“Deeply researched and expertly rendered, Mark Stryker’s Jazz from Detroit has provided a diligent and insightful window into every aspect of how Detroit came to be one of the major centers of modern American musical research. This is an important and highly entertaining document that will stand as a definitive testament to the musical culture of Detroit.”
— Pat Metheny  

Jazz from Detroit  is a landmark — the first book to explore Detroit’s pivotal role in shaping the course of modern and contemporary jazz from the 1940s to the present. Mark Stryker makes the music come alive through more than two dozen richly textured  profiles of Detroit-bred musicians, exhaustive reporting and research, insightful criticism and vivid prose that draws out connections between the players, eras, styles and Detroit history. He shows how Detroit became a vital center for modern jazz and produced influential musicians for generation after generation, even as the city lost economic power and population. Read more.

Jazz from Detroit is a masterpiece—one of the most insightful books about this music ever written. Mark Stryker’s perceptive commentary will resonate with both aficionados and newcomers to jazz.”  —Ethan Iverson

“There is no other city like Detroit: the musicians, the vibe, the people. Thank you, Mark Stryker, for Jazz from Detroit.”—Sonny Rollins

“With a smooth and deeply informed style Mark Stryker in Jazz from Detroit writes authoritatively about the city’s almost matchless contribution to the history of jazz. His profiles of some of the iconic figures in jazz are so insightfully drawn, so musical that you are tempted to stop reading and listen to their recordings.” —Herb Boyd, author of Black Detroit: A People’s History of Self-Determination

“No city has meant more to American musical culture than Detroit. In the bass register alone, Paul Chambers, Ron Carter and James Jamerson provided the foundation for the sum of the greatest music of the 20th century, and we can continue to climb the entire frequency range to find the same deep and detailed descriptions of American life at its very best through the ideas and voices of iconic Detroit musicians.  Deeply researched and expertly rendered, Mark Stryker’s Jazz from Detroit has provided a diligent and insightful window into every aspect of how Detroit came to be one of the major centers of modern American musical research. This is an important and highly entertaining document that will stand as a definitive testament to the musical culture of Detroit.” — Pat Metheny

“Jazz from Detroit by Mark Stryker is a vital new piece of scholarship that’s also a real pleasure to read.” — Nate Chinen, author of Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century

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