The Rough Guide Essential Jazz cd's is a fine pocket book that goes through 100 jazz cd's that are a nice sampling of the genre. The selections all are solid choices and unlike other entries in this series, jazz artists rarely, if ever, release greatest hits compilations, so the cd's are all studio or live efforts. The reviews of each album are short and to the point and provide a good overview for people who aren't jazz fans, but would like to get into this musical style.

While necessarily brief and limited, this book makes for a nice place to start expanding your jazz interests. Coverage of old and new, mainstream and avant-garde, is remarkably well-balanced. Some key figures (Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker) get two entries each, but for the most part it's one per artist. I'm sure many people will kvetch about not covering their own obscure (or not-so-obscure favorite), but for every artist you think is missing, there are two or three remarkable others. The notes are brief but informative, covering important biographical details and sideman contributions, and i've only noticed a couple of minor errors (which is more than can be said for many jazz guides!)

A nice touch is the "We almost chose..." at the end of each entry, giving you two references for the price of one. All in all, this book is a good reference, if only because you can read it and learn new things without feeling like you're drowning in a sea of detail.

OK, this book is a good manual if you want to know something about special artists and some of their records, but it were just three musicians who wrote the whole book, and they just did not tell about what they didn't like (for example Miles Davis: they stop with "Jack Johnson", then say he had his midlife crisis in the 70's and returned with "a wonderful album" in about 1981 - nothing about "Dark Magus" and other masterworks from this era!).

Maybe American readers are not interested in European musicians, but I think it is just fair to give them a place in this book, too (like Dieter Seelow, who lives almost next door to me).

Get this book if you need an encyclopedia about jazz, although it is a bit unbalanced. A better one is "Das Jazzbuch" by Joachim Ernst Behrendt (?), but I didn't find it here because I could not spell his name and I don't know if there's an English translation.

Like all guides that intend or claim to be definitive references to their subject matter, this falls short to an extent, and will not please everyone. However, along with other companion books, this is a great reference guide to jazz artists and styles.

I enjoyed this book because of its widespread coverage of both American and international jazz musicians. It's an excellent musical resource which has a place in my music library alongside with such user-friendly guides as "World Music: The Rough Guide" and "The Brazilian Sound."

I purchased this book because I wanted a guide to unfamiliar (for me) world music. It is wide ranging and if browsed quickly, appears encyclopedic. Imagine my surprise when I searched for Israel and find NOTHING. There is a large section on Palestinian music, which is rife with anti Israel rhetoric. Music is a universal language. All cultures have much to offer of interest. Music is a force for peaceful interaction among people of different cultures. Even peoples whose politics are in conflict have found common ground through musical expression. I am dissapointed that a book with such promise turns out to be an outlet for some of the contributors political views. I write this not merely because I disagree with the point of view of the editors: I feel we should KEEP POLITICS OUT OF WORLD MUSIC.

This is a good introduction to the major figures of world music and is a handy companion for anyone exploring the music. My other favorite world music book is "The Brazilian Sound" (Temple University Press, 1998), which I also purchased through amazon.com.