Scarecrow Press
Pages: 96
•
Trim: 8½ x 11
978-0-8108-4881-8 • Paperback • November 2003 • $56.00 • (£43.00)
Ken Vail trained as a graphic designer and for 25 years developed his own graphic design business. The company moved from corporate work into publishing, specialising in designing highly illustrated educational books. In 1996 Ken Vail retired from the business to indulge his life-long interest in jazz. He self-published his first book, Jazz Milestones, which was critically acclaimed, leading to commissions for a series of Jazz Diaries which yielded Bird?s Diary, Lady Day?s Diary, Miles? Diary, and the two-part Duke?s Diary. Vail is now working on the new series of Jazz Itineraries and a scrapbook of the Swing Era.
Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie are separate 100 page books presenting a chronological listing of performance dates and locations for these artists…if any of these is among your favorites you'll certainly spend a few hours following their travels with these books.
— In The Groove
Like cracking a scrapbook from the '40s…plastered with period photographs, newspaper articles, concert and record reviews…a fun and contextual perspective for listening and investigating as well as a window into the life and times of [Ella Fitzgerald].
— JazzTimes Magazine
A well-referenced scrapbook, a collage of facts and contemporary reviews that is a pleasure to read yet visually satisfying, too.
— New Orleans Music
All three paperbacks make for fascinating reading, whether you start at the beginning or read random pages....these book are terrifically entertaining to read...
— The Mississippi Rag
A serious study resource and an eccentric delight.
— The Jazz Rag