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This is a history of jazz from its beginnings at the turn of the century through the early 1930’s. Schuller discusses in detail the basic elements that distinguish jazz from other forms of music and traces their origins and development. He also evaluates the early soloists, the big bands, and the arrangers.
Those interested in jazz standards will not find many of them discussed in this book but will gain insight into the characteristics of jazz that were in place for evaluating later music. The index includes song titles, and in addition there is a glossary and a selected discography which tracks the music chapter by chapter.
Gunther Schuller, the educator, has held numerous prestigious positions. Schuller, the musician, has written over 160 compositions covering every genre of music. He is the author of The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945 (The History of Jazz, Vol. 2) and The Compleat Conductor, and his writings have been collected in Musings: The Musical Worlds of Gunther Schuller. He is Editor-in-Chief of the forthcoming Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Editions and winner of many awards, among them the 1994 Pulitzer Prize.
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