Essential Jazz: The First 100 Years

A complete jazz chronology, ESSENTIAL JAZZ: THE FIRST 100 YEARS, 2e, delivers a thorough and engaging introduction to jazz and American culture. Designed for nonmajors, this brief text explores the development of jazz from its nineteenth-century roots in ragtime and blues through swing and bebop to fusion and contemporary jazz styles. Unique in its up-to-date coverage, one-third of ESSENTIAL JAZZ is devoted to performers of the 1960s through present-day performers. The text's flexible organization and clear, interesting presentation are designed to appeal to learners with little or no music background. Accessible, informative Listening Guides provide a rich sociocultural context for each selection, giving both newcomers and aficionados a true feel for the vibrant, ever-changing sound of jazz.

Henry Martin is Professor of Music at Rutgers University--the country's only program that grants a degree in jazz scholarship. He has enjoyed a dual career as an award-winning composer-pianist and a music theorist specializing in jazz and the Western tonal tradition. Albany Records released his SELECTED PIANO MUSIC CD in 2010, and in 2004 Bridge Records released his CD PRELUDES AND FUGUES, with Martin performing. He is coeditor of the ANNUAL REVIEW OF JAZZ STUDIES, and his books include CHARLIE PARKER AND THEMATIC IMPROVISATION, COUNTERPOINT, and ESSENTIAL JAZZ: THE FIRST 100 YEARS, 2e.

Keith Waters is Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has written extensively on jazz improvisation and analysis. A jazz pianist, he has performed in concerts, jazz festivals, and clubs throughout the United States, Europe, and Russia. Prof. Waters has recorded with VSOP Records, and his playing has been a featured topic in JAZZ PLAYER magazine. Among his recent recordings is a Chet Baker tribute with former Baker sideman Phil Urso and West Coast trumpeter Carl Saunders. The current chair of the Jazz Special Interest Group of the Society for Music Theory, he just completed a book on the studio recordings of Miles Davis' second great quintet.