The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz [Hardcover]

Barry Kernfeld (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312113579 | ISBN-13: 978-0312113575 | Publication Date: October 1994

Available for the first time in one volume, the more than 4,500 articles in this comprehensive dictionary include items on performers, styles, instruments, terminology, and famous festivals, clubs, and record labels.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz is a most impressive achievement and it is certain to become a standard reference source."--Benny Carter

"A must for every serious jazz lover."--Dizzy Gillespie

"The variety of major and minor entries scattered among the biographies make The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz a fascinating field for browsing...filled with basic information, colorful personalities and exotic locales."--The New York Times

"This massive work deserves highest praise."--Library Journal

"This is the most monumental effort at a comprehensive jazz reference to date."--Boston Phoenix

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Musicologist Barry Kernfeld has been the editor of The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz since 1984. He has taught jazz history at both Cornell University and Hamilton College.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1358 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312113579
• ISBN-13: 978-0312113575
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.9 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,222,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Somehting for every jazzfan., December 28, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Trondheim, Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (Hardcover)

This is just a thorough piece of work. With music examples, pictures, selected discographies, bios, and how their music influenced the world of jazz. It also features great articles about nightclubs and libraries. This is a huge book, and very cheap also, so this is something every jazz fan should have.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Needs an update, March 31, 2002

By 

Christo "montxsuz" (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (Hardcover)

This is a valuable jazz reference source, and a good companion book to the Penguin guide to jazz. It is particularly useful for looking up the biographies of artists that you're interested in. Less useful are the lists of jazz club venues - likely to be quite out of date by now.

What I liked especially about the dictionary, is its comprehensiveness. Artists from all continents are covered - although musicians from far-flung places (as in not-in-the-USA)are more likely to be missing. On the negative side, you'll find that the book is now out of date when it comes to contemporary musicians.

I have for example compiled a list of all artists born in African, Australia and New Zealand from the book. While a number of well-known musicians are missing, the youngest person on my list was born in 1947 - 55 years ago - not good for a book that was reviewed in 1994. One would suspect that the contemporary jazz renaissance of the 1990s is totally absent.

So in summary, this is a well-written, well edited, good reference source, but badly in need of an update. I would also enjoy more personal details about artists in the next edition.

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful, April 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (Hardcover)

This is a book every jazz musician and jazz fan should own. There is amusing trivia: How many people know that drum brushes were originally marketed as fly swatters? There are transcriptions of arrangements as well as of improvised solos. And of course there are biographical essays. The book is serious and scholarly and deep yet easily readable and entertaining.

Also recommended: PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns