Jazz 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Jazz

thanks for the introduction. I actually learned what kind of music I liked it is cool jazz and west coast jazz. I didn't know there was a difference. I like Miles Davis. I don't like any thing boarder line blues and I don't like anything older than my dad. My dad used to listen to swing music. Thanks for the clarification. Good book for online teaching.

Not so much a history of jazz but an examination of what jazz has been from beginning to present. The focus is on the music first and the music makers second.Explores the disagreements about how jazz was created and what is and isn't jazz while remaining objective.Very detailed, covering many aspects but very easy to follow. Perfect for a beginner requiring only a desire to really learn, but does not require great deals of effort. It is a fun read.Very useful for non beginners as well.

Professor Szwed's book is aptly titled and provides a fairly comprehensive history of jazz from it's beginnings to the present. He clearly states that no book covering such a diverse genre can escape being incomplete when it comes to recognizing individual artists, nor escape the inevitable opinions and prejudices of diverging thought on direction and contribution. To this end he suceeds handily.The novice who is interested in jazz, and not yet opinionated enough to have adopted one of the contentious theories of "what jazz is", will find much information on the origins and stylistic forms of jazz music, jazz art and ultimately, jazz life. However, the more seasoned jazz fan might just as easily find himself in mental arguement with the author almost from the git go. This is regretable since it leads to rejection of much of the foundation material important in having a true understanding of the music. To those of us who believe jazz is devinely connected to the blues, much of Szwed's commentary could be viewed as heresy. But, to others who feel jazz includes almost all forms of improvisation the author's keen insite on sociological and twentieth century demographics play particularly well. He goes so far as to dip his toe in the muddy waters of Kenny G's authenticity, though slyly demurs from opining on just what this cretin is actually blowing through his horn (there, I told you jazz opinion can be contentious!). My only criticism of this work is Szwed's listening examples which are carefully detailed and highlighted throughout the book. While they specifically meet the example criteria he is aiming for, many more accessable (read enjoyable) substitutes exist.All in all, an excellent intro and the best $10 item in the jazz supermarket.

A great book that covers the history of jazz. I especially like the sections that highlight specific songs.

To get comprehensive info about Jazz

The word Jazz (a noun you would think, as its basically a thing) seems to have unfortunately been transformed into a tool by mis-guided individuals who believe they exist in an environment which only they understand when they mention the word.Ironically this is correct in one sense. One can only know and hear the best players and appreciate what they do. You can describe to each other how the music you hear makes you feel, but individually you can't really know what it truly does for another individual and vice versa. Those who claim to "get it" most probably do not get anything at all. Music, whether it be jazz or not, moves you or it does not. Just because it is at times complex music to learn and play certainly does not mean its complicated to understand but, what is that the listener needs to understand anyhow? Apply this across the board and you'd have chocolate lovers mocking non-chocolate lovers for simply not understanding what chocolate does for them. Who cares!To be fair, I only made it through a few chapters of Jazz 101 wondering where it was headed. A good book will grab you and take you on a journey, just like jazz.Jazz musicians are on their own trip 99.9% (Kenny G is an exception) of the time without any need for audience approval. If Jazz is complicated its certainly not by design. The only complication is the inferiority of its pseudo listeners who are outnumbered 100 to 1 by pop fans. But for some reason being in the musical minority is simply not acceptable to certain Jazz fans. If all Pop fans suddenly became Jazz fans, these pseudo Jazz fans would look for some other music to claim unique which only they are capable of understanding while in turn mocking others for not "getting it". It seems more like a personality issue rather than an inability to understand one type of music or another.

It was a Xmas gift!

Read and learn a lot of hidden treasures regarding jazz.

A really informative book, well organised, well written. Easy to dip in and out.

I have recently received the book and had the chance to read the first couple of chapters. I was quite frustrated by the way the book was written by the author. I had the feeling that the author wanted to fancy up his writing and felt into the mistake of turning the text simply into a hard-to-follow one. Moreover, the text sounds more like a tribute to Jazz in many times by using many vague descriptions ("What is jazz? What is not!" sort of). After all, it was definitely not to my taste.