Early Jazz is one of the seminal books on American jazz. Written by the renowned composer, conductor, and musical scholar Gunther Schuller, it is the first of three volumes on the history and musical contribution of jazz, taking us from its beginnings as a distinct musical style at the turn of the century to its first great flowering in the 1930s. Schuller explores; the music of the great jazz soloists of the twenties - Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, and others - and the big bands and arrangers - Fletcher Henderson, Bennie Moten, and especially Duke Ellington - placing their music in the context of the other musical cultures of the twentieth century and offering analyses of many great jazz recordings. Early Jazz provides a musical tour of the early American jazz world. A classic study, it is both a splendid introduction for students and an insightful guide for scholars, musicians, and jazz fans.

CONTENTS:
The Origins; The Beginnings; The First Great Soloist; The First Great Composer; Virtuoso Performers of the Twenties; The Big Bands; The Ellington Style - Its Origins & Early Development

GUNTHER SCHULLER is a leading contemporary American composer and conductor, was associated with the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood for over twenty years, mostly as its Artistic Director, and was President of the New England Conservatory of Music from 1967 to 1977. He has published also, Horn Technique (1962), and Musings (Oxford, 1986). In 1991, he received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

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