An imaginative and passionate synthesis of form and function, Landing on the Wrong NOte goes beyond mainstream jazz criticism, outlining a new poetics of jazz that emerges not from the ivory tower but from the clubs, performances, and lives of today's jazz musicians.
To the extent that the book leaves us wanting more, and opens up questions which still seem important eough to call out for answers, it is a success. It is certainly required reading for anyone interested both in jazz and contemporary critical theory. -- William Echard, Topia
...this kind of work is badly needed in jazz studies. Heble's book raises crucial issues and...the work should certainly be read by anyone interested in jazz as a cultural practice. -- William Echard, Topia
Landing on the Wrong Note...[introduces] some fascinatingnew ways of looking at jazz history and articulating ajazz-informed criticism. -- Hua Hsu, The Wire
Heble approaches the idea of 'dissonance', or non-agreement, as a symptom of the modern condition and its discipline-minded political practices. Take that, Wynton Marsalis! -- Hua Hsu, The Wire
Heble gets off on the good foot, and many of Landing'sbest moments tread this sticky cultural line ofright/wrong. -- Hua Hsu, The Wire
Heble draws interesting intellectual alliances between the evolutionary paths tones and sentences, Ezra and Bird. -- Hua Hsu, The Wire
Heble's methodology is clearly in tune with that of his subject matter. -- Scott Thomson, The Book Shelf
Heble once again plays the unanticipated note, very much reflecting dissonant jazz which, despite the deaf-eared citicism of its detractors, has never reallly been about simplistic, 'anything goes' methodology. -- Scott Thomson, The Book Shelf
To properly appreciate Landing on the Wrong Noteyou haveto put on your thinking cap, find a quiet place, and wadethrough a high density of ideas. -- Nils Jacobson, AllAbout Jazz Update
Heble's book is truly outstanding. ...thought provoking and powerful. -- Nils Jacobson, All About Jazz Update
This exciting and adventurous work exemplifies the trenchancy of the new directions in jazz scholarship. Combining contemporary critical discourses with insights from his personal experience as an innovative arts presenter, Ajay Heble challenges scholars, musicians and audiences to move beyond the comfortable narratives so often presented as 'jazz history' to examine the role of the hybrid, mutable, unstable, noisy, boundary-shattering improvised music of our day as both agent and subject of social, cultural, and political change. -- George E. Lewis, Department of Music, University of California, San Diego
Ajay Heble is Associate Professor of English at the University of Guelph in Canada. The author of a book on Alice Munro and the editor of a volume of Canadian criticism, he is also the Artistic Director of the Guelph Jazz Festival. He wears a beret.