The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz

Here is a brilliant and deeply informed overview of jazz history, one which gives a rich sense of who the major figures were and how they fit in with one another while showing the reader what to listen for and which recordings are indispensable for a full experience of the music. No other book fuses a singular examination of the key recordings with a presentation of the entire sweep of the music's classic period to provide the listener with such a useful and spirited companion.

Winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award, presented annually by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers to American authors and journalists whose books and articles on the subject of music are selected for their excellence.

Reviewing jazz music recorded between 1920 and 1970 that has been reissued on compact disc, Piazza discusses over 800 CDs, placing musicians and bands in their stylistic contexts. Piazza explains why each recording is interesting or important and summarizes the careers of major figures such as Dizzy Gillespie. Unfortunately, Piazza's breathless enthusiasm sometimes lowers his writing to the level of advertising copy. But he knows jazz history, and this study will benefit readers wishing to learn more about jazz or to expand their collections. Readers should realize, though, that much important jazz is not yet available on CD, and Piazza further limits the book's scope by excluding chapters on singers, trombonists, guitarists, bassists, and drummers. For larger jazz collections.?Paul Baker, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

More than 800 recordings are discussed here "in stylistic and chronological context" in what Piazza claims is "the only book of its scope and purpose to have been written entirely by one author." In that sense it is different from The Blackwell Guide to Recorded Jazz [RBB Ja 15 92] and All Music Guide to Jazz [RBB D 15 94], both of which have many contributors. By "classic" Piazza means those "recordings that have formed or that exemplify the definitive elements of the jazz style, in as undiluted a form as possible." Thus the vast majority of recordings discussed here date from the 1920s until about 1970, or not long after Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, which signalled a new direction for many jazz musicians.

The guide is organized into two main sections--one highlighting ensembles, the other soloists. The ensemble section covers dozens of bands including those of King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Art Blakey, and Charles Mingus. Players in the soloist section are arranged by instrument--trumpet, reeds, tenor saxophone, and piano. Within each category, one to two dozen instrumentalists are discussed in roughly chronological order. Obviously there is much overlap here, as well as between the ensembles and soloists sections. Vocalists, guitarists, bassists, and other musicians are covered, but access to them must come through the index rather than the detailed table of contents. Compact disc numbers are cited in the text for all but the very few recordings still available only on LP.

Piazza's jazz knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his writing is both informative and lively. Covering roughly the same time period as Leonard Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz (Horizon, 1960), The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz covers fewer artists but in more depth. It is recommended for academic, public, and large high-school libraries. For treatment of jazz fusion and jazz-influenced world music, one should look elsewhere.