The Penguin Guide To Jazz C/D

I wish they had put out an ultimate edition e-book that included every single one of their album reviews EVER. (Deletions between updated editions could be frustrating.)

The original (1992) guide was extremely helpful to me in navigating, for instance, the discographies of some of the European musicians — Brötzmann, Bailey, Evan Parker, Schlippenbach, et al — but later editions (starting around the 4th or 5th) heaped praise on some decidedly mediocre artists, which was disappointing.

Also, the last time I saw it, in the 2000s, somebody had downgraded several Sonny Sharrock albums, with no explanation, which was the worst part.

I think Brian Morton had once stated they disagreed on the merits of Renè Marie (Cook on the pro side).

Last year I read the 10th and presumably final edition; it changed the format to feature only 1001 most notable recordings, rather than provide an encyclopedic overview. I can see the rationale for going into greater detail about better records rather than making long lists that include mediocrities (although I'm glad the writers used both approaches over the years). It introduced me to records by artists like Noah Howard and Billy Bang that I might otherwise have overlooked.
Am I right that wide-ranging music books like these are basically no longer publishable? I don't image the Rolling Stone Album Guide will be revived after the Fourth Edition in 2004.

i assume they're not since i don't see them being published, though i'm not looking very hard, the internet has made me lazy

i have an extremely weathered copy of the 8th which was basically my bible getting into jazz & i still use it to find a lot of great stuff. now more than then i notice the (too strong imo) bias towards euro improv & against anything too pop, soul, R&B, funk, disco etc which i have had to learn to correct for (though they appreciate electric miles, hardly a sure thing for jazz nerds back then). for ,classic artists' discographies i take issue with their likes & dislikes more now than i did, but they probably helped me gain the confidence to do so at all. i like that they are opinionated, i like that they take for granted that the avant-garde stuff is worthwhile. my perfect version of a book like this (keep the snark & skronk, don't shortchange the more populist stuff, also loads more african & latin music) is probably unworkable (or impossible without additional volumes & writers), then or now

I wish they had put out an ultimate edition e-book that included every single one of their album reviews EVER. (Deletions between updated editions could be frustrating.)

― birdistheword, Monday, 7 June 2021 00:21 (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

and

Am I right that wide-ranging music books like these are basically no longer publishable? I don't image the Rolling Stone Album Guide will be revived after the Fourth Edition in 2004.

― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 7 June 2021 04:18 (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Are there Kindle or e-versions of this sort of guide? Seems like the natural format for it. Searchable, no limit on length.

The Penguin Guide comes up on Google books - why it's not offered as an e-book, I have no idea, but they've already scanned the damn thing and made the text searchable.

I guess I just feel like... isn't this the time to shine for books like this? More music available than ever before, but no way of knowing what fits where, who knew who, what led to what. Streaming services are pretty good at personalizing playlists, but in terms of making sense of artists' careers and the narrative of genres Spotify's got all the explanatory power of a spreadsheet.

And on the writing side, text is more manageable and portable than ever before.

So..???

Nobody wants to pay the writers

THIS. MUST END.