Customer Reviews

Gramophone Jazz Good Cd Guide

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I based the purchase of my extensive jazz CD collection (1925-1995) on the recommendations found between the covers of the 1995 edition of this excellent guide. But sadly, another omission is much of 1970s fusion, which some purists do not consider jazz at all. I had to seek elsewhere when filling in this important decade. However, there were some great surprises such as Don Pullen's "New Beginnings" and John Klemmer's "Waterfalls". Overall, considering the "territory" reviewers had to cover, this guide is well rounded and indispensable in building a wonderful disc collection.

This is a must-have reference book that is of great use to the jazz aficionado. It does have one glaring flaw, though -- not enough coverage of bossa nova and jazz influenced by Brazilian music (think of the hundreds of jazz interpretations of Jobim's compositions). For that I would recommend "The Brazilian Sound," which includes 1,000 titles in its discography.