The Penguin Jazz Guide: The History of the Music in the 1001 Best Albums

by Brian Morton, Richard Cook

Richard Cook and Brian Morton's Penguin Jazz The History of the Music in 1001 Best Albums is an indispensible guide to the recordings that every fan should know. Richard Cook and Brian Morton's Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings is firmly established as the world's leading guide to the music. In this book, Brian Morton has picked out 1001 essential recordings from their acclaimed guide, adding new information, revising and reassessing each entry, and showing how these key pieces tell the history of the music - and with it the history of the twentieth century. These are the essential albums that that all true jazz fans should own, or - at the very least - have listened to, from Kind of Blue to lesser-known classics and more surprising choices. Full of fascinating updated biographical information, new quotes and interviews and, of course, highly opinionated and wittily trenchant critical reviews, the result is an endlessly browsable companion that will prove required reading for aficionados and jazz novices alike. 'One of the great books of recorded jazz; the other guides don't come close'
  Irish Times 'It's the kind of book that you'll yank off the shelf to look up a quick fact and still be reading two hours later'
  Fortune 'The leader in its field ... If you own only one book on jazz, it really should be this one'
  International Record Review 'Indispensable and incomparable'
  NME Brian Morton is a freelance writer and broadcaster who for many years presented Radio 3's jazz magazine Impressions and In Tune. Richard Cook (1957-2007) was formerly editor of The Wire and edited Jazz Review. He contributed to many other publications, including the New Statesman and his books included Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopaedia and It's About That Miles Davis on Record.

Genres: Music, Jazz, Nonfiction, Reference, History

730 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Brian Morton (born 1954) is a Scottish writer, journalist and broadcaster, mainly specialising in jazz and modern literature. Morton was educated at Edinburgh University and taught in the late 1970s at the University of East Anglia and the University of Tromsø in Norway.

Reviews

[Jorgon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, some years and weeks later, I can report that I have read every part of this book--and listened to every album reviewed herein at least once. Many of these recordings are now among my favourites, and I feel better for having done that, and having discovered many many musicians of whom I would have remained unaware otherwise.

I am currently engaged in two listening marathons; one truly massive (Mal Waldron), the other less so (Carla Bley), neither caused by this volume (I have heard both musicians previously) but rather inspired by it. Hopefully I will never run out of this music...

[Ken]

Am gradually going to work through this Guide with Spotify to listen to the key albums and to make playlists!!

[Cedric Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I had a fairly good grasp on the world of jazz. I bought this book with the thought that it would confirm what I already knew, plus give me a couple of new places to go as I expanded my jazz LP collection. Of course, any book claiming to know the "best" of anything is highly subjective, at best.

Penguin's jazz guide did more to befuddle me than confirm my beliefs. But that may be my problem more than anyone else's. There were some great choices in this book, along with a few that left me scratching my head. Some of the records mentioned had never so much as appeared as a blip on my musical radar.

I guess I have a lot to learn about jazz yet. Penguin will most likely prove to be a good teacher.

[Scott Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

No. I am not finished with this book.

Who could be?

I am using it throughout the year (2023) to deepen my inner aural landscape and music culture references.

You would be wise to do the same.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since this is an encyclopedia and not exactly the type of book you read front to back, I think it's fair to rate it without having fully "read" it.

The Penguin Jazz Guide is perhaps one of the most important books written on Jazz or music in general, collecting most Jazz albums which were released on CD. Starting in 1992, Brian and Richard kept making new editions, adding on more albums and adding and adding and adding. The 9th edition reached an insane count of 14.000!! albums.
After Richard Cook's death, Brian Morton decided to cut it down to 1001 albums. Still a lot, but a number where it's very realistic to actually go through every album.

While the 9th edition is probably the definitive for very dedicated Jazz students and hardcore listeners, this one absolutely is more than enough. Since they cut 13000 albums, many legendary albums were removed. You could easily add Miles Davis and Coltrane's entire discographies into a guide but it's much more intuitive to cover a bigger scope of artists and if you are interested, you can deep dive into their discographies on your own.

This guide is an absolutely essential pick up for any Jazz fan who has listened to all the "Top 50" lists and wants to go deeper into the genre. But without being overwhelmed by the 14.000 album edition edition.
And one last thing: While I like collecting music physically and think music streaming services have done a lot of damage to the music industry, I can't deny what a privelege they are. You can pick an album in this guide and listen to it within seconds. It must have been such a hassle back in the 90s to read an album in the guide and go hunt after the CD, many of which probably were out of print.

[Michael W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Due to the passing of one of its authors, Richard Cook, editions of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ended in 2007, and lately those editions been channeled into this document. While I think that this volume is deserving of five stars, the original Penguin Guide was more complete; it included reviews of bad and average records, which I think offers a much fuller and more nuanced view of the artists. Add to this the fact that The Penguin Guide is so well written (you can't call yourself a master of the English language without reading this!). On the other side: The Guide skews British/European, which isn't really that terrible. Suggestion: Read any section on Miles Davis, John Coltrane or Cecil Taylor (I'm not a Taylor fan, but the authors clearly loved him) and see if you learn anything about jazz, or even about how to express yourself intelligently about something you love. This Penguin Guide preserves that. I owned five different editions of the original; I Kindled this one, because I like having access to it.

[John Oswald · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favourite lockdown companion! I have gone deep into jazz, mostly bebop with bits of post bop and fusion but with bits of swing, blues and even free... probably explored a new record once every 2-3 days for months now thanks to @spotify And this magnificent book is the gift that keeps on giving - a history of the music in 1001 albums. Cook and Morton have been writing jazz guides for years - they have a keen eye for human interest, write wittily and with feeling, and love their craft. They’re perfect guides on my strange journey. I’m loving all the rich stories of strife, depression, conflict, love, respect, racism and rampant expression and musicianship at every turn. If you’ve ever been curious to explore jazz, look no further. #guehennoreads #booksof2021 #booksof2020 #jazz #takemedownthisrabbithole

[andré crombie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dizzy Gillespie said (1984): ‘There wasn’t much else in South Carolina when I was coming up. Music was a purpose and a way to make sense of life, and I believe that is universally true. I’m a teacher, not a preacher, but I believe music can save you. Nobody was killed by it, whatever you might hear; they were killed by something else.’

notes: this book’s summation of bill evans’ 1961 sets at the village vanguard applies more broadly: “This is music which continues to provoke marvel and endless study. It is hard to imagine anyone in love with music not responding to it.” indeed.

[Jag Mundi · Rating 3 out of 5]

somewhat interesting overview, but out of date and too many compilations.

[Jan Schultink · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great overview. Get the print version for easy browsing. They should add Spotify links to the e-version and I will buy both.

[Alan V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent jazz primer all the way from the 1920s through to 2010. Well put together and full of insights to the key jazz artists and those people, labels and producers they recorded alongside.

[Sveučilišna Knjižnica Rijeka]

Jazz - Povijest

[Ron Lansverk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot "update" progress since this book is never ending. It has many many avenues to walk down.