The history of jazz is a long and varied one, from its beginnings in the whorehouses and bars of the turn of the century, to the top top concert halls of today. Encapsulating the embryonic forms of New Orleans, trad, boogie-woogie, and the ragtime of Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin and Fats Waller, this book follows the progress of jazz through the big bands and jive artists such as Paul Whiteman, Bix Biederbecke, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Cab Calloway, and Louis Jordan to the present day, via the innovative bop sounds of the 50s and 60s with Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie and the modern sounds of Andy Shepard, John Surman, Wynton Marsalis, Elton Dean, and Courtney Pine. Special consideration is given to the talent of the past decade and among its 2,000-plus entries, the book also contains entries on the various noted orchestra and band sidemen, the composers, arrangers and label owners.