Jazz 101

By: John F. Szwed

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Jazz 101 is a fascinating entry into the world of jazz, for the beginner, novice, or jazz enthusiast. Szwed takes listeners on a tour of the varied and nonlinear history of jazz, exploring how it developed from an ethnic music to become America's most popular music and then part of the avant-garde in less than 50 years. Szwed's complete overview includes the major types of jazz and significant jazz musicians of the 20th century, the roots of jazz, including its European and African influences, and recommended listening.

Infinitely listenable and highly entertaining, Jazz 101 is a vital tool in understanding and appreciating jazz.

©2000 John F. Szwed (P)2004 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Pretty Good

A pretty good overview of Jazz. Any writer of a subject like jazz has to pick and choose what he will talk about and what to leave out. Everyone will have some quibble, but overall it's a decent introduction. It is a little outdated since it came out before the era of iTunes and Spotify.

Great book for understanding Jazz

This audiobook was so good that I purchased the paperback, just to have as a reference. The author does a great job with the various stages of the development of jazz. The only downside (and it's not enough to keep this from being a 5 star book) is that the narrator has to read all of the discography references. This was a WONDERFUL book. Best read if you already have a little bit of knowledge of basic music terminology (what improvisation is, etc..). Highly recommend!

Jazzwinds

Would you consider the audio edition of Jazz 101 to be better than the print version?

A good overview of jazz from a USA-oriented perspective, just that it misses so much ... where is the European influence. What is Jazz 101 without Gypsy Jazz? About Jazz 85.

What did you like best about this story?

A lot about it is good.

What three words best describe Grover Gardner’s voice?

Monotonous

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

argh!!

this is not a good book. It does not follow any course of history. Does not go by timeline or jazz period but instead random chapters on randoms topics. And the wording is very verbose and has a very sterile tone to it all. Boring and with no music in the audio book. Try something else. I have read many books on jazz history and this was the worst.

Needs Help

A little too slow and boring for my tastes, especially the first part. Decent introduction, but there are better books out there.