Free Jazz and Free Improvisation [Two Volumes] An Encyclopedia

Subjects:

• The Arts » Jazz
• Popular Culture » Popular Music
• Popular Culture » Popular Culture (General)
• History » American History -- 1946 to Present

Reviews:

• Starred Review As the first resource devoted to an enduring and influential American Musical form, this is highly recommended for all libraries.
  —Library Journal November 15, 2004
• The strength of this work is its immediacy and focus....Recommended. General and academic collections.
  —Choice February 2005
• [A] valuable addition to the pool of research tools. For the music researcher just beginning research of for those who need a quick overview of the genre, this is a most helpful resource. I found it to be very well organized, informative, and insightful. I can now listen to these artists with a more knowledgeable ear.
  —Music Reference Services Quarterly 2005
• [H]ighly recommended for specialty collections....[J]enkins' A-Z reference provides an encyclopedia of key figures, groups, and movements within the jazz world, charting a trend which began in the mid-1950s and ran parallel to America's civil rights movement. A specialty item highly recommended for in-depth college-level jazz holdings.
  —MBR Internet Bookwatch June 2005
• [F]ree Jazz and Free Improvisation is not only seminal, but verges on completist. This is the only serious encyclopedic work on jazz and free improvisation to date in English, and perhaps in any language. Music libraries would be making a sad mistake to leave it un-ordered. It should be treated as a standard reference text for the genre. It provides the basic biographical information, historical contexts and chronology for curious listeners, music journalists and academics to understand a most profound artistic revolution.
  —Jazz Notes June 2005
• This is the first English-language encyclopedia devoted to the topic....Recommended for music libraries and large research libraries.
  —Reference & User Services Quarterly Summer 2005
• The main virtue of this encyclopedia is that it gathers nearly the entire free jazz family under one massive umbrella, and I know that I'll be consulting it on a regular basis. A strong effort and an invaluable resource.
  —All About Jazz 2005
• This groundbreaking guide to an often maligned and misunderstood musical movement is the work of freelance writer and jazz enthusiast, Todd S. Jenkins....The remarkable result is a tool for both research and listening pleasure. Jenkins firmly demonstrates the continuing influence of free jazz on contemporary music, and his guide is highly recommended for any collection supporting music research or jazz aficionados.
  —Lawrence Looks at Books April 2005
• [A]n informative and comprehensive reference work on a little-known jazz subgenre and is recommended for comprehensive jazz collections.
  —Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin March 15, 2005

Table of Contents:

• List of Entries
• Guide to Related Topics
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Controlled Chaos: The Nature of Free Music
• The Path to Freedom
• Chronology of Events
• The Encyclopedia
• Volume I: AJ
• Volume II: KZ
• Suggested Readings
• Index