Outcats: Jazz Composers, Instrumentalists, and Singers

Composers Duke Ellington, Gil Evans and Cecil Taylor, instrumentalists Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis and Lester Young, singers Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra, political satirist Mort Sahl are among the stars discussed here, along with hotter new figures. Although he regards all jazz performers--and listeners--as outcats (outcasts/far-out cats) and focuses on their cultural exile, Davis ( In the Moment ) deals with them on a case-by-case basis in these 37 profiles, critical essays and mixed-mode pieces on individuals, combos, movements, issues and events from 1986-1989. With originality, a perceptive commentator freshly analyzes both new and forgotten aspects of jazz performance. (May)