The jazz ear : conversations over music / Ben Ratliff.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Behold, the sea! : Wayne Shorter -- Street music : Pat Metheny -- Jazz means freedom : Sonny Rollins -- As good as you think : Andrew Hill -- I know who you are : Ornette Coleman -- The flying modulation : Maria Schneider -- You've got to finish your thought : Bob Brookmeyer -- It's your spirit : Dianne Reeves -- Head of a dog : Bebo Valdes -- This is my point : Joshua Redman -- Labor history : Hank Jones -- Dancing from up here : Roy Haynes -- Head to toes : Paul Motian -- A million just like it : Branford Marsalis -- You don't look for style : Guillermo Klein.

An intimate exploration into the musical genius of fifteen living jazz legends, from the longtime New York Times jazz critic Jazz is conducted almost wordlessly: John Coltrane rarely told his quartet what to do, and Miles Davis famously gave his group only the barest instructions before recording his masterpiece "Kind of Blue." Musicians are often loath to discuss their craft for fear of destroying its improvisational essence, rendering jazz among the most ephemeral and least transparent of the performing arts. In The Jazz Ear , the acclaimed music critic Ben Ratliff sits down with jazz greats to discuss recordings by the musicians who most influenced them. In the process, he skillfully coaxes out a profound understanding of the men and women themselves, the context of their work, and how jazz--from horn blare to drum riff--is created conceptually. Expanding on his popular interviews for The New York Times , Ratliff speaks with Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, Branford Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Wayne Shorter, Joshua Redman, and others about the subtle variations in generation, training, and attitude that define their music. Playful and keenly insightful, The Jazz Ear is a revelatory exploration of a unique way of making and hearing music.