jazz before the Sixties, and then to quickly summarize (with countless
Most books on the history of jazz music, even the ones published very
recently (see the bibliography), tend to devote 80-90% of the pages to
jazz before the Sixties, and then to quickly summarize (with countless
omissions) the last 40 years. Either the authors are very old and
stopped listening to new musicians in the 1950s, or jazz historians
are affected by some kind of psychological trauma when they enter the 1960s.
The paradox, of course, is that a lot more has happened "since" the 1960s than
"until" the 1960s, if nothing else because a lot more recordings have been made
in the age of the LP and in the age of the CD than in the ages of the 78 RPM and in the age of the 45 RPM. Personally, i also feel that
the masterpieces of jazz music have been produced between the 1960s and today,
with few exceptions. Thus i felt the need for a history of jazz music from
the opposite perspective.