Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Jazz 2 (Rough Guide Music Guides)

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Once again it seems another jazz books of regurgitated titdbits has forgotten most of the woman in jazz. True Ella, Sarah, Billie, Carmen and the likes are here -- but for the most part this is a good ol' boys jazz review book. Was also VERY disappointed to note that their selected discography hasn't changed much since the last edition