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All music guide to jazz : the experts' guide to the best jazz recordings / edited by Michael Erlewine, Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Scott Yanow

Contributor(s): Erlewine, Michael [editor] | Bogdanov, Vladimir, 1965- [editor] | Woodstra, Chris [editor].
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookSeries: AMG all music guide series: Publisher: San Francisco : Miller Freeman Books, [1998]Edition: 3rd edition.Description: xvi, 1378 pages ; 24 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 0879305304 (paperback) .Subject(s): Jazz -- Discography | Sound recordings -- ReviewsDDC classification: 781.65
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Barcode
General lending MTU Cork School of Music Library Lending 781.65 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 00207576
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Lists, rates, and reviews more than 18,000 recordings by 1,740 jazz artists; provides biographies of the artists; and charts the evolution of jazz.

Includes bibliographical references and index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

One of several worthy guides to recorded jazz, the All Music Guide (AMG) has had a spotty history. The first edition (1994) was chock-full of misspellings and marred by an uneven presentation. Under different editors, though, subsequent editions were improved a hundredfold, and this fourth edition continues the upswing. The format has remained basically the same, with a list of style definitions (e.g., acid jazz, bop, jive, R&B, and vocal jazz) preceding 1700 alphabetically arranged artist biographies. Here, editors Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine (all associated with AMG), along with jazz critic Scott Yanow, have done good work, adding many more lesser-known musicians and increasing the accuracy of the portraits overall. Following these portraits are the usual discographies (more than 20,000 total, up 2000 from the third edition) rated by diamonds, with five being the highest, in addition to stars and circles denoting essential and first-purchase recordings, respectively. In a separate section at the end, numerous essays explore topics such as jazz styles and jazz overseas in Italy, Turkey, and Germany, among other countries. "Music Maps" interspersed throughout trace the development of important instruments, genres, and players (e.g., the trumpet and violin, avant-garde/ free jazz players); they certainly enhance the text and suggest other places to search for information. For all its improvements, however, this AMG still contains some of the flaws of its predecessors. Numerous misspellings, the often unusual (even erroneous) assignment of genres to the musicians, and other editorial head-scratchers will annoy anyone with a good grasp of jazz. The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD (now in its fifth edition) still reigns supreme. Buy where demand warrants.-William G. Kenz, Minnesota State Univ., Moorhead (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.