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Summary
Summary
Here's the definitive one-volume resource on everything jazz and blues! From their roots in African culture to their expression in the music of the twentieth century, the history of jazz and blues reveals how this truly American music came to be part of the soundtrack of contemporary urban life. Comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible, The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues is organized chronologically by decade. Each section gives a historical overview plus an A to Z of influential artists and their key recordings. Readers will learn how jazz and blues have changed over the past century-and then use dedicated Web links to hear those changes. With history, artist biographies, and illustrative mp3s, this book is one-stop shopping for a great overview of two important musical forms.
Reviews (3)
Booklist Review
This heavily illustrated volume chronicles the history of jazz and blues from their roots to the present day. In the introduction, jazz author and journalist Mandel explains that the book's intention is not to provide an exhaustive history; rather, he and the authors, drawn primarily from music journalism, hope that the selected eras and performers represent the breadth of styles and stories that make up jazz and blues. There is coverage of hundreds of musicians, ranging from blues guitarist Daddy 0 Stovepipe, born in 1867, to jazz saxophonist Joshua 0 Redman, born in 1966. Aside from the opening chapter, which discusses the "early years," from the late 1890s through the 1910s, and the final one, focusing on contemporary musicians from the 1990s through today, the book is arranged chronologically into chapters representing one decade each. Each chapter begins with a one-page overview of culture and music during that decade and then treats jazz and blues histories separately. The authors include a detailed look at prominent musical styles and important events, several pages featuring the top four or five artists of the decade, and brief entries on other important musicians. Each chapter also features "WWW Track boxes" offering URLs linking to MP3 audio files. A general index, as well as separate indexes for jazz and blues musicians, is included, as are a glossary and several pages describing the equipment and instruments typically used by jazz and blues artists. Although there are more in-depth reference sources, such as The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz0 (Grove, 2002) and All Music Guide to the Blues0 (Backbeat Books, 2003), this volume's extensive collection of photos, links to audio files, and inclusion of some of today's younger artists, such as Diana Krall and Nora Jones, make it a worthy supplement to other works. Public and undergraduate libraries as well as individual jazz and blues enthusiasts will find this as a welcome addition to their collections. --Steven York Copyright 2006 Booklist
Choice Review
Like its predecessor, The Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (CH, Mar'04, 41-3771), this slick encyclopedia presents general overviews of blues and jazz. It excels by listing Internet links to sound files and quotations from musicians and critics. The book begins with a well-laid-out users' guide. Coverage is chronological, with each decade occupying a chapter; essays are given in the context of the surrounding environment--social, cultural, or technological. Two "Artists Indexes"--jazz and blues--list ensembles and performers of each genre, and indicate their years of dominance. The brief glossary concisely presents various types of jazz and blues (e.g., Third Stream). Color or black-and-white photographs of performers are identified with brief captions; one of the few errors is the image of Sidney Bechet, labeled as a clarinet virtuoso but shown playing a soprano saxophone; this could mislead the uninitiated. The index is well structured but does not list every name in the text or artists' lists. This volume will serve as a quick introduction to blues or jazz for the uninitiated or for those wishing to learn about musicians unfamiliar to them. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and general readers. R. Hartsock University of North Texas
Library Journal Review
That this encyclopedia covers both jazz and blues could have been a drawback. But editor Mandel, a contributor to Down Beat magazine, strikes a remarkable balance in terms of the text and illustrations with the help of his quality contributors (e.g., James Hale, Bob Porter, Bill Milkowski, and Todd Jenkins). Each genre is fluidly chronicled by decade, beginning with a broad stroke of background from the 1800s to the present. These ten-year increments convey an understandable historical time line and emphasize the continuity of the music's development. While many of the accompanying color and black-and-white photos and illustrations have been featured in other books and articles on the topics, they are well chosen and do nothing to detract from the quality of the text. (A shot of the Fletcher Henderson Band circa 1924, in fact, shatters the stereotype that early jazz musicians were unschooled primitives.) Principle musicians are then allotted a biographical sketch of roughly two pages, with key song explanations and highlights. An "A-Z of Artists" follows with shorter, less-detailed profiles, but these provoke interest nonetheless. Illustrative MP3s are accessed via nifty web links. The book concludes with sections on instruments of blues and jazz, a glossary, and an extensive listing of jazz and blues artists. Bottom Line While nothing breathtakingly original is included here, the balance and intermingling of jazz and blues make this a fine resource for most libraries, even ones with extensive music holdings. The only thing lacking is a list of suggested recordings to guide readers to further involvement in the music.-William G. Kenz, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Moorhead (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
