Gottlieb has assembled an anthology of jazz that draws on autobiography, biography and journalism gleaned from books, magazines, newspapers, and liner notes--all written by the finest writers and jazz journalists and the performers themselves. Jelly Roll Morton talks with historian Alan Lomax; Duke Ellington takes on several topics; Cab Calloway talks about arriving in New York in 1929; and Billie Holiday comments on recordings in a blindfold test. Profiles on Bill Evans, Bird, and Monk are contributed by Gene Lees, Miles Davis, and Dan Morgenstern, respectively. Gene Krupa and Leonard Bernstein consider the question “Has Jazz Influenced the Symphony?” Gary Giddins examines “Body and Soul” on its fiftieth anniversary, and actor/pianist Dudley Moore considers a 1988 release by Erroll Garner. This is a book to keep by your side or take on a trip to read at leisure and at random for its provocative articles and excellent writing.

Robert Gottlieb has been editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster, Alfred A. Knopf, and The New Yorker. He has previously edited the Everyman edition of The Collected Stories of Rudyard Kipling and The Journals of John Cheever. He is also co-editor with Robert Kimball of Reading Lyrics.