Customer Reviews

All Music Guide to Jazz : The Definitive Guide to Jazz Music

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a well done book that fulfills most of what you would buy it for: Exhaustive inventories of Jazz albums with relative ratings and many reviews.

However, a few things would make me suggest the Penguin Guide over it (I own both):

1-ARTIST INDEX / Personell listing: the single greatest reason to get Penguin instead of the AMG is that every listing contains a complete personell listing at the top of the entry. Then the index in the back refers to the personell on albums. The AMG may list personell in the review, and indexes artists by any mention of them whether they are on an album or not. Penguin's version is much better for Jazz, where an artist's best work may be on someone else's album. Using the Penguin, you can look up every album Jack DeJohnette has played on as a sideman, just by flipping to the page numbers listed. In the AMG you have to wade through reviews (and many albums don't have reviews) which may just compare Jack's style with whoever is drumming on the record being reviewed.

2- Not every album is reviewed. Many albums are left only with ratings and no commentary whatsoever, which can be frustrating if you are wondering whether to buy a specific album. WHY did something get the rating it did is more important than the rating itself.

3- Consistency: The Penguin guide is written and judged by 2 men. As you go through it, you learn their biases and can glean more information about whether you'd like an album even if they give it a low score.

4- Mistakes. There are several mistakes in the AMG. For example, calling Speak Like A Child Herbie Hancock's last album for Bluenote a paragraph after reviewing the Prisoner.

To be fair though, there are advantages to the AMG:

1- The Penguin Guide limits itself to CDs out at the time it is published. This means you are SOL if you buy vinyl or used cds that have since gone out of print or if an album is rereleased after the Penguin Guide date. I think the AMG lists all albums whether they are currently in print as CD or not.

2- Tutorials. The AMG has essays in the back describing the many genres and time periods of jazz. In the body of the text are nice charts of the evolution of individual of instruments, from Saxophone to Bagpipes. Interesting though not vital if you are already into the music enough to need a definitive listing of albums.

In addition to this great book, I own the Penguin guide and the Rough guide and all three are very worthwhile (see my other reviews). In my opinion this is the one you should buy first as it includes numerous essays and lists about jazz music styles, instrument types and musicians that the other two guides do not. These features are a really useful guide to knowing where to start with jazz. This guide also appears to have the largest number of reviews. The reviews in the AMG seem a bit more generous and open-minded than those in the more conservative Penguin guide. I suspect that this is because you are getting the opinions of a larger number of reviewers, with a wider range of tastes. In summary, this is probably the most useful of all of the three guides that I have.

The AMG guide is a major resource for anyone interested in jazz at any level. They claim that over 20,000 recordings are reviewed and I believe them! The reviews and articles are excellent. However to publish this new edition and keep the page-count constant with the 3rd, they have reduced the size of the type. It can be read if one has normal sight--but with difficulty. Older readers might well need a magnifying glass.

I never go into a jazz store without the book or notes from the book in hand. It has rarely steered me wrong in ten years of use. Don't believe me. Just look up an artist you have several selections by already and see how close their observations are to your own. The book is in plain english but with smart reviews that do not seem preachy yet make the point. The whole AMG series is fine but the jazz one is great especially if you are building your tastes or collection.

This is THE resource for jazz record buying as it is far more comprehensive than any alternative. I take it with me to used vinyl stores because unlike any other guide, it attempts to include all major releases by an artist, not the ones that happen to be in print. On top of that, each artist and each release is considered in context, unlike the Penquin Guide, which attempts to apply a pecking order to artists based on their perceived "significance."

This book covers the whole range of styles in Jazz, with specialist essays on individual areas, and 'family trees' of the key players in Jazz history.
It is more comprehensive than any other volume I have found. The only area I have any critisism of it is in its coverage of European and British Jazz where (as I assume its an American publication) it is a little poor. For this reason it only gets 4 stars. In all other respects this book will keep you entertained for hours and hours. An essential Jazz reference volume to own.

The publication is as promised. Well defined capsules of songs, artists and reviews. I have started much of my Jazz collection using this book as a guide. I can honestly say I have not been disappointed. The reviews are informative but not redundant. Although concise they are insightful and effective. I would sincerely recommend this book to novice and seasoned Jazz enthusiasts alike.

All you need to know at your fingertips. Largely trustworthy
advice and insights on artists and albums. Handy biographical
info too.

I have read the accompaning review and almost past the book up. I was called to its attention by Billboard magazine. So I went back and read that review. They devoted a half page January 11 by Steve Graybow and I decided I could not pass it up. Billboard, in my opinion has never been wrong.