Jazz
Mervyn Cooke

Innovative, exuberant and controversial – jazz has,
in its hundred-year existence, found both popular appeal and intellectual appreciation for its emotional intensity and musical sophistication. This brilliant survey covers the whole history of jazz, from its early balancing of African and European influences, through the formative years in New Orleans and Chicago, to the rise of the big bands in New York, be-bop and the post-war proliferation of styles from a new generation – hard bop, West Coast, cool, free jazz, modal jazz, fusion and crossover. Today, jazz is accepted as a music that uniquely defies conventional categories like ‘high’ and ‘low’.
Setting jazz in its social context, against a background of constant racial tension, the author looks at the individual talents who created this remarkable music, personalities such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Miles Davis. With striking illustrations and a useful glossary, this wide-ranging text provides a comprehensive introduction to the 20th-century’s most vibrant music.

ISBN 0500 203180