Marian McPartland's Jazz World

All in Good Time

By: Marian McPartland

Narrated by: Marian McPartland

In this collection of musical portraits, jazz pianist and radio host Marian McPartland pays sparkling tribute to such beloved and legendary figures as Benny Goodman, Bill Evans, Joe Morello, Paul Desmond, Alec Wilder, Mary Lou Williams, and others.

In a preface to this new edition, published originally as All in Good Time, McPartland extends her commentary to include details of her long-running National Public Radio show Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz and memories of her late husband, famed Chicago trumpeter Jimmy McPartland.

This production also includes special bonus audio of excerpts from Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, featuring interviews with Rosemary Clooney, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and Mary Lou Williams.

©1987, 2003 Marian McPartland. Articles recorded with permission by DownBeat magazine. Piano Jazz segments (P) and 2006 Concord Music Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws. (P)2006 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Finalist, Narration by the Author or Authors, 2007

"She has done her studying from the inside: as one of the few working jazz musicians to write about the music with any frequency, she offers a perspective on the men and women who play jazz for a living that seldom finds its way into print." (New York Times)
"Marian McPartland is that rare combination, a first rank jazz musician who also can write about her music, its milieu and musicians....[She] writes with wit, acumen, and vivacity." (San Diego Union Tribune)

A Piece of Jazz history

The book was mostly a collection of pieces Marian wrote for various publications during the 60's and 70's with updates written within the last couple of years.
She has some interesting insights to a rather small subset of all the jazz that was going on at the time.
A lot of the pieces were about players of the day such as Benny Goodman, Dave Brubek, Paul Desmond etc. Her naration was somewhat of a problem, because in many places it was unclear if what she was reading were her opinions or quotes from the people she was writting about.