The good, the bad, and how on earth did they get there from here?
Reviews from magazines, newspapers and websites

Comments and reactions from readers under the headings of Colleges, Composers and Musicians, Critics, and Other Readers, can be found by clicking Comments above

the jazz composer is not a book of instruction. Indeed it’s more a book of destruction. But what fun, how entertaining, and how welcome.
John Robert Brown in Jazz Journal, June 2009. (A view which fits into the ‘how on earth did they get there from here?’ category of reviews. See my blog entitled Serious Concerns for more on this.A later blog Bloody Marvellous shows how one reader was seriously misled by this review.)

[A] mindstorm of a book.
Collier's favourite maxim is that ‘jazz happens in real time, once’ - a truth that made me value even more preciously my record collection. … [H]is commentaries on pieces as short as Ellington's Harlem Airshaft or as long as Evans's and Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain or Mingus's The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, give you new listening experiences and understanding.
Chris Searle, The Morning Star, July 1 2009.

The title reads like that of a textbook, but this evaluation of the art is accessible to any layman with ears. Contradicting conventional wisdom about some composers … he backs his positions with evidence and references and makes readers think hard about what they listen to.
This is an important book.
Doug Ramsey, Rifftides Recommendations, July 20th, 2009.

Collier’s writing is refreshing, and his basic premise is both provocative and sound … Time and time again in this work, the author adopts a bold position and sticks by it … I enjoyed the book, but I think I would enjoy seeing Collier in a debate even more.
On any short list of the most polemical writers in jazz today, he is fighting for the top spot.
Ted Gioia, jazz.com, July 24th, 2009

Rather than dwelling on the less than satisfactory, Collier wants to inspire more creativity. There are frequent quotation from other writers … generally well used for advancing his own argument, and the conversational, deliberately repetitive style, works well. … Even if you don’t follow the section of notated examples from his own output, you’ll get a lot of stimulus from reading his words.
Brian Priestley, Jazzwise, October 2009

'Jazz happens in real time, once' is Graham Collier's mantra throughout this characteristically thoughtful and absorbing consideration of the role of the composer in the music. Packed with pungent and thought-provoking opinions on all aspects of this oddly neglected subject, … the book is at once intensely personal, so that it grips the reader with all the power of an intimate memoir, and cogently argued. … Unflinchingly forthright … yet always considered and persuasive, the jazz composer may well infuriate as many readers as it delights, but compellingly readable as it is, it is unlikely to leave anyone indifferent.
Chris Parker, Vortex Jazz Club, October 2009

It's that very individuality which has always been a mark of Collier's composing, and as a consequence this book is integral to his overall musical conception. Indeed, the continuity between Collier the composer of music and Collier the composer of text is pronounced. In both cases his lack of arrogance, in marked contrast to the Marsalis precedent, endears him to the reader, even in the face of his own trenchantly expressed opinions.
Nic Jones All about Jazz

Collier has wisely combined the section detailing various compositional techniques he uses that are designed to give the musical director and the musicians more freedom with good musical notation backed by aural references on the companion web site. This is the most original and worthwhile part of the book and might inspire, or, at the least, provide new working methods to aspiring composers who will probably benefit from reading this book and considering the musical examples.
John Schu, JazzTimes

‘This measured and well-researched volume is his most recent polemical volley in his on-going battle against mediocre big band jazz. Suffused with observations and experiences drawn from a lifetime in the jazz trenches, in many ways it’s his most personal and profound book. … [and] challenges any thinking musician who wants to write jazz compositions which exemplify both parts of that loaded phrase.’
Ken Waxman, Jazzword

‘While other writers I have disagreed with make me want to put down or even hurl their books, Collier makes me want to delve into his way of hearing things and re-examine my own perspective on jazz. If I ultimately re-assert my own views and find myself less than persuaded by his arguments, I'm nonetheless thankful that he's made me think. … I don't think I have the material yet to write a book about my philosophy as Collier does, but perhaps when I do, I'll aspire to craft a tome as enjoyable and candid as his, my disagreements with his perspective notwithstanding.’
Peter Hum, Jazzblog.ca

‘The essence of Graham Collier’s commendable book is that jazz composition is a means to an end: the performance is paramount. The jazz composer’s job is to help the musicians reach that zone where magic happens, and therefore to discuss jazz compositions independently of their realisation is pointless. … Overall this is an exceptional contribution, not just to the understanding of jazz but to its betterment.’
John Shand, Extempore, Melbourne, May 2010.