Help for ears. Listen up!

American pianist, historian and award-winning music scholar Ted Gioia is to publish a new book entitled 'How To Listen To Jazz.'

The book sets out to demystify a genre that he says people find hard to approach. Gioia seeks to offer a jargon free introduction to what he calls, “the most joyous sound invented during the entire course of the twentieth-century”. The book covers the African roots of jazz, its rhythmic flow, improvisation, vocalisation and orchestration, without getting bogged down in the actual musical notes. He also picks out some classic and contemporary jazz masters who provide gateways for beginners.

Crucially he points to Duke Ellington as the most influential of jazz musicians, whose talent for listening made him such a great composer.

How to listen to Jazz is published 2nd June 2016.