Jazz

Great coffee table book for a friend. Excellent illustration and a great primer for newbies and jazz lovers alike. Bought this on a recommendation and glad I did.

interesting

Very informative and interesting

Perfect

The only book I've read that gives a fairly complete overview of Jazz up until the modern era i.e. to include modern Jazz Icons.

As a devout fan of the 40s,50s, and 60s jazz music this book is the most comprehensive guide I have ever had I like the format of this book in the table of contents you have THE HISTORY OF JAZZ, AN ANATOMY OF INSTRUMENTS, JAZZ GIANTS, TECHNIQUES, AND A GALLERY OF CLASSIC RECORDINGS as a long time jazz buff I'm fascinated with the history of jazz starting with the 1940s as charted on pages 28-29 and then the author John Fordham delves into my favorite jazz genre Bebop from pages 30-33 I particularly like the photo on page 30 titled THE STREET if you don't know what that's referring to then you need to buy this book. I also like the photo on page 31 of the two Bebop jazz kings Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker read my book review of NEW YORK IN THE 70s authored by ALLAN TANNENBAUM to see what I have to say about Dizzy, in the 70s I saw Dizzy, Sonny Rollins, and Dexter Gordon perform in the village. On pages 34- 39 the 50s jazz is written about and my favorite jazz musician Miles Davis is prominently spoken of on page 36 there is an excellent summary of MILES DAVIS on pages 114-115 I really dig (jazz lingo) the photo of MILES on page 115 in my humble opinion the greatest damn jazz album is KIND OF BLUE I listen to this album at least once a day every day of the week. The last significant decade for jazz was the 60s from pages 40-45, this book is a must have item for anyone who loves Jazz or has any kind of interest in learning about jazz music.

I have the hardback edition of this (a large book 12" x 10") and its a great volume to get. First published in the UK in 1993 it covers the full spectrum of Jazz from its very humble origins in the 19th century right through to the very best contemporary recordings available at the time it was published. In short a 100 years of Jazz is covered.Unlike some of the other excellent Jazz guides (like the AMG one for example) this doesn't attempt to cover every single album by every single major Jazz artist. What you get is a beautifully photographed section on the many different eras of Jazz with full colour pictures of the most important albums made, together recording details musicians and a brief appraisal of the album. So for example 'Early Funk' and 'Mainstream' both have 8 albums listed each.Other areas of the book include 'Jazz Giants' in which Fordham writes knowledgably about 20 of the greatest artists including Scott Joplin, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett.There are also sections on 'Techniques' (including harmony improvisation etc) as well as 'An anatomny of Instruments' (the voice, Trumpet, keyboards etc).Its all very well written and whilst there are plenty of books out there that cover these different areas in a lot more detail, I have yet to find one that covers all these different aspects of Jazz as well as this one. Buy now before it disappears!

Sonny Rollins preface states this is a comprehensive and substantial book, and who can disagree with the Saxophone Colossus? This Jazz history is short, but rich on texture. The pictures included in the timelines are remarkable, such as Louis Armstrong first cornet, or a program cover from the 1949 Paris Jazz festival. The book, published in 1993, includes history through 1989, and includes such people as Wynton Marsalis, Keith Jarrett, and Brit Courtney Pine. The jazz giants section gives a little more history of key figures, and features some great pictures as Miles and Bird together, or Lester Young sitting back with pork pie hat. The gallery of classic recording could fuel anyone's collection for years, and many have been re-released on CD now.I am not a musician but the section on the anatomy of instruments, provides a good introduction to such things as circular breathing on the saxophone or walking on the bass. I would have gotten more out of the techniques if I could read music, but was still useful in explaining such things as modal harmony, and even jazz dance.