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All Music Guide to Jazz : The Definitive Guide to Jazz Music (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author), Stephen Thomas Erlewine (Author) "Swedish free jazz group AALY Trio was formed around Umea natives Mats Gustafsson (reeds) and Kjell Nordeson (drums) in the mid-'80s, after they had been..." (more)
Key Phrases: original apiece, rhtthm section, allstar group, New York, Duke Ellington, New Orleans (more...)

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This entertaining, easy-to-use reference now reviews and rates more than 18,000 sizzling recordings by over 1,700 musicians in all jazz styles - from New Orleans jazz to bebop, fusion, and beyond. Colorful profiles describe the artists' lives and careers, while anecdotal histories portray selected jazz legends. "Music Maps" chart the evolution of jazz instruments, plus the influence of significant players, vocalists, and sidemen. Providing essays on styles plus details on labels, producers, and more, this definitive guide will help readers begin or fine-tune a great jazz collection.

About the Author

Vladimir Bogdanov is president of All Media Guide (AMG); Chris Woodstra is AMG vice president of content development; Stephen Thomas Erlewine is AMG director of content, popular music.

Product Details

Paperback: 1400 pages
Publisher: Backbeat Books; 4th edition (November 1, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 087930717X
ISBN-13: 978-0879307172
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 2.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.3 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #307,637 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
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#75 in Books > Entertainment > Music > Reference > Discographies & Buyer's Guides

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Chris Woodstra

Vladimir Bogdanov

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Swedish free jazz group AALY Trio was formed around Umea natives Mats Gustafsson (reeds) and Kjell Nordeson (drums) in the mid-'80s, after they had been collaborating for a few years. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
original apiece, rhtthm section, allstar group, jazz standpoint, ion tenor, hard bop date, such top players, six group originals, skittering skeins, complete reissuance, gees listeners, hate been reissued, king jazz label, more general listeners, most impressive soloist, other key soloists, taking solo honors, such sidemen, boppish blues, concise solos, fortunately been reissued, hard bop stylist, such major soloists, switching between tenor, tun tenor

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Duke Ellington, New Orleans, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Benny Goodman, Los Angeles, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Stephen Thomas, Oscar Peterson, Louis Armstrong, Freddie Hubbard, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins, Ron Carter, Stan Kenton, Wayne Shorter, Ray Brown, San Francisco, Max Roach

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 189 books:

All Music Guide to Jazz: The Best Cd'S, Albums & Tapes by Ron Wynn on 49 pages
Body and Soul by J. P. Smith on 24 pages
World War I (The United States at War) by George C. Scott on 17 pages
Jelly Roll Morton by Williams on 16 pages
Body and Soul: The Cinematic Vision of Robert Aldrich (Filmmakers Series) by Tony Williams on 12 pages

See all 189 books this book cites

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	65% buy the item featured on this page: All Music Guide to Jazz : The Definitive Guide to Jazz Music 4.3 out of 5 stars (9)
	17% buy The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings: Ninth Edition 4.2 out of 5 stars (27) $23.10
	7% buy All Music Guide to Jazz: The Experts' Guide to the Best Jazz Recordings (All Music Guide to Jazz, 3rd ed) 4.4 out of 5 stars (28) $22.76
	5% buy All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues 4.3 out of 5 stars (9) $18.21

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews

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4 star:		(3)
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Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book but Penguin's is better, November 20, 2003

By	James D. Hasitngs "dhastings11" (Berkeley, ca United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a well done book that fulfills most of what you would buy it for: Exhaustive inventories of Jazz albums with relative ratings and many reviews.

However, a few things would make me suggest the Penguin Guide over it (I own both):

1-ARTIST INDEX / Personell listing: the single greatest reason to get Penguin instead of the AMG is that every listing contains a complete personell listing at the top of the entry. Then the index in the back refers to the personell on albums. The AMG may list personell in the review, and indexes artists by any mention of them whether they are on an album or not. Penguin's version is much better for Jazz, where an artist's best work may be on someone else's album. Using the Penguin, you can look up every album Jack DeJohnette has played on as a sideman, just by flipping to the page numbers listed. In the AMG you have to wade through reviews (and many albums don't have reviews) which may just compare Jack's style with whoever is drumming on the record being reviewed.

2- Not every album is reviewed. Many albums are left only with ratings and no commentary whatsoever, which can be frustrating if you are wondering whether to buy a specific album. WHY did something get the rating it did is more important than the rating itself.

3- Consistency: The Penguin guide is written and judged by 2 men. As you go through it, you learn their biases and can glean more information about whether you'd like an album even if they give it a low score.

4- Mistakes. There are several mistakes in the AMG. For example, calling Speak Like A Child Herbie Hancock's last album for Bluenote a paragraph after reviewing the Prisoner.

To be fair though, there are advantages to the AMG:

1- The Penguin Guide limits itself to CDs out at the time it is published. This means you are SOL if you buy vinyl or used cds that have since gone out of print or if an album is rereleased after the Penguin Guide date. I think the AMG lists all albums whether they are currently in print as CD or not.

2- Tutorials. The AMG has essays in the back describing the many genres and time periods of jazz. In the body of the text are nice charts of the evolution of individual of instruments, from Saxophone to Bagpipes. Interesting though not vital if you are already into the music enough to need a definitive listing of albums.

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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this one first, February 5, 2004

By	Chris (Australia) - See all my reviews

In addition to this great book, I own the Penguin guide and the Rough guide and all three are very worthwhile (see my other reviews). In my opinion this is the one you should buy first as it includes numerous essays and lists about jazz music styles, instrument types and musicians that the other two guides do not. These features are a really useful guide to knowing where to start with jazz. This guide also appears to have the largest number of reviews. The reviews in the AMG seem a bit more generous and open-minded than those in the more conservative Penguin guide. I suspect that this is because you are getting the opinions of a larger number of reviewers, with a wider range of tastes. In summary, this is probably the most useful of all of the three guides that I have.

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22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AMG All Music Guide to Jazz 4th ed., December 6, 2002

By	Robert Ehrlich (Salt Lake City, UT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The AMG guide is a major resource for anyone interested in jazz at any level. They claim that over 20,000 recordings are reviewed and I believe them! The reviews and articles are excellent. However to publish this new edition and keep the page-count constant with the 3rd, they have reduced the size of the type. It can be read if one has normal sight--but with difficulty. Older readers might well need a magnifying glass.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The best guide available
This book covers the whole range of styles in Jazz, with specialist essays on individual areas, and 'family trees' of the key players in Jazz history. Read more

Published on August 28, 2007 by S J Buck

5.0 out of 5 stars Get it and don't forget it
All you need to know at your fingertips. Largely trustworthy
advice and insights on artists and albums. Handy biographical
info too.

Published on October 25, 2005 by EugeSchu

2.0 out of 5 stars Better than peguin, but still sucks
There are a ton of errors in this book (including listing Roland Hanna playing piano of Charles Mingus's Mingus ah Um, when it was actually Horace Parlan). Plus ALLMUSIC. Read more

Published on May 29, 2005 by Shawn Carter

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the Best
I never go into a jazz store without the book or notes from the book in hand. It has rarely steered me wrong in ten years of use. Don't believe me. Read more

Published on August 13, 2004 by Indiana

5.0 out of 5 stars Beats Penquin Hands Down
This is THE resource for jazz record buying as it is far more comprehensive than any alternative. I take it with me to used vinyl stores because unlike any other guide, it... Read more

Published on November 24, 2003 by sprachnroll

5.0 out of 5 stars Unread but useful
I have read the accompaning review and almost past the book up. I was called to its attention by Billboard magazine. So I went back and read that review. Read more

Published on January 23, 2003 by Otto A. Hokamp

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