Description
Book SynopsisA life in music portrayed by a jazz master and his legendary friends
Trade Review"I have long admired Jimmy's passion heard so clearly in his music; he is a soulful musician and a consummate educator. In these pages he gives a new voice to his love of life and music. He once told Dr. Camille Cosby that ‘our history is a mystery,’ so here he pulls back the veil and sets forth a wonderful collection of reminiscences culled from a long life of accumulated wisdom."
—Nancy Wilson, song stylist
"A masterpiece that will stand out as a classic for years to come."
—Douglas Henry Daniels, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Lester Leaps In: The Life and Times of Lester “Pres” Young
"Jimmy Heath is the hippest, coolest, deepest, wittiest, most in-the-pocket and on-the-money, bebop-brained, backward-absorbing, forward-looking, constantly sharing saxophonist, flutist, educator, composer, arranger, bandleader, sideman, jam-man, and now memoirist any of us will ever know. It is typical of Jimmy to call his autobiography I Walked with Giants, but make no mistake: He, too, is a giant, and all the other giants know it. This book is a treasure for jazz lovers, by a man who has been at the center of jazz for sixty years, ever since he was a Little Bird."
—Gary Giddins, author of Jazz (with Scott DeVeaux), Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, and Visions of Jazz
Table of Contents
Foreword: In the Basement, by Bill Cosby
Acknowledgments
Introduction, by Wynton Marsalis
Part One First Chorus (1926–1949)
1. Finding a Rhythm: Philadelphia and Wilmington, North Carolina
2. Big Band Connections
3. Organizing and Melodizing
Part Two Second Chorus (1949–1969)
4. High Note–Low Note: Dizzy and Miles
5. Sharp Dissonance to Smooth Harmony with Mona
6. On the Riverside
7. Maintaining the Groove
Part Three Third Chorus (1969–1986)
8. Stretching Out: Jazz Transitions
9. Marchin’ On: The Heath Brothers
10. “For the Public”: The Heath Brothers
Part Four Fourth Chorus (1986–)
11. Reharmonization: Queens College
12. Up-Tempo Mode
13. Aroma of the Roses
14. Endless Stroll
Appendixes
Appendix A: Unique Names
Appendix B: Honors and Awards
Appendix C: Selected Discography
Appendix D: Compositions
Appendix E: Chronology
Index
