Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD 3rd edition

This is not a jazz reference book: more a critical, factually‐dense guide to jazz recordings available on compact disc, and, in a minor sense, it suffers for that. The origins of jazz are as misty as a fog‐shrouded day in New Orleans’ Bourbon Street. But it’s generally reckoned that the 1917 recording made by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band was the first.

Since then wherever jazz has been played, from smoke‐filled cellar to lavish concert hall, it has been saved for some future listener. Since man first beat a drum, music has added an extra dimension to life, enhancing celebrations,...