This collection of essays, drawn from previously published works, covers myriad aspects of jazz: interviews, portraits, reviews, liner notes, recordings, and musings on jazz in a section called “The Outreach of Jazz.” Morgenstern, who brings over four decades of experience to the table, opens the book with reminiscences that shed light on his own love affair with jazz. He devotes a whole section to articles on Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. His portraits include artists from Eddie Condon to Ornette Coleman; his reviews, from Bessie Smith and Earl Hines to Wes Montgomery and Miles Davis. His insightful, entertaining, and thought provoking musings on the state of jazz are of interest to casual listeners as well as dedicated fans.

Dan Morgenstern, raised in Vienna and Copenhagen, came to the United States in 1947. He has edited major jazz publications--Metronome, Jazz, and Down Beat--and won six Grammy Awards for Best Album Notes. Since 1976 he has been the director of Rutgers University’s Institute of Jazz Studies.