“This book consists of a seamless blend of anecdotes and analysis, filled with delight and insight. Robert Faulkner and Howard Becker, writing from their twin perspectives of professional jazz players and renowned scholars, offer an unprecedented understanding of the interpersonal dynamics of jazz performance and the implications of using jazz as a model for understanding negotiations in other realms of human interaction.”

Barry Kernfeld, editor of The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz

“Faulkner and Becker’s argument that repertoire is a process has broad implications for understanding collective action in different fields of endeavor and for rethinking the place of the art work in music studies. Writing with characteristic skill and wit, the authors illuminate the vital interplay between the factors shaping repertories and the cultivation of individual artistic voices. They take readers on an exacting journey through jazz musicians’ daily challenges as they prepare for performances and create music on the bandstand. Analyzing musical triumphs and failures, the authors illuminate the deep aural knowledge and skills of ‘ordinary’ musicians. This is a book that will inspire readers to listen with new admiration and attention.”--Paul F. Berliner, author of Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation

Paul Berliner

"Jazz musicians everywhere play together pretty easily, even when they don’t know all the same songs and have never rehearsed. Faulkner and Becker draw on their own long experience as musicians and sociologists to ask the right questions of other musicians and to discover even better questions and answers along the way. The result is a model of qualitative research that provides a master key to rethinking one of the great sociological puzzles: how people can work together effectively, or at all."

Mitchell Duneier, author of Slim's Table and Sidewalk