Museums survive and thrive solely at the will of philanthropists, benefactors whose unique personal interests coincide with a selfless desire to serve the public good. Far many more museums fails than thrive, because when the money dries up, as it inevitably does more often than not, so too does the institution. It is therefore unsurprising that most museums are almost perpetually fighting for survival. What is surprising, however, is that a place as unique and important as the New York Jazz Museum, which existed in one form or another only from 1972 to 1976, has been virtually lost to history.
To tell the story of the museum is to also to tell the story of its founder and chief proponent, Howard Fischer, which is why Jazz Expose: The New York Jazz Museum and the Power Struggle That Destroyed It reads as much as a memoir as a history. Fischer, an attorney by training, is clearly an aficionado, and the same love of jazz that drove the museum drives Expose. The book itself is a veritable cornucopia of trivia, related both directly and indirectly to the story of museum. Various tidbits are packaged as "News Items" and serve chiefly to contextualize the narrative into the larger story of jazz: the musicians, the critics, and the fans.
Expose is dense, sometimes frustratingly so. Facts and anecdotes fly so quickly at the reader that one often wishes Fischer would take the time to slow down and paint a fuller picture of his seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of the New York jazz scene. Events are presented matter-of-factly, and though we do get a glimpse into the author's opinions, particularly in the later chapters (more about that momentarily), the tone comes off as almost pedantic at times. This weakness is, oddly enough, also the book's greatest strength, as jazz scholars and fans will find gem after gem of knowledge packed tight within the thin volume. It seems as if Fischer had enough material to fill a book three or four times this size; such an expansion would be well warranted by the sheer quality and amount of information.
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