We needed this monograph on one of the most famous jazz albums ever! Crist has drawn on extensive private correspondence to illustrate Brubeck's efforts at self-promotion, his involvement in civil rights, and more. One gets to be a fly on the wall during the recording process, take by take, and to analyze each piece in detail, with ample musical notation.
Stephen A. Crist is Professor of Music History at Emory University. He works largely in European music of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, with additional interests in hymnody and jazz. He served as contributing editor of Bach Perspectives, Volume 5: Bach in America and contributing co-editor of Historical Musicology: Sources, Methods, Interpretations. His publications on Dave Brubeck have appeared in the Journal
of Musicology and elsewhere, and a new study of the Modern Jazz Quartet's reception of the music of J. S. Bach is forthcoming in Bach Perspectives.