The Chronicle of Jazz

A year-by-year history of the people and events which shaped the evolution of jazz from its roots in Africa and the southern United States to the myriad urban styles heard around the world today

Updated and Revised Edition

The Chronicle of Jazz tells the whole story of jazz music and its personalities, a story rich with innovation, experimentation and controversy. Beginning at the dawn of the twentieth century, the book charts the evolution of jazz from its roots in Africa and the southern United States to the many styles heard around the world today, and looks closely at how jazz has influenced, and been influenced by, other musical and artistic forms.

It features hundreds of illustrations and rare images, from record-cover artwork to pictures of live performances, and is accompanied by an accessible and wide-ranging text that turns music into words and histories into living images. Each chronologically arranged section contains special features, on topics ranging from the bossa nova craze to jazz in Paris, personality sketches and seminal gigs and albums.

This is a vibrant celebration of imaginative and enduring music and is a rich resource for both jazz aficionados and all music lovers.

Contents List:

1895–1916: Origins • 1917–1929: From New Orleans to the East Coast • 1930–1945: Swing • 1946–1958: Style and Idea • 1959–1969: The Birth of Modern Jazz • 1970–1999: Innovation and Reaction • 2000–: Millennium Blues • Reference

About the Author:

Mervyn Cooke is Professor in Music at the University of Nottingham. Among his other books are The Cambridge Companion to Jazz, The Hollywood Film Music Reader, The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Opera, Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, A History of Film Music and The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Britten.