Early Jazz - It's Roots and Development - by Gunther Schuller

The first of three volumes on the history and musical contributions of jazz, taking us from its beginnings as a distinct musical style at the turn of the century to its first great flowering in the 1930's. Schuller explorers 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 fans.