A personal, and sometimes controversial, selection by three jazz critics of the "best" 250 jazz records - mostly LP collections of 78 rpm originals - from the earliest roots of music to the beginnings of the modern jazz era. Each record is placed in its musical context and reviewed in some depth. For each disc, full details of personnel and recording dates and locations are given.

Table of Contents

Origins; the Twenties - variations on the New Orleans style; the Twenties - styles other than New Orleans; jazz in Europe; interlude -the influence of jazz on European composers; the Thirties and swing; against the current - traditional survivals and revivals; the transition to modern jazz.

Reviews

"The Mona Lisa of its genre. To the initiate and novice alike, it provides an enlightened and enlightening overview of the music it surveys. . . . One looks forward to a sequel of like strengths. . . . this book stands on its own as one of the handful in the literature of jazz that can truly be called essential." Annual Review of Jazz Studies