30-Second Jazz: The 50 crucial concepts, styles and performers, each explained in half a minute

by Dave Gelly

Jazz can be difficult for the novice, but 30-Second Jazz proves the ideal companion for the newcomer to the subject, taking readers from the African-American roots of jazz all the way to today’s global mix of musicians and styles. Along the way, it looks at the shape, style and instruments of jazz, at key personalities and recordings in the jazz canon - and at what might be expected next from this most diverse and lively of musical forms.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2016

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es tan básico que lo más interesante es el trabajo gráfico que tiene detrás, con los collages e imágenes que se ha currado el director creativo Michael Whitehead y el diseñador Ginny Zeal.

[Gilles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un condensé sur le Jazz, son origine, ses différents styles, ses principaux musiciens et instruments de musique.

Bien sûr, il s'agit d'un survol, mais qui va pas mal à l'essentiel.

Je regrette le passage rapide sur sa création et sa mise en place, avec, il faut le dire, mes musiciens préférés, alors que l'on insiste plutôt sur sa version plus moderne qui est moins intéressante pour moi (Jazz fusion, etc.)

Mais, au final, j'ai beaucoup aimé, car cet ouvrage permet un rappel des composantes d'un de mes genres de musiques préférés.

[r · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this book while out with a friend and being the jazz lover that I am, couldn’t resist looking through it. The collages looked pretty cool and I am a music student, so I decided to check it out.

Overall, I can safely say that I’ve read most of the book, only skimming maybe 4-5 pages? (I even read the blurbs like the 30s solo or whatever haha.) Personally, I think it was not too bad — quite fun to read. I see a lot of reviewers here saying that’s it’s a surface-level, basic knowledge book…and I guess in a sense I kind of get it. But it was also quite fun to read just for leisure, and since my music class is starting on jazz the next school term this actually helped me get quite a bit more background knowledge before we begun. (Disclaimed: I hardly read much about jazz, so although I did recognise many artists mentioned there were almost equally as many which I hadn’t heard of before)

Anyway, I guess I did enjoy learning about some new jazz terminologies and albums, even if it may have just been a surface-level introduction.

[Nofar Spalter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shallow book about jazz with plenty of pictures, written for a generation of readers with short attention spans. Good as a very, very basic primer on jazz, but over-priced and over-designed for that.

[Laurent Groove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hace un recuento de la historia del jazz, de puntos muy importantes, el estilo del libro me gusto mucho en diseño y creatividad.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delivers on expectations.