Jazz 101 : A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Jazz

Often called America's only original art form, jazz is also one of the least understood. Jazz 101 makes jazz, in all its intricacies and vast array of forms, accessible to all readers, by analysing the myths, history, and developments of this art form. John F Szwed takes readers on a tour of the varied and non-linear history of jazz, exploring how it developed from an ethnic music to become the world's most popular music and then part of the avant garde in less than fifty years.