Customer Reviews
Seriously limited by its strict focus on in-print cds 
2008-04-15
When I was first getting into Jazz and buying the obvious stuff, this guide was certainly useful. As I've developed my own tastes and interests I've found it increasingly less so. The fact is, there is alot of great music that is out of print and thus, only available used that you will not find listed in this book! So the claims of "best guide to Jazz" really only make sense if you're starting to build a collection in 2008 and are confining your purchases to what's in print. If that's the case, you'll find this very helpful. Otherwise, not. The All Music Guide to Jazz also has its limitations; although it does not share the Penguin's strong emphasis on "European Jazz", it wastes space on "smooth Jazz" purveyors. Neither guide is ideal. The Penguin doesn't, in my view, merit five stars in any case.
Time for Two Volumes 
2008-02-13
This is the third edition of this excellent work that I've bought. I love the tartness of some of their opinion, even when I disagree with them, and have discovered an immense number of new artists through its recommendations, but I do think too many artists have been cut from this edition, or had their entries shortened too drastically, simply because of the constraints imposed by having to cram eighty-plus years of music into one volume. It may be time to expand the contents and split them, either alphabetically, or, as I think I'd prefer, taking the bebop era as a watershed and putting the 'modern' developments into a separate volume from the 'trad/swing' artists. I personally could also do without the index, but I know when they cut it from a previous edition there was an outcry. I hope the next edition (the first since the death of Richard Cook) will be bigger and better than ever.
On the road to an awesome jazz music collection 
2008-01-19
You know Penguin is really reliable for this type of guide, and this Guide to Jazz Recordings is no exception. 1500+ pages chock full of jazz recording information on all the major stars of jazz, and most of the minor ones too. As a long time (30 years) musician who is new to the jazz world, I really needed a guide to help me wade through the monstrous amount of recorded jazz. This book is proving quite effective in the task. I especially like the "Core Collection" notations on those recordings that are considered must haves for the jazz aficionado. The list makes it easy to select what to search out and buy next, either by artist, style, instrument, backing musicians, recording era, you name it. One of my gripes is that the core collection is not listed all together in one index somewhere (I went through all 1500 pages and noted them down myself), which would have been a great help. I also didn't like the fact that the authors sometimes fail to mention when you are going to have one helluva a hard time finding certain recordings, either because they are so esoteric, so long out of print, or just plain way out there. Still, I haven't found any other jazz recordings resource better than this one, so I'm quite happy with my purchase and recommend this to all jazz fans.
Too Many Omissions 2008-01-06
When I got the book, I looked up 50 or so jazz CDs I have either recently purchased or have considered purchasing and less than 50% were covered, although none were recently released! Similarly, many of the listed CDs are NOT readily available in the US. CDs listed are heavily slanted toward European releases, a vastly disproportionate percentage of the reviews are for the French Melodie Jazz Classics series. Since many older tracks are often gathered in similar "Best Of" type releases, it would have been possible to cross check existing compendiums by track title, but the only track listings are for a few specific tracks on a CD in the text of the review. So... for a book that is supposed to be a buyers guide, it falls far short in completeness. Well, it is published in the UK, and is probably a lot more useful there.
All that said, the reviews that are there are usually interesting, sometimes even enlightening. Unlike most efforts of this kind, the personnel listings for each CD (at least the ones I checked) seem complete and accurate. The capsule biographies manage to capture a lot about each artist in a concise form my old journalism teacher would have admired. While the highest rated CDs are mostly great choices for a beginning jazz library, there are two many levels of quality amongst the four star (highest rating) choices. On the plus side, the reviewers do deal with remastering sound quality, a significant issue particularly with older material.
The editors omitted most CDs which would have garnered 2 stars or less. I would have preferred a more aggressive paring down of the entries, eliminating perhaps most 3 star CDs, in order to discuss the really good ones in more detail and with track listings.
I love it 2007-12-27
I replaced my 1996 edition. Many more listings. The best reference book for Jazz on CD out there.
Time For 2 Volumes? 2007-11-21
The leading guide to recorded jazz, now extensively revised Music fans have been turning to this established reference through seven editions as a source of intelligent and insightful criticism. Fully updated to incorporate thousands of additional recordings, the eighth edition features artist biographies, detailed recording information with labels and catalog numbers, reliable and authoritative ratings, the authors’ personal selection of the essential recordings for every collection, an index of artists, and more.
Less inclusive than previous editions 2007-11-20
If you have older editions of this you may want to leaf through this latest edition before purchasing. In order to save space they have eliminated many recordings that were reviewed in previous versions. Betty Carter, Bill Charlap and Grant Green are a few examples of artists that have been short changed here in my opinion. It seems a bit ridiculous to publish a book of reviews in this day and age. "All Music Guide" is online and as a result more up to date. They may not have a written review for every release in an artists discography but at least they list it and rate it. AMG seems to be more generous in it's ratings and reviews than Pengiun. As some other reviewers noted Penguin is really looking for that ground breaking release rather than another rehash of the same old standards. The reviewers at Downbeat seem to have a similar perspective. I appreciate that because as a result I now enjoy listening to many European "avant garde" artists that I may have never known about otherwise. "All About Jazz" is another online source for reviews but their philosophy seems to be "if you don't have anything nice to say....."
As always tastes vary. I am a sucker for that ECM sound and I eagerly (and unobjectively!) anticipate the next release from their stable of artists. Enrico Rava, Keith Jarrett, Tomasz Stanko, Terje Rypdal and Charles Lloyd can do no wrong in my book but the Penguin Guide always brings me crashing back down to earth with it's *** and **(*) ratings of some of my favorites!
Jazz Discography 2007-10-22
This is the best available discography of jazz.The only flaw is that they only include what's currently available so no mention of Harlem Hamfats for example.But complete personnel and recording dates make it invaluable.Think you can get this info on the net? Best of luck.
Exhaustive Reference, Frustrating to use 2007-09-22
This is an incredible reference, It just plain has a ton of stuff in here. It covers almost everyone in great detail and is a valuable part of my jazz library.
but, the book is frustrating to use. I just hate the rating system, it needs something better. Maybe 10 stars instead or something. Nearly everything in here is either 3, 3 1/2 or 4 stars and not everything is the same. Of the many titles rated 4 stars there are radical differences between them. It's just not a very good system.
that's about all I can say - it's the best thing out there that I know of but if you want a more comprehensive reference it is just not realistic to expect it all in one book. This is as much as you can get into a book pretty much. It's better to get several different ones and then you'll have a good idea.
in requiem 2007-09-07
Various editions of this book has been my guide to jazz for over 10 years and in some funny way I feel like I know the authors personally. Of course, I don't but it was no less sad to hear that Richard Cook died of cancer a week ago at the not very old age of 50. Jazz and jazz lovers have lost a great friend and promoter. My sentiments to all who did know him.
