I bought this book three years ago, and I still go back to it regularly. When I first read it, I owned half a dozen, or fewer, jazz albums. My collection has swelled since then, and most of the LPs and CDs I've picked up were recommendations from this book. I have not been disappointed yet.

Piazza's knowledge of jazz recordings, together with his clear, direct, and enthusiastic writing style, make this a joy to flip through. I can say I've truly discovered some outstanding music thanks to him and his book.

Tom Piazza is both a jazz pianist and a writer, giving him a rare combination of insight and ability to express it. Musicians know that many renowned critics don't really know what they're talking about--if you don't play, you (usually) don't know. Piazza knows.

His book is divided into halves. The first half covers the recordings of the great jazz ensembles from dixieland through the 1960s avant-garde. (There's no coverage of 1970s jazz-fusion, the 1980s young lions, or later, which are too recent to be "classic.") The second half covers the recordings of the most important jazz soloists on each instrument over the same period. An advantage of this structure is that it gives an overall sense of history in a way that books like the All-Music Guide, organized alphabetically by artist, can't.

Piazza does have an ideological leaning. He is part of the current Wynton Marsalis/Stanley Crouch camp, which feels that much recent jazz should not be called jazz at all, because it is not based on the blues. The free jazz of the 1960s and the jazz-fusion of the 1970s are without merit to this camp, and this is probably why Piazza does not reach into the 1970s. (He does say, of 1960s free jazz, that "people who like this sort of thing like the following albums.") It's a mark of Piazza's excellence that while I do not belong to this camp, I still think his guide is the best for the period it covers. Fans of free jazz and jazz-fusion will want other books to supplement Piazza's guide, but Piazza's book should be the first purchase for your jazz library.

I really clicked with this author's personal selections of the best artists in the wide world of jazz music. He truly cares about this music and shares his feelings. The music of the 50s and 60s is rightfully highlighted as a highpoint in the development of jazz music.

Easy reading with short chapters. Tells the story of how he got started,(high school and college days)and how he broke into the big leagues. Filled with great photos and interesting facts.

This book has lots of good information for any Piazza fan and i highly reccomend it to all who like him or the Mets(by the way i wrote this on october 13, so i hope he stays a Met).This book is a must for Piazza fans.

A wonderful cadre of short stories, highlighting the day to day struggles of relationships caught with a keen eye and sharp wit. Especially enjoyable was the story of two college poets and the change of their relationship due to the nervous breakdown of one of them. A kinder Raymond Carver. Great read.

a wonderful and original collection of tales that span the country looking deep into the hearts and lives of people who are waiting, or lost, or looking for something they secretly know they won't find. piazza is a renowned music writer, and whether explicit or not, these stories have a bluesy, riffy melody playing throughout them.

Tim Piazza and Marty Stuart should have limited their ramblings to an article in Bluegrass Unlimited. Not enough here to make a book and certainly nothing we haven't heard before... The book covers the details of a couple of road trips but provides very little else. I was disappointed.

What a great little book!

Marty Stuart's introduction is fabulous and makes me want to read his book as well.

This is one of the few books I've ever read where I'm audibly laughing. It is a hilarious, frightening, and sad ride. I just wish it was longer.

Double thumbs up to Tom Piazza. Looking forward to a sequel. Love this Bluegrass Artist. A must read for Jimmy Martin fans. Thanks Tom for showing the sensitive caring side of this great artist who stands firm for what he believes in (his music).

The only reason this gets 2 instead of 1 star is the one chapter that provides a well-supported critique (for an essay) of Collier's Ellington biography. That is the only part of the whole book worth reading and it is the only part exempt from the critique to follow.

The chapters are previously pubished essays that simply don't cohere and make up an aimless scheme of a book. The aim, purportedly, is to provide Piazza's conception of jazz's essence. The book is one big outline of a project for multiple books. Each chapter can be a basis for a stimulating book. I just think that Piazza doesn't feel like writing one so this is what you get.

The essays meander and drag on either because they are too offhand in delivery; too uncharitable towards their targets of critique (with occasional, strategic, contrived, and, based on my impression, disingenuous, bows to diplomacy); and too disparate to achieve the goal Piazza sets out in the introduction.

Also, I think I'm sick of the debate over Marsalis due to its shallowness and callousness. Regardless, this book is a reader's waste of time, energy, and money. I think Piazza is capable of writing a good book but he simply lacked the initiative to write one that is both well conceived and well executed

If you want to know more about the state of jazz in the nineties, this book is a MUST READ!!! Incredible well-written and thoughtful.