Ted Gioia is a music historian and the author of eleven books, including How to Listen to Jazz. His three previous books on the social history of music - Work Songs, Healing Songs and Love Songs - have each been honoured with ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. Gioia's wide-ranging activities as a critic, scholar, performer and educator have established him as a leading global guide to music past, present and future.
"A dauntingly ambitious, obsessively researched labor of cultural
provocation."--Robert Christgau, Los Angeles Times
"Gioia draws on social science research into the past and present
to forge a sweeping and enthralling account of music as an agency
of human change."--Booklist, starred review
"One of the most perceptive writers on music has cut a wide swath
down the path of history, illuminating details often left in the
shadows and broadening our understanding of all things sonic. Gioia
vividly points out that the wheels of cultural advancement are
often turned by the countless unsung heroes of inventiveness. A
mind opening and totally engaging read!"--Terry Riley
"An entirely new way to look at how music evolved."
--Rosa Inocencio Smith, The Atlantic
"In the past, [Gioia has] written a series of acclaimed books about
jazz, but Music: A Subversive History is by some distance the most
wide-ranging and provocative thing he's come up with."
--Alexis Petridis, Guardian
"Music is Gioia's magnum opus, an inventive and original work that
spans 4,000 years. . . . Throughout this vital book, Gioia shows
that music is still a disruptive force."--DownBeat
"[Gioia] uses the familiar scheme of cyclical rejuvenation through
transformation as a mechanism to consider the whole history of
music, from the sounds of the primordial world to electronic dance
music today, in his latest and most ambitious book. . . . Smart but
readable."--New York Times Book Review
"Essential."--Jacksonville Journal-Courier
"Gioia asserts that music history generally shares the whitewashed
stories of the assimilators. . . . Exhaustively
researched."--Christian Science Monitor
"Gioia takes a look at the underside of music history, teasing out
the episodes of sex, violence, and rebellion out of which music
developed."--No Depression
"In carefully examining its 'subversive' side . . . Ted Gioia does
much to convince us that music, far from being incidental to deeper
political purposes or a convenient index of popular taste, is a
profound 'force of transformation and enchantment, ' intrinsic to
human society."--New Criterion
"In describing the kinds of music that existed throughout history,
[Gioia] treats topics that have long been suppressed or ignored by
historians who crave respectability, topics such as magic,
sexuality, and violence. . . . As a writer and thinker he is
compelling and thought provoking."--Choice
"Invigorating."--Pop Matters
"Marvelous."--Marc Myers, Jazz Wax
"Mr. Gioia's alternative history of music is extraordinary,
groundbreaking, and bone-chillingly real."--Washington Times
"There is so much rich history in this book; so many interesting
and startling facts and stories."--Syncopated Times
"[A] sweeping study. . . . The author aims to subvert our ideas
about music history. . . . Gioia challenges notions of progress
based solely on aesthetic or stylistic innovation . . .
characteriz[ing] music history as a cyclical power struggle with
shifting battle lines."--Larry Blumenfeld, Wall Street Journal
"A revisionist history highlights music's connections to violence,
disruption, and power. In a sweeping survey that begins in
'pre-human natural soundscapes, ' music historian Gioia (How To
Listen to Jazz, 2016, etc.) examines changes and innovation in
music, arguing vigorously that the music produced by 'peasants and
plebeians, slaves and bohemians, renegades and outcasts' reflected
and influenced social, cultural, and political life. . . . A bold,
fresh, and informative chronicle of music's evolution and cultural
meaning."--Kirkus
"As a fan of 'big histories' that sweep through space and time, I
gobbled this one like candy as I found myself astounded by some
idea, some fact, some source, some dots connected into a
fast-reading big picture that takes in Roman pantomime riots,
Occitan troubadours, churchbells, blues, Afrofuturism, surveillance
capitalism, and much more. A must for music heads."--Ned Sublette,
author of Cuba and Its Music and The World That Made New
Orleans
"Gioia's argument is persuasive and offers a wealth of
possibilities for further exploration."--Library Journal
"Gioia's sprawling and deeply interesting history of music defies
all stereotypes of music scholarship. This is rich work that
provokes many fascinating questions. Scientists and humanists alike
will find plenty to disagree with, but isn't that the point? 'A
subversive history, ' indeed."--Samuel Mehr, Director, The Music
Lab, Harvard University
"I can't speak highly enough about Music: A Subversive History. . .
. [Gioia] is always fun to read. . . . Gioia remains something of
an outsider critic, convinced that the passion for destruction can
be a creative passion."--Michael Dirda, Washington Post
"In the space of a sentence, Gioia has let even the most cautious
prospective reader know he has a lovely light touch, a mischievous
sense of humour, and a determinedly skewed take on how music has
been chronicled over the past 2,000-odd years. The highlights are
too many to list. . . . He knows how to tell a story in a way that
will keep people reading."--Times Literary Supplement
"In this excellent history, music critic Gioia (How to Listen to
Jazz) dazzles with tales of how music grew out of violence, sex,
and rebellion. . . . Gioia's richly told narrative provides fresh
insights into the history of music."--Publishers Weekly, starred
review
"In this meticulously researched yet thoroughly page-turning book,
Gioia argues for the universality of music from all cultures and
eras. Subversives from Sappho to Mozart and Charlie Parker are
given new perspective--as is the role of the church and other
arts-shaping institutions. Music of emotion is looked at alongside
the music of political power in a fascinating way by a master
writer and critical thinker. This is a must-read for those of us
for whom music has a central role in our daily lives."--Fred
Hersch, pianist and composer, and author of Good Things Happen
Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz
"Scintillating. . . . Gioia is writing about evolution and
magic--this is a music history that synthesizes both Darwin and
Frazer, and, at least in terms of writing for a general audience,
is the first to do so. We need this story."--Brooklyn Rail
"Ted Gioia's Music: A Subversive History is one of the most
important and welcome books I've encountered in the last decade. If
ever there were a book the world sorely needed, it's
Gioia's."--Buffalo News
"This book feels like the summation of a lifetime's avid musical
exploration and reading. It has an epic sweep and passionate
engagement with the topic that carries one along
irresistibly."--Telegraph
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