{"product_id":"9780312429478","title":"But Beautiful : A Book About Jazz","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eBut Beautiful\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Geoff Dyer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"May be the best book ever written about jazz.\"—David Thomson, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn eight poetically charged vignettes, Geoff Dyer skillfully evokes the music and the men who shaped modern jazz. Drawing on photos, anecdotes, and, most important, the way he hears the music, Dyer imaginatively reconstructs scenes from the embattled lives of some of the greats: Lester Young fading away in a hotel room; Charles Mingus storming down the streets of New York on a too-small bicycle; Thelonious Monk creating his own private language on the piano. However, music is the driving force of \u003ci\u003eBut Beautiful,\u003c\/i\u003e and wildly metaphoric prose that mirrors the quirks, eccentricity, and brilliance of each musician's style.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Achingly gorgeous...evokes the lives of working musicians so that you taste the whiskey, smell the stubbed cigarettes, hear the gentle clicking of the valves, the coughs, and shuffling feet between studio takes.” —\u003ci\u003eJonathan Lethem, Entertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The only book about jazz that I have recommended to my  friends.  It is a little gem.” —\u003ci\u003eKeith Jarrett\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A masterful effort, which comes as close to the music's essence as prose can go.” —\u003ci\u003eTed Gioia, San Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Dyer turns jazz into poetry and his subjects into a beautiful sad music....Few will be unmoved by his passion and eloquence and the harrowing portraits of jazz's haunted geniuses.” —\u003ci\u003eTom Graves, The Washington Post Book World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A gorgeous and lyrical collection of nocturnal jazz reveries.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eBut Beautiful \u003c\/i\u003eis just that, a moving and highly original tribute to Black American music.” —\u003ci\u003eBryan Ferry\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An ingenious and brilliantly written book.” —\u003ci\u003eRichard Bernstein, The New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Startlingly vivid...a brilliant work...the written equivalent of a jazz performance...[Dyer] has created an unforgettable melody of his own.” —\u003ci\u003eMatt Schudel, The Atlanta Journal Constitution\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780312429478\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Picador","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40623928869070,"sku":"9780312429478","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_aae9d618-3561-4d50-8652-87701ad368fd.jpg?v=1638582240","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780312429478","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}