I somehow skipped this one when it came out in February. In my list for next-future order from Storyville.

This confirms what I figured. Hazevoet's work certainly is second to none, and this becomes evident to the reader. Yet it seems to me that somehow the reader does not gain much additional information if he is just reminded over and over again in the footnotes that the dates and places mentioned were researched and documented by Hazevoet. Since his work IS such a cornerstone among the available sources it should be evident that this is where the information comes from. I frequently referred to the footnotes just so see what additional info there might be. And most of the time all I saw was "oh this is where he got it from". Fine, but shouldn't the reader have assumed anyway that a diligent author uses reliable sources?  Discographical details in particular, once researched in a definite way and documented accordingly (which clearly is the case here), IMO should be taken as hard facts where there is no need to prove to the reader in each case where the author looked them up. This, too, would have helped to unclutter the footnotes.  As for overdoing things with the footnotes, about the time I finished this book and got ready for another purchase (the "This Is An Orchestra" biography of Stan Kenton), I came across an online review (by a professional reviewer) of this book, and the reviewer complained about the huge number of footnotes caused by the author quoting so many musicians verbatim. Well, the Kenton bio has some 540 footnotes for 308 pages.  Now what would this reviewer have said about the quantity of footnotes in the Byas bio?  (And no, the huge flow of footnotes in the "Saxophone Colossus" biography of Sonny Rollins does not deter me. This is an altogether different concept IMO. )  BTW, I did notice you were credited. Well deserved!  And I agree that overall the Byas biography is important. To make it clear - I did not at all regret buying it. And some vinyl purchases of latter-day Byas recordings that, by coincidence, I made in recent months appear in a slightly more nuanced light now that background info on the sessions has been provided in this book. 

Amazing!    now playing:  

Nicole Mitchell, Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds