Title: Biased Guide with an Agenda
Product review: This book would have been a good primer for a curious listener, however this book comes with an agenda. This book is full of contradictions, back-handed compliments and outright insults towards other jazz artists/groups i.e. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band (p.66) This is all done in an effort to pigeonhole jazz into the limited world view of the Marsalis/Crouch/Murray camp which basically dismisses all jazz music that does not uphold their standards. Expectedly, the book attacks sub-genres such as Fusion, Third Stream and Free/Out Jazz all the while overemphasizing the contributions of Wynton Marsalis. NPR should be embarrassed to be associated with this text. For an unbiased introduction tryJazz For Dummies, 2nd Edition.
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