Essential Jazz: The First 100 Years

by Henry Martin, Keith Waters

A complete jazz chronology, ESSENTIAL THE FIRST 100 YEARS, 2e, delivers a thorough and engaging introduction to jazz and American culture. Designed for nonmajors, this brief text explores the development of jazz from its nineteenth-century roots in ragtime and blues through swing and bebop to fusion and contemporary jazz styles. Unique in its up-to-date coverage, one-third of ESSENTIAL JAZZ is devoted to performers of the 1960s through present-day performers. The text's flexible organization and clear, interesting presentation are designed to appeal to learners with little or no music background. Accessible, informative Listening Guides provide a rich sociocultural context for each selection, giving both newcomers and aficionados a true feel for the vibrant, ever-changing sound of jazz.

Genres: History, Music

336 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2004

About the author

Henry Martin is an award-winning Irish writer and art scholar. His plays have featured at Project Arts Centre, Roundhouse, Underbelly, Arcola, Theatre503, and Belltable; his fiction and poetry is published in Ireland, Mexico, USA and UK; and he has written about art and books for Soho House and Phaidon Press. He is narrator of the documentary 'Agnes Martin Before The Grid' (2016), his book 'Yappo' is published by Company Cod (2017), and his play 'The Cost of Your Forgetting' is published in 'Tiny Plays For Ireland', New Island Books, 2013.

Reviews

[JDK1962 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, I admit it, I'm a geek: before going to bed at night, I read a few pages of a textbook or some academic work, generally on jazz. This was the project book from the past couple of months. This wasn't bad, but it was pretty high level. I would take issue with their assessment of Wynton Marsalis as a towering figure at the level of Ellington, Parker, Davis, or Coltrane...after listening to jazz for 40+ years, I'd rate him as a relatively minor figure.