Landing on the Wrong Note ─ Jazz, Dissonance, and Critical Practice

From Thelonious Monk to Miles Davis, this book analyzes jazz music with its dissonant riffs and resistance to formalist interpretations, and explores how the music was a reflection of the philosophies of the musicians themselves. Drawing on personal anecdote, observation, conversations with jazz artists, and cultural theory, Heble (Literatures and Performances, U. Guelph), demonstrates that although jazz may be free-form, its rich and varied history makes it an important point of entry into some of the most hotly contested areas in our society: power, identity, representation, history, ethics, and social change. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Ajay Heble is Associate Professor of English at the University of Guelph in Canada. The author of a book on Alice Munro and the editor of a volume of Canadian criticism, he is also the Artistic Director of the Guelph Jazz Festival. He wears a beret.