[78-L] Leonard Feather's Inside Jazz

[Bill McClung]

I was in Tampa today and found a copy of "Inside Jazz" by Leonard Feather.
The book's front cover touts Feather as the world's #1 authority on bebop.

The book is from 1949, a 7"x10" paperback published by Robbins & Sons of
NYC.  Lots of great illustrations and notes on record labels and band
personnel.  Also has a page devoted to the song origins of many bebop
tunes.  The purpose of the book was to talk about bebop without resorting to
the stereotypes of berets and dark glasses and slang. One picture has Dizzy
and Louis standing arm in arm lost in conversation with the caption saying
that despite all the talk these two are actually good friends.

But what I found most interesting was that the front cover said "Inside
Jazz" but on the title page it was titled "Inside Bebop" and Dizzy
Gillespie's short introduction also said the book was titled 'Inside
Bebop."   So even by 1949 the publisher didn't think the world was not ready
for an authoritative discussion of bebop?  Anybody have a copy of this with
"Inside Bebop" as the title on the cover?