/blues from the mid-50s through the present - they glancingly touch on bits of it in the epilogue in an obligatory attempt to bring their history to the present day, but a full chapter to round out the book would have been welcome.) The history is interesting and compelling, so much so that I feel like I should rate the book four stars.

That being the case, the writing style is rather basic and the narrative structure is somewhat disjointed. I had difficulty in some sections tracking who and what was being discussed, as each event, band, or person leads to asides about others. The book is organized mainly chronologically, but at times the authors focus on one band over a period of time and then step back to cover other bands from the same period - this intermingling of both chronological and subject organization doesn't always work as well as I would like.

This is an essential balancing act that occurs in all written history. Chronology must be maintained so the reader can understand not just when and where things happened, but how all these things interact and influence each other. On the other hand, there are times that individual subjects within a history cry out to have their story told as a cohesive narrative. Every history writer needs to decide when it’s appropriate to interrupt chronology to tell these little stories, and when to break up these stories to maintain chronology. Each writer does it differently, and each subject and audience requires a different balance.

I don’t think the authors of this book found the right balance; worse, they’re inconsistent about how they handle it, which led to moments when I expected narrative but got chronology instead, and vice versa. I can't help feeling that a more stylistically accomplished writer could have made this history work to greater effect.

As strange as this may sound - the authors have so much information about the history of KC jazz that I felt like they got lost in it, and I got lost with them. That's not so good in a book that's supposed enlighten and guide me through the subject.

I'm not accurately capturing my disappointment with this book. As I said, the history is compelling and interesting. And I'm a very willing audience for it! So I expected to get caught up in this book... but I just wasn't. It was, all told, a bit of a slog to get through. I'm glad I did, I like what I learned, but the book never captured me the way I feel it should have.

Still, being the only comprehensive history of KC jazz, and being extremely thorough, this book is a must read for anyone interested in the history of jazz.… (mehr)