The Rough Guide to Jazz 2 (Rough Guide Music Guides) [Paperback]

Ian Carr (Author), Digby Fairweather (Author), Brian Priestly (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rough Guide Music Guides | Publication Date: March 1, 2000

The Rough Guide to Jazz is the essential reference tool to jazz artists and recordings, from world renowned legends and major musical styles to more obscure, yet influential artists and lesser-known movements. Including more than 1600 biographies and almost 3000 recommendations of recordings on CD and vinyl, this concise volume covers jazz music from its very roots up to the present day. Written in Rough Guides' trademark readable, entertaining style and including photos of many of the artists, Jazz is the most complete and dependable directory to the artists and albums.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...the best collection of snapshot career summaries currently available. -- Jazzwise, June 2000

Pithy insights make the rough guide to jazz a good read. -- Jazz FM, London, UK

Probably the best single-volume jazz encyclopaedia around. -- Straight No Chaser, UK

Reflects both the changing nature of jazz and the personal engagement of the contributors... -- BBC Music Magazine, London, UK

Written by musicians rather than musicologists - and it shows! -- Jazz FM, London, UK

Product Details

• Paperback: 912 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 2 Sub edition (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858285283
• ISBN-13: 978-1858285283
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,108,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #94 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Composers & Musicians > Jazz

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A useful companion, September 4, 2002

By 

N. Dorward "obsessive reviewer" (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Jazz 2 (Rough Guide Music Guides) (Paperback)

This volume has been around under various titles & editions for several decades; essentially what it does is serve as a continuation of Leonard Feather's essential encyclopedias of jazz in the 1960s and 1970s, since the format & aims are roughly the same. Like Feather's books, this book is an alphabetical listing of musicians, both well-known leaders and underrecognized sidemen who rarely get more than passing references in other books on jazz. The text is peppered with often excellent photos. There is also a useful appendix of a glossary of terms--really, these are highly idiosyncratic & polemical miniessays on terms like "blues", "swing", "fusion" &c--they're usually very entertaining though sometimes a little dubious or debatably accurate.

It's probably not coincidence that two of the most useful companions to jazz are by British authors--besides this volume I'm thinking of course of the Cook/Morton _Penguin Guide_. The nonAmerican perspective permits some distance from stylistic wars (between mainstream and avantgarde jazz, between jazz and fusion, &c) & also means that both books pay a lot more attention to jazz from Europe and other continents.

That said, just like Cook/Morton, this book does have its quirks, & while I mostly find Cook & Morton's quirks charming, the oddities here get on my nerves a bit more. The principal authors here are an odd lot. Trumpeter Digby Fairweather handles early jazz & swing, & British trad--these are some of the most enjoyable entries in the book, as he communicates his enthusiasm for even half-forgotten figures via pithy character-sketches & anecdotes. Pianist Brian Priestley & trumpeter Ian Carr handle the contemporary music, & this leads to some odd imbalances as Carr is considerably the windier & more superficial writer. Pages on pages are devoted to Carr's heroes--Miles Davis & Keith Jarrett are given entries vastly longer than anyone else's, with virtually every recording they ever made listed as recommended listening--& Carr inserts entries for what can seem like virtually every musician he's ever worked with. Meanwhile the entries on free jazz & free improvising musicians are an odd mixture of plain description (spiced with errors--the Evan Parker entry has a small raft of them), rather moderate doses of appreciation & frequent spots of carping & condescension. Carr also has a few set phrases that turn up again & again ("the music breathes" & "the shock of the new" are the main ones). The worst juxtaposition here is between the insultingly brief & tepid entry (by Priestley) for Bill Evans, & the vastly longer & more fulsome entry by Carr for Keith Jarrett--ouch.

Anyway, despite all the quirks of the book I can hardly give it less than 5 stars, simply as it provides a lot of information you can't get elsewhere, is always clearly written & is easily used. Like the Cook/Morton tome it makes for very entertaining & illuminating browsing.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grows on You, November 19, 2003

By 

Chris (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Jazz 2 (Rough Guide Music Guides) (Paperback)

The Rough guide doesn't compete with the Penguin jazz guide for the sheer number of reviews, but it does make for a great comparison. I usually go to the Penguin guide first and then cross check against the Rough guide. There is certainly a different feel between the two books and what they list as important. The rough guide is more contemporary in my opinion, with fewer hang-ups about what jazz is and which albums are worthwhile. Having both books is a good way to go and a good way to learn.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much-Needed Updated Edition Shines, March 26, 2000

By 

Douglas Ford (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Jazz 2 (Rough Guide Music Guides) (Paperback)

The Rough Guide has been an essential component to anyone's jazz library, but the rapidly evolving face of the music had made the previous edition seem dated in just a few short years. Fortunately, the editors have given this superb revision, which gives space to some current jazz innovators, such as Chris Potter and Dave Douglas. They've also made successful attempts to cover figures not granted attention in the previous version, namely Bela Fleck, Al Di Meola, and Marcus Miller. Other entries get beefed up a little. For instance, Dave Holland's discography is expanded to include his current "Prime Directive."

Already important, this revised version is much more concise and current--highly recommended.