SOURCE: “Romantic Heroes of Jazz,” in Times Literary Supplement, June 7, 1991, p. 23.

In the following excerpt, Lively commends Dyer's study of jazz music in But Beautiful, but notes that his interpretation lacks adequate social and historical perspective.

But Beautiful is unclassifiable, and all the better for that. Geoff Dyer tells us in the preface that when he began writing, he was unsure of the form the book should take. His improvisatory method has led to a series of semi-fictional portraits of some of the tortured geniuses of jazz—men like Lester Young, Monk, Art Pepper, Ben Webster and Bud Powell. Chet Baker is beaten up by his heroin dealer; Lester Young is picked on in the army. The familiar anecdotes of jazz lore are vividly retold, much as a good sax player will bring to life an old standard. Behind it all is the music, which Dyer evokes in...