The History of Jazz

Author: Ted Gioia
Pages: 471 (including indicies, appendicies, etc.)
Publisher: 1997, Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0-19-509081-0 / 0-19-512653-X (Pbk.)
List Price: $15.95 (Pbk.)
Amazon.com Price: $11.87 (Pbk.)

Grade: B

Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz is an authoritative work that, although not comprehensive, is a wonderful volume for one desiring a thorough introductory history, criticism, and analysis of the jazz idiom.

The book chronologically tracks the evolution of jazz from its infancy in the ragtime tradition to the avant-garde splinters of the 1970s and beyond. With 75 pages of good annotation, a "further reading" list, a "recommended listening" list, an index, and an index of songs and albums, Ted Gioia has created a convenient and useful reference in addition to a history.

Jazz history is a very difficult subject to write about because of the music's controversy and underground status as the music of African Americans. This is especially true during the period from 1890-1920 when the music was confined to the more questionable areas of cities and had not yet developed respect as a major music form. Even in these fuzzy periods, Gioia seems to neither overstate the truth, nor come up empty handed for information. The emphasis on providing the reader with sources of listening material often gives the reader a head start on finding works of obscure but seminal figures.

Most jazz histories suffer noticeably from being overly opinionated. The History of Jazz does a fairly good job at maintaining objectivism while still providing meaningful analysis of the music. Towards the end of the book, Gioia falters somewhat in this regard while describing the fractured schools that compose the final chapter of jazz history. He seems most biased against the neo-traditionalist movements, while offering more support for fusion and free jazz forms. This isn't surprising however, considering how jazz players have been consumed in controversy regarding their music's fracturing since the late 1960s. More than anything, Gioia takes a progressivist view on jazz, which is probably why he seems biased against the neo-"trad" jazz.

While offering much for the musician and non-musician alike, The History of Jazz takes a mainstream approach by skirting music theory whenever possible. The deepest Gioia delves into music theory is with a superficial half page summary of modal improvisation, and a couple brief mentions of ii-V progressions and substitutions (whose significance he fails to explain, thus failing to show part of the genius of Charlie Parker and the boppers). Nevertheless, a comprehensive treatment of music theory and jazz really is way outside the scope of this book, which really is just a survey of the history of jazz, not an analysis of its underpinnings.

Overall, the book is well written, although sometimes using arcane or superfluous (many of the words weren't in my Oxford dictionary: they're the publishers for heaven's sake!) language, it very poetically and accurately describes in words what can only be truely known in sound. For anyone looking for a broad, concise, and enjoyable history of some of the greatest music on earth, or simply wanting to explore more of the language of jazz, Ted Gioia's is the book to get.