Bluff Your Way in Jazz (Bluffer's Guides) [Import] [Paperback]

Peter Gammond (Author), Peter Clayton (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Oval Books; New Ed edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1902825101
• ISBN-13: 978-1902825106
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,916,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A good book, whether it's all true or not., January 10, 2011

By 

S. Schonberger (near Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Bluffer's Guide to Jazz: Bluff Your Way in Jazz (Bluffer's Guides - Oval Books) (Paperback)

A friend talked about another Bluffer's Guide book and I looked it up. I didn't realize it was part of a series, but when I discovered that I had to get the jazz guide.

I found it very informative, even though it's a thin book. I suppose if it were a huge compendium it wouldn't be digestible for the purpose it's meant to serve.

The sense of humor in the writing made it fun reading. Although jazz originated in the US, the book appears to be from the UK, which gave it an interesting at-a-distance tone, and a more international perspective.

However, the humor made me wonder at times whether the author was inventing details in instances where historical details are absent. I found nothing that looked _wrong_, but it sometimes felt more like it was credible but not documented, as opposed to definite truth. However, since the book's title is "_Bluff_ Your Way", and it's presented as material for informal conversation rather than scholarly research, that's reasonable. And maybe it even _is_ all clearly historical, even though the tone doesn't present it that way.

I certainly don't count the informality as a point against the book, although a pointer to a web site with the book's references and pointers to further reading might have been nice. One doesn't really _need_ a book about bluffing one's way through a topic, but if one _wants_ it, this is a good one.

I see that there's a revised edition available now. I've only read the original, with the picture of a shiny trumpet.