Classic jazz : a personal view of the music and the musicians

Floyd Levin, an award-winning jazz writer, has personally known many of the jazz greats who contributed to the music's colourful history.

In this collection of his articles, published mostly in jazz magazines over a 50-year period, Levin takes us into the night-clubs, the recording studios, the record companies, and, most compellingly, into the lives of the musicians who made the great moments of the traditional jazz and swing eras.This collection of articles begins with Levin's first published piece and includes several new articles that were inspired by his work on this compilation.

The articles are organised thematically, beginning with a piece on Kid Ory's early recordings and ending with a newly written article about the campaign to put up a momentum to Louis Armstrong in New Orleans.

Along the way, Levin gives in-depth profiles of many well-known jazz legends, such as Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong, and many lesser-known figures who contributed greatly to the development of jazz.The book readable and personable book extensively illustrated with previously unpublished photographs from Levin's personal collection, should be of interest to jazz scholars and fans everywhere for the overviews it provides of the music's evolution, and for the love of jazz it inspire on every page.