Early Jazz

Early Jazz is one of the seminal books on American jazz ranging from the beginnings of jazz as a distinct musical style at the turn of the century to its first great flowering in the 1930s. Schuller explores the music of the great jazz soloists of the twenties--Jelly Roll Morton Bix Beiderbecke Bessie Smith Louis Armstrong and others--and the big bands and arrangers--Fletcher Henderson Bennie Moten and especially Duke Ellington--placing their music in the context of the other musical cultures of the twentieth century and offering analyses of many great jazz recordings. Early Jazz provides a musical tour of the early American jazz world. A classic study it is both a splendid introduction for students and an insightful guide for scholars musicians and jazz aficionados.