The Penguin Jazz Guide

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings is firmly established as the worlds leading guide to recorded jazz, a mine of fascinating information and a source of insightful - often wittily trenchant - criticism. This is something rather different: Brian Morton (who taught American history at UEA) has picked out the 1000 best recordings that all jazz fans should have and shows how they tell the history of the music and with it the history of the twentieth century. He has completely revised his and Richard Cooks entries and reassessed each artists entry for this book. The result is an endlessly browsable companion that will prove required reading for aficionados and jazz novices alike.

Its the kind of book that youll yank off the shelf to look up a quick fact and still be reading two hours laterFortune

Part jazz history, part jazz Karma Sutra with Cook and Morton as the knowledgeable, urbane, wise and witty guides ... This is one of the great books of recorded jazz; the other guides dont come closeIrish Times