Upright Bass The Musical Life and Legacy of Jamil Nasser: A Jazz Memoir

It refreshing to read the history of a great artist such as Jamil Nasser whose contributions to jazz transcend great bass playing. He served fellow artists and students working through Jazz Foundation and his educational outreach efforts. Moreover, Upright Bass gives insight into the man behind the music.

Dad wanted it. So.he got it!!

I loved this book.'The Awakening' was the first jazz album I owned, and today after listening to thousands more jazz albums, and being a musician myself, is still my favorite. And OutertimeInnerspace, the 1971 Montreux session is the best modern jazz album. Jamal, Nasser and Gant are, to me, the finest jazz trio ever. There, I said it.I read "Upright Bass" very slowly and will read it again because it is essential jazz history from the greats: Peterson, Jamal, Weston, Dennard, Garland, Tatum, Flanagan, Blakey and too many others to mention. It is also immensely entertaining, funny, and enlightening. And from Mr Nasser's eyewitness perch as accomplished musician and son of one of the pantheon jazz bass players, with one on one interviews, it is among the most authoritative jazz chronicles available. There won't be any spoilers here but stories about Papa Jo Jones, Israel Crosby, Red Garland, Toots Thielemans, Chet Baker, and Suriname stand out as "what did he just say???" moments.So why 4 stars? It is 5 star material, from a 5 star author, but the structure of the book was confusing at times. It was written in the first person as if the author was Jamil Nasser. So far, so good, and a great idea. But often because of the use of italics and other sources I did not know who was speaking. There were also cases where the cited info did not follow one train of thought. Times like these felt like disconnected solos. Occasionally I thought Mr Nasser should take this great work to a major publisher, and redo this with an editor--because it is all so good and so important. And the world needs to hear all this--it is a vital history or America's only true art form, and social justice in transition and perspective. Regarding social justice, which is the highway jazz has always traveled, I believe Mr Nasser treated it brilliantly--never naively or too harshly, just simply as it is.However, I do not want to over-emphasize the minor challenges, because again--GREAT book. I feel like not only do I know Jamil Nasser now, I want to know him, I respect him, learned many great life lessons from him, and was truly inspired--which of course is the goal of any great author, which Muneer Nasser certainly is.

As a fellow musician and someone who knew, and performed, recorded with and loved Jamil Nasser as a mentor and friend, I had very high expectations about this book, to say the least. From the very first page, it gave me a lump in the throat because it really felt as though Jamil himself was talking to me directly from the pages as I read them. Muneer has done an incredible job of bringing the innermost authentic qualities of Jamil Nasser in a profoundly intimate and detailed manner. I feel as though I now know Jamil even better from reading this book and his unique and provocative personality comes through strong. He was a tremendous man of many qualities as I knew from personal experience and he was truly a man of strong morals and integrity not only with his art but also in life. He challenged those in powerful positions of authority within the music business and he was a loving, concerned humanitarian as well as an outspoken defender of those artists who were exploited mercilessly then tossed aside when the controlling interests had felt they were done with them. The book is highly detailed with incredible stories and pulls no punches in giving the reader glimpses never seen before of the crooked path a jazz musician is forced to travel upon in the pursuit of putting forward their creative efforts. I highly recommend you get this book and I'm certain you will be very glad you did. If you are anything like me and first and foremost, I'm a great fan of the real jazz music, you won't be able to put the book down.

I had a chance to read this wonderful book in stages as it has a lot of information enclosed and it is great and little know before now. The life of a jazz musician is filled with peril and ups and downs and Jamil Nasser was a wonderful, innovate and creative bassist. How many bass players can say they played with John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Sonny Clark, Lou Donaldson, Hank Mobley, Kenny Burrell, Mal Waldron, Clark Terry, Lester Young, Eric Dolphy, Buster Smith, Lionel Hampton, Oscar Dennard, Al Haig, Philly Joe Jones, Max Roach, Booker Little, Ahmad Jamal AND Cybil Shepard before she was famous for Moonlighting and other shows. Not too many. The book is very informative and wellworth reading and I will treasure it. Yes I am great friends with the author but this revoew is written because the book is a treasure and well worth reading. A lot of information enclosed was not know before by many if any individuals. BTW, make sure to pick up your copy of the author's CD called A Soldier's Story also available here on Amazon, I highly recommend it as well. Get the book, read the book be amazed at the life of a jazz musician and a great bassist. I have many, many of his recordings, my favorite being the 1961 Eric Dolphy led Berlin concerts where Jamil is playing out of his mind. I strongly recommend this book and also trying to find Jamil's music, good challenge for any collector.

Having met this author while in NYC for the Jazz Congress, I was happy to know he had taken the time to document the events of his Father's life. As I read the book I was transfixed by the storytelling and meticulous detail. To my surprise, my friend and compatriot Ralph Miles Jones (aka Buzzy who is a general baddass reed man of the Yusef Lateef school) brought the book in to our Jazz & Spirituality class a few weeks ago here in Atlanta. Buzzy raved about the book and the way Amir told the stories of Muneer's life events.If you have interest in knowing the true inside scoop of this music called Jazz, this book will help you get there.