''All Music Guide to Jazz'' is a

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

book that is an

encyclopedic An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

referencing of

jazz music Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a maj ...

compiled under the direction of

All Media Guide RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...

. The first edition, ''All Music Guide to Jazz: the Best CDs, Albums & Tapes'', appeared in 1994 and was

edited Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

Ron Wynn Ron Wynn is a music critic, author, and AllMusic editor. Wynn was the editor of the first edition of '' The All Music Guide to Jazz'' (1994), and from 1993 to 1994 served as the jazz and rap editor of the ''All Music Guide''. Wynn is the former e ...

with

Michael Erlewine John Michael Erlewine (; born July 18, 1941) is an American musician, astrologer, photographer, TV host, publisher and Internet entrepreneur who founded the music online database site AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide) in 1991. Car ...

and Vladimir Bogdanov (head of the ''All Music Guide'' book series). The book's fourth edition was released on November 27, 2002, and was edited by

Vladimir Bogdanov Vladimir Leonidovich Bogdanov (russian: Владимир Леонидович Богданов; born 28 May 1951) is a Russian businessman and oil tycoon. Biography and career In 1973 he graduated from Tyumen Industrial Institute with a degre ...

, Chris Woodstra and Stephen Thomas Erlewine.

Content

The book's back cover touts that the book contains ratings for close to 20,000

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records col ...

and 1,700

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

biographies A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

. Artists are listed

alphabetical Alphabetical order is a system whereby character strings are placed in order based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering of an alphabet. It is one of the methods of collation. In mathematics, a lexicographical order is t ...

ly and include some of the following: birth and death dates, classification ( vocals,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, drums, etc.), a biography, a

discography Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...

. The discography listings include a five star rating, the

music label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...

it was released on, and the date as well as possibly reviews of certain albums. These reviews are done by "respected critics" from ''

Jazz Times ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growth ...

'' and '' Coda''. There are also thirty

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s on different styles along with "top lists" and extensive charts on the

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

/lineage of the jazz.

Reception

Writing for the now defunct website Jazz Review, Mark E. Gallo described it as "the quintessential jazz encyclopedia." All About Jazz called it "a must-have reference for anyone interested in the world of recorded jazz past and present." Previous to this version, when albums weren't reviewed on five star scale, there was some confusion, but "in the long run what the editors have to say is more important than any rating scale." Also, previous versions have also relied heavily on few reviews to comment on many albums, which "tends to weaken" the book. The added features are welcomed, since they give readers a "close-up view of the artists" within the jazz culture. The essays in particular are "exceptionally well researched and written".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:All Music Guide To Jazz A Encyclopedias of music Music guides Jazz books

Content

Reception

See also

References