Jazz: A Listeners Guide

Surveys the history of jazz and analyses the compositions and performances of musicians, including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, and Keith Jarrett.

The author writes, “… My goal is to guide the beginning listener’s ear. Each large chapter of the book is thus divided into smaller units dealing with a genre, a single major musician, or a more or less cohesive grouping of performers… I discuss 139 pieces in this text; 50 of them are to be found in The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz… I believe that my choices here are a comprehensive introduction to the history of jazz; and I hope that they are various and numerous enough to allow the student and teacher of jazz and jazz history a certain flexibility in the use of this book and to constitute an informed foundation for further listening and study…..”