Sittin' In

Sittin' In is in a word-exquisite. Meticulously laid out and extensively researched, it's a deep dive into this amazing period of American cultural history. These venues and this amazing music were among the best vehicles for integration the country ever had. This was an America really making a go of bringing people together. It wasn't legislation. It was Jazz. And it worked. We are incredibly lucky to have Sittin' In. The musicians in these pages made some of the most sublime music you will ever hear. Seek it out if you have not already. - Henry Rollins

Without a doubt a MAJOR contribution to jazz history in so many ways. An explosion of never-before-seen images, an expert history of the music it celebrates, and lengthy and superb interviews with a killer-row of musicians and scholars. Truly a must-have for anyone for whom swing is the thing. - Loren Schoenberg, Former Executive Director/Current Senior Scholar of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem

Any research project of this depth and breadth deserves celebration, especially when it focuses on places and ideas that are usually dismissed in most jazz histories and studies. So valuable, and so browsable-to use a book industry term, one I have affection for, that basically says, "jump in anywhere and carry on from there..." That's this book. With inspired, insightful interviews with Quincy Jones, Sonny Rollins, Jason Moran, and others. - Ashley Kahn, author of Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album, and The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records

This book is a revelation. In these unique images of mid-century jazz clubs, the camera is turned on the audience-showing the hidden history of racial integration. - Jon Savage, author of England's Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock; The Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else: Joy Division, 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded; and Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture

You definitely feel like you're back in the era when looking at these photos...just fascinating. - Press Play with Madeline Brand/KCRW Los Angeles

This marvelous book is a must tor anyone interested not only in the history of jazz and American city culture but also tor it's wondrous design...Take the trip! It just might blow your mind... - Nels Cline/Wilco and The Nels Cline Singers

Book of the year! Easily! - Johan Kugelberg, author of The Velvet Underground: New York Art and Punk: An Aesthetic

Sittin' In is a book that has a lot to say, with or without words...It champions and shines a long overdue light on a golden era of our society. Jazz is the backdrop and, as it still does today, feeds the very soul. But here we take a closer look and see that the jazz culture was, and is, a powerful spirit of our humanity. - All About Jazz

This wondrous book is most appreciated...The real joy here is just looking at all of the photos of "regular" jazz fans sitting in booths, just hanging out and enjoying themselves in clubs. Souvenir photos of people gathering in booths, as well musicians on stage reveal a culture and worldview of life's simpler pleasures. The writings, as well as the wonderful photos and illustrations all seem to shout out "this is what you are missing in life" and makes me pray for a return of people putting the real meaning into the term "jazz club". - Jazz Weekly

Serious jazz fans should have this book...A sharp, clear explanation of a long-gone era of musical and social exploration. - The Arts Fuse


...a swinging book, with amazing interviews and pictures about jazz clubs. You really might want to check it out. - Penn Jillette

This handsome book looks back not only to the distant years of clubs long gone, but to a seemingly equally distant time...when we could gather freely with one another, relax, and enjoy the best live music in the land. - Wall Street Journal

...offers an unprecedented look inside the jazz clubs from this era across the United States. Drawing on an incredible trove of never-before-seen photos and memorabilia, [Gold] gives us a glimpse at a world that was rich in culture, music, dining, fashion, and more. - LA Weekly

...serves as a welcome escape for those yearning to see live music again. - Jewish Insider

This is a terrific book about the history of jazz clubs and the great artists who played them. Highly recommend! - Billy Crystal

Jeff Gold's Sittin' In is a terrific new book documenting the jazz clubs of the 1940s & 1950s...the photographs are a treasure, and the text is fascinating. Even if you aren't an aficionado of the jazz of this era, or of jazz in general, the stories of the time and of this culture (let alone the lasting impact on music) make this one well worth owning. - Benmont Tench

What a great book-I'm staggered by the archival material that's been researched. - Bill Wyman

The images testify not just to jazz's popular peak but to a now-distant optimistic moment of promise in American life...These images bequeath a rarely published view of Black American middle-class life at mid-century: relaxed, elegant, and urbane...You also come away struck by how singular this postwar moment was. Finally, though, you come away refreshed by the spirit of what once was, a spirit that rebukes and shames where we seem to be today. - The New York Review of Books

Excellent. - The Daily Beast