Will Friedwald’s Jazz Singing tells the story of how jazz and blues gave birth to popular singing. Almost without exception, reviews of this book, both positive and negative, characterize Friedwald’s writing as opinionated, so expect that if you purchase it.

For jazz standards reading and research on the vocalists, this text should not be overlooked; it is well-researched and includes a comprehensive index for the people mentioned.

JazzStandards.com has a more in-depth review of this book, along with Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide and Singing Jazz: The Singers and Their Styles at our page titled On Jazz and Singers: Three Books.

Will Friedwald has written for the New York Times, The Village Voice, Downbeat, The Wire, and Jazz Times, to name a few. He is also the author of Stardust Melodies; Sinatra! The Song Is You: A Singer’s Art; The Future of Jazz; and Frank Sinatra: The Best of the Capitol Years.