Ted Gioia

About Love Songs: The Hidden History: This book represents the
first comprehensive survey of the music of romance, courtship and sexuality,
and encompasses the complete story of the love song from ancient
Mesopotamia to Miley Cyrus. Scrupulously researched over a period of two
decades, Gioia's work will challenge many of the prevalent views of Western
music history, and unravel the surprising (and previously hidden) story of how
the love songs of our time were shaped by influences from Africa and the
Middle East, as well as by the outcasts and bohemians of European society.

Ted Gioia

PUBLISHED IN JULY 2012 BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS:

The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire

by Ted Gioia

"If you look up just one title in The Jazz Standards, before you
realize it you will have spent an intriguing hour or two learning
fascinating and new things about old songs that you have
known most of your life."
Dave Brubeck

"Which is best: interpretation or song? In any case, jazz
and standards are forever locked in loving embrace. A
finely researched work."
Sonny Rollins

"Mr. Gioia's is the first general-interest, wide-ranging and
authoritative guide to the basic contemporary jazz canon."
Wall Street Journal

"What makes The Jazz Standards so engaging is just this sort
of anecdotal texture, Gioia's ability to write as an inhabitant of
both the tradition and the songs…To read The Jazz Standards,
then, is not unlike listening to Gioia play his way through this
music, sharing not just what he likes (and dislikes) but also
what he knows."
Los Angeles Times

“Richly informative…Gioia delivers this kind of in-depth notation
(and correction of the record) again and again. Calling them
'the soundtrack of my own life,' he takes the reader through
hundreds of songs….The Jazz Standards itself is awfully nice
to dip into.”
Washington Post

"In virtually every instance, Gioia delivers."
The Atlantic Monthly

"One man’s repertoire may be another man’s B-list, but when
the man is Ted Gioia, one tends to listen – in both senses.
Gioia, among the most lauded of jazz writers, has chosen more
than 250 songs. He tells the story behind each….Compulsively
readable, and belongs on the shelves of every jazz lover, or jazz-
lover wannabe."
Toronto Globe and Mail

"What a useful and informative book The Jazz Standards is!
Explaining the jazz repertory in a way that is accessible for
the jazz beginner yet stimulating for the aficionado, Ted
Gioia shows once again why he is one the best jazz
writers around today."
Gerald Early

"Warning: This book is addictive."
Dallas Morning News

"Gioia is arguably the must lucid writer-historian on jazz...For
browsing, or for remarkably intimate histories of songs and
tunes many know by heart, The Jazz Standards can’t be beat."
Montreal Gazette

“Gioia writes with an endearing blend of erudition and
opinionating…that makes the book both a delightful browse
and a handy reference and roadmap for jazzophiles.”

"This book should be in the library of every gigging jazz
musician and every serious jazz fan."
Library Journal

comprehensive guide to the
jazz repertoire, and the latest work
from critic and scholar Ted Gioia.
The Jazz Standards is a unique
resource, a browser's companion,
and an invaluable introduction
to the art form. This essential book
for music lovers tells the story of
more than 250 key jazz songs,
and includes a listening guide to
more than 2,000 recordings.

Ted Gioia can be contacted at
tedgioia@hotmail.com

For promotional photos, click here

Also visit
Great Books Guide
The New Canon
Conceptual Fiction
P ostmodern Mystery
Fractious Fiction
Ted's Twitter Feed

SEE ALSO:
A Spotify Playlist of 2,000 tracks
recommended in The Jazz Standards
(courtesy of Jim Higgins of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

For publicity photos click here

These photos can be used for publicity and all other
purposes.

For publicity photos, click here

For Ted Gioia's bio, click here

For Ted Gioia's Twitter feed, click here

LOVE SONGS: THE HIDDEN HISTORY

by Ted Gioia

Ted Gioia summarizes some of the exciting findings from
his love songs research in these articles:

Did the Love Song Originate in Africa & t he Middle East? (The Daily Beast)
The Roots of the Bondage Theme in Love Songs (Wall Street Journal)
A Conversation with Ted Gi oia about Love Songs (Barnes & Noble)
The Complex Gender History of the Love Song (Oxford University Press blog)
Love Songs and the Case for Musical Universals (The Smart Set)
How MTV and YouTube Changed the Music of Romance (Salon)
T ed Gioia's Lecture on the History of Love Songs (Vimeo)
Love Songs Talk at the Library of Congress (Library of Congress)

What critics are saying about
Love Songs: The Hidden History

WINNER OF THE ASCAP DEEMS TAYLOR AWARD

"Gioia’s book covers a tremendous amount of ground
and gives you something to remember on almost every
page. ....He invites the critic’s cliché 'wonderfully erudite',
and earns it, not to mention the even cheaper critical
term 'provocative', though he earns that, too."
The New Yorker

"Gioia has constructed a mind-expanding, deep-focus
piece of scholarship here, certainly the first book to
relate, longitudinally as it were...Gioia’s book achieves
intellectual liftoff, high learning combining with high
imagination."
The Atlantic Monthly

“[A] richly researched and heartfelt song book of the
ages… Gioia boldly and brilliantly enters the space
between the noises of ancient fertility rites and the
sexualised music videos of YouTube to discover how
melody and love songs, like hearts full of passion,
jealousy and hate, are never out of date.”
The Times

Selected articles by Ted Gioia available on the web

LATEST NEWS:

N ow Available: A Revised and Expanded
New Edition of Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz

Paperback Edition Published by Basic Books on April 20, 2021

Music: A Subversive History
by Ted Gioia

HOME PAGE TED GIOIA'S BIO PHOTOS THE HISTORY OF JAZZ THE JAZZ STANDARDS LOVE SONGS TED'S RECORDINGS TWITTER

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY ABOUT TED GIOIA

“In virtually every instance, Gioia delivers.”
The Atlantic Monthly

"A radiantly accomplished writer."
Wall Street Journal

“He invites the critic’s cliché 'wonderfully erudite', and earns it, not to mention the even
cheaper critical term 'provocative', though he earns that, too."
The New Yorker

"[Gioia] is one of the outstanding music historians in America."
Dallas Morning News

“Thoughtful and thought-provoking.”
New York Times

"[Gioia's] prose moves with enough velocity and packs enough insight to keep even
jaded readers interested.”
Billboard

“Gioia writes with the musical knowledge of a jazzman and the immediacy of a reporter,
in language that has a casual grace.”
San Francisco Chronicle