The Imperfect Art: Reflections on Jazz and Modern Culture (Portable Stanford Book Series)

About this book

Taking a wide-ranging approach rare in jazz criticism Ted Gioias brilliant volume draws upon fields as disparate as literary criticism art history sociology and aesthetic philosophy in order to place jazz within the turbulent cultural environment of the twentieth century. He argues that because improvisation--the essence of jazz--must often fail under the pressure of on-the-spot creativity we should view jazz as an "imperfect art" and base our judgments of it on an "aesthetics of imperfection." Incorporating the thought of such seminal thinkers as Walter Benjamin Jos Ortega y Gasset and Roland Barthes The Imperfect Art offers vivid portraits of the giants of jazz and startling insights into this vital musical form and the interaction of society and art.