1997 Reviews

Thomas Owens. Bebop: The Music and the Players. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1995. xvi, 323 pp.

Rawlins, Robert

Rawlins' article explains the large and growing body of jazz literature. He discusses the areas of jazz biography, discography, history, and sociology and the generations of famous jazz writers that have come and gone, some having achieved greater recognition than many jazz musicians themselves. Thomas Owens's Bebop: The Music and the Players attempts to explicate the improvisatory style that many feel lies at the very core of the jazz tradition. His idealistic view of jazz improvisation merely reflects a common opinion that has held sway among jazz audiences and performers alike, despite the recorded evidence. In the REVIEWS 109 end, he has succeeded in compiling a wealth of material on bebop and its major performers, and in so doing he has made a significant contribution to the jazz literature.