Initially trained as a violinist, then as a composer, Andre Hodeir first began writing about jazz in the 1940s. As editor-in-chief of the French magazine ""Jazz Hot"", he was an early proponent of bebop and its practitioners, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Downbeat called Hodeir's first collection of jazz writings, ""Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence"", ""the best analytical book on jazz ever written,"" and Martin Williams named it and Hodeir's second book, ""Toward Jazz"", ""two of the most important critical works ever written on the subject."" Hodeir's writing sparked widespread controversy, yet his analyses of jazz improvisation and his use of music theory to examine jazz composition and arrangement helped establish a new era of jazz criticism. This new volume, collecting pieces from his three books of jazz writings - and one new piece never before published in English - will introduce Hodeir to a new generation of jazz enthusiasts and scholars alike, and prove his work to be as relevant today as when he wrote it. Jean-Louis Pautrot's introduction to the book, and his introductions to each piece, will help to put Hodeir's work in its proper context. A native of France, Jean-Louis Pautrot teaches contemporary French literature, film, and culture at Saint Louis University, where he also directs the film studies program. He is the author of ""La Musique Oubliee"", a psychoanalytical approach to music in the novels of Sartre, Vian, Proust, and Duras.
