Available now!

Celebrating The Duke...& Louis, Bessie Billie, Bird, Carmen, Miles, Dizzy & Other Heroes

In praise of Ralph J. Gleason’s Celebrating The Duke...

"Ralph Gleason! I read him. He understands me." - Miles Davis

"Even when he wrote about artists whom he knew less well, Gleason was able to distill the essence of their contributions while evoking the over-all beauty, dignity and majesty of jazz. But when he was thoroughly familiar with his subject - most notably Duke, Dizzy, Miles or Carmen McRae - he was uncommonly warm, insightful and sympathetic." - Leonard Feather; L.A. Times

"The pieces on Billie Holiday are in essence a cogent statement on the black artist in America. The piece on Carmen McRae is an amazingly evocative portrait of how she works her magic on audiences. The John Coltrane piece is a crisp, clear-headed appraisal of a complex musician who has driven many another critic into paroxysms of technical double talk. In short, in the course of celebrating his heroes, Ralph Gleason has presented a series of portraits that are as fine an introduction to jazz as you will find anywhere." - Rolling Stone Magazine

"[Gleason] was that excessively rare bird, a musician’s critic...If you want to know what real jazz criticism is, read Celebrating The Duke. It is fitting memorial to an outstanding critic and writer." - Jazz Journal

Celebrating The Duke...& Louis, Bessie Billie, Bird, Carmen, Miles, Dizzy & Other Heroes

Back in print! Gleason's last book, first published just after his death in 1975, is now available again! Featuring Gleason's own pick of his best articles, columns, album and performance reviews and liner notes on his favorite artists: Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae, Billie Holiday and more! Includes the original Foreword by Studs Terkel plus a new introduction by Ira Gitler.

Celebrating The Duke offers readers a perceptive, panoramic survey of jazz as revealed, in illuminating detail, through the lives and music of its heroes (and heroines), from its founding fathers to the post-bebop generation, including Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Jimmie Lunceford, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Albert Ayler, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and a rich cache of writings on "America's greatest composer," the Duke himself.

Jazz and rock critic, founding editor of Rolling Stone, producer, disc jockey, teacher, and Vice-President of Fantasy Records, Ralph J. Gleason (1917-1975) was the author of Jam Session and The Jefferson Airplane And The San Francisco Sound. His work was honored by three Deems Taylor Awards for excellence in music journalism, two Grammy nominations for liner notes and two Emmy nominations for his documentaries on Duke Ellington and others.