The third edition of the Rough Guide to Jazz has over 2,100 critical biographies, ranging from greats like Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis to rising stars like Stacey Kent and Jamie Cullum. As well as outlining every artist's career, each entry concludes with recommendations of the best of their recordings on CD. The guide includes many illustrations by top jazz photographers.
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"The book most of us will turn to first. . . the long-established market - leading single volume."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
This is the best jazz guide on the market. Ian Carr has an unassailable position as one of the best jazz writers in print. His biography of Miles Davis is superb and I would advise anyone who wants to appriciate the context of Miles' career and his development of musical styles to read that book, it is wonderful for existing fans and a brilliant introduction for those who do not already know his work. Here the three authors give us the opportunity to explore the world of jazz, not via a didactic single route but by giving us details and insights into a reasonably comprethensive list of jazz. It is true that these insights are not always the same for each artist nor do they necessarily offer a consistent historical context for every entry but that for me is a strength in such a book, I am also credited with the ability to do much of the exploration for myself. Musical enjoyment is after all a rather subjective process. I don't want anyone, however knowledgable, telling me in what order I should develop my musical appreciation in any genre.
It took me a long time to start seriously listening to Miles Davis, for insatnce, when I started to get into jazz about 10 years ago. There was so much written and said about him and I was being told which albums I should start with and so forth, with the result that Kind of Blue and In a Silent Way were amongst the last of his albums I bought and I do owm the vast majority of them.
So use this as a took to find your way around jazz and to make leaps from one school of jazz to another this will help develop your ear and challenge you preconceptions about what is and is not jazz. Hmmm..... nice!
It took me a long time to start seriously listening to Miles Davis, for insatnce, when I started to get into jazz about 10 years ago. There was so much written and said about him and I was being told which albums I should start with and so forth, with the result that Kind of Blue and In a Silent Way were amongst the last of his albums I bought and I do owm the vast majority of them.
So use this as a took to find your way around jazz and to make leaps from one school of jazz to another this will help develop your ear and challenge you preconceptions about what is and is not jazz. Hmmm..... nice!
6 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Simon Rudkin
I don't think it is! I've always found the Rough Guides to destinations fantastic. When visiting a new country they provide an introduction, a guide, a well-considered set of pointers to the must-see and must-do. As a new arrival in the world of jazz, this book just doesn't do that at all. It's a straight alphabetical compendium and tells you nothing about history, styles or any useful background. I'm sure it's great for a jazz-buff, but for a beginner, it's baffling. Why not the structure of say the Rough Guide to Reggae, but without that volume's lack of proof-reading?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars
4 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad..
29 Nov 2007
By B. Parker
- Published on Amazon.com
I have read this book cover to cover several times by now, so I have a few opinions. Like another reviewer said, the entries for artists of the same caliber are very disproportunate. There is also a shortage of biographical info on some of the people. The mental breakdowns of Bud Powell and Billy Bolden are well documented, but no mention is made of the fact of Jaco Pastorious' breakdown and death (he's even talked about in the present tense). Here's my main gripe: while their choices for essential albums are mostly right on - though they only recommend ONE JOHN ZORN CD - at least 60-70% of the CDs they recommend are out of print and ridiculously expensive, or on import labels. I underlined quite a few that I wanted in the book and went looking on Amazon for them. It's enough to make you cry. And I don't know about you, but I automatically skip the entries on British musicians. I just don't care about British jazz. There's too much good American stuff for me to dig into. So, all in all - the book is good if you're dipping your toe into the pool, but if you've been wading in here for awhile, you might be disappointed.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
21 Aug 2004
By Joe Zawinul
- Published on Amazon.com
I like this book, mainly because I find I share similar tastes as as the authors. If they recommend a CD, I generally enjoy it. Their selection of the best recordings of people like Corea and Jarrett I also agree with. Whereas I have been disappointed with other publications such as the Penguin and AMG guides which have a different viewpoint.
Not surprisingly, the book is very good on the British scene and what is happening on the Babel, Caber and Provocateur labels. The UK is very interesting at the moment, with lots of young exciting players and music.
Not surprisingly, the book is very good on the British scene and what is happening on the Babel, Caber and Provocateur labels. The UK is very interesting at the moment, with lots of young exciting players and music.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine guide
19 Oct 2007
By Nikica Gilic
- Published on Amazon.com
This is a fine guide indeed - it covers more non-US artists than some other notable editions (European, Azian, African artists...) and it really tries to keep up with recent developments in jazz.
Naturally, all that means that traditionalists might desire larger articles on (mostly American) true jazz giants of the classical era, but that's just a matter of personal taste.
Some of the articles are impressionistic, unneceserily pointing out that an artist didn't play so well when he wisited Europe few years before he died, but failing to say why precisly was he so great, but most of the articles are (in the worst cases) fine, written with real passion for the music, and often relying on serious research.
As a fan (primarily but not exclusively) of older jazz I'd like to point to the articles on Buddy Bolden and ODJB, where the influence of this all-white group's influence on British society is comparable to the influence of later punk musicians (!?).
So, this book is not only interesting and useful, it is also thought-provoking.
Naturally, all that means that traditionalists might desire larger articles on (mostly American) true jazz giants of the classical era, but that's just a matter of personal taste.
Some of the articles are impressionistic, unneceserily pointing out that an artist didn't play so well when he wisited Europe few years before he died, but failing to say why precisly was he so great, but most of the articles are (in the worst cases) fine, written with real passion for the music, and often relying on serious research.
As a fan (primarily but not exclusively) of older jazz I'd like to point to the articles on Buddy Bolden and ODJB, where the influence of this all-white group's influence on British society is comparable to the influence of later punk musicians (!?).
So, this book is not only interesting and useful, it is also thought-provoking.
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4.2 out of 5 stars
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