During his nearly forty years as a music journalist Ralph J. Gleason recorded many in-depth
interviews with some of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. These informal sessions
conducted mostly in Gleason's Berkeley California home have never been transcribed and
published in full until now. This remarkable volume a must-read for any jazz fan serious
musician or musicologist reveals fascinating little-known details about these gifted artists
their lives their personas and of course their music. Bill Evans discusses his battle with
severe depression while John Coltrane talks about McCoy Tyner's integral role in shaping the
sound of the Coltrane quartet praising the pianist enthusiastically. Included also are
interviews with Dizzy Gillespie Sonny Rollins Quincy Jones Jon Hendricks and the immortal
Duke Ellington plus seven more of the most notable names in twentieth-century jazz.
