Resources
Books
A 142-title jazz bibliography — histories, biographies, criticism, and reference works — organized by subject.
Academic / cultural studies of jazz
6 titles Jazz Cultures David Ake (2002)
Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation Paul F. Berliner
Epistrophies: Jazz and the Literary Imagination Brent Hayes Edwards (2017)
Jammin' at the Margins: Jazz and the American Cinema Krin Gabbard (1996)
Landing on the Wrong Note: Jazz, Dissonance, and Critical Practice Ajay Heble (2000)
Blowin' the Blues Away: Performance and Meaning on the New York Jazz Scene Travis A. Jackson (2012)
Free jazz / avant-garde
7 titles This Is Our Music: Free Jazz, the Sixties, and American Culture Iain Anderson (2006)
Free Jazz Ekkehard Jost (1974)
A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music George E. Lewis (2008)
The Freedom Principle: Jazz After 1958 John Litweiler (1984)
Forces in Motion: The Music and Thoughts of Anthony Braxton Graham Lock (1988)
Point from Which Creation Begins: The Black Artists' Group of St. Louis Benjamin Looker (2004)
As Serious As Your Life Val Wilmer
Musician biographies and autobiographies
29 titles Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans Louis Armstrong (1954)
We Called It Music Eddie Condon
Lady Sings the Blues Billie Holiday (with William Dufty) (1956)
Music Is My Mistress Duke Ellington (1973)
To Be, or Not... to Bop Dizzy Gillespie (with Al Fraser) (1979)
Deep in a Dream: The Long Night of Chet Baker James Gavin (2002)
Possibilities Herbie Hancock
Raise Up Off Me Hampton Hawes
3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool James Kaplan
Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original Robin D.G. Kelley
Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way Peter Levinson
Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James Peter Levinson
Saxophone Colossus Aiden Levy
Ornette Coleman: A Harmolodic Life John Litweiler (1992)
Mister Jelly Roll Alan Lomax
The Great Jazz Pianists Len Lyons
Really the Blues Mezz Mezzrow
Beneath the Underdog Charles Mingus (1971)
High Times, Hard Times Anita O'Day
Dance of the Infidels: A Portrait of Bud Powell Francis Paudras (1998)
Straight Life Art Pepper
Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings Peter Pettinger (1998)
John Coltrane: His Life and Music Lewis Porter (1997)
Jelly's Blues (Jelly Roll Morton biography) William Gaines and Howard Reich
Four Lives in the Bebop Business AB Spellman
Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington Terry Teachout (2013)
Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong Terry Teachout
Miles: The Autobiography Miles Davis (with Quincy Troupe)
Jazz Lives Michael Ullman
Jazz criticism and aesthetics
13 titles Collected Works: A Journal of Jazz, 1954–2000 Whitney Balliett (2000)
Blowin' Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics John Gennari (2006)
Visions of Jazz: The First Century Gary Giddins (1998)
How to Listen to Jazz Ted Gioia
The Imperfect Art: Reflections on Jazz and Modern Culture Ted Gioia (1988)
Conversations in Jazz: The Ralph J. Gleason Interviews Ralph Gleason
Hear Me Talkin' to Ya Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff
The Jazz Life Nat Hentoff (1961)
Stomping the Blues Albert Murray (1976)
Blue: The Murder of Jazz Eric Nisenson (1997)
The Jazz Ear: Conversations Over Music Ben Ratliff (2008)
Notes and Tones Art Taylor
Why Jazz? Kevin Whitehead
Jazz and race, civil rights, politics
9 titles Black Music LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
Blues People LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)
Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War Penny M. Von Eschen (2004)
Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times Robin D.G. Kelley (2012)
Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music Frank Kofsky (1970)
Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz and Africa Ingrid Monson (2007)
The Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, and Culture in Urban America Burton W. Peretti (1992)
What Is This Thing Called Jazz? African American Musicians as Artists, Critics, and Activists Eric Porter
Freedom Is, Freedom Ain't: Jazz and the Making of the Sixties Scott Saul (2003)
General jazz histories and surveys
12 titles The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to the 21st Century Joachim-Ernst Berendt (2009)
Jazz: A History of America's Music Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns (2000)
The Making of Jazz James Lincoln Collier
Jazz Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux
Jazz John Fordham
The History of Jazz Ted Gioia
Early Jazz Gunther Schuller
A New History of Jazz Alyn Shipton (2002)
The Story of Jazz Marshall Stearns (1956)
Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz Richard Sudhalter
Jazz: A History Frank Tirro (1977)
The Jazz Tradition Martin Williams (1970)
New Orleans / early jazz / Dixieland
7 titles Louis Armstrong's New Orleans Thomas Brothers (2006)
A Trumpet Around the Corner: The Story of New Orleans Jazz Samuel Charters (2008)
Subversive Sounds: Race and the Birth of Jazz in New Orleans Charles Hersch (2007)
In Search of Buddy Bolden: First Man of Jazz Donald M. Marquis (1978)
New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History Bruce Boyd Raeburn (2009)
New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album Edmond Souchon and Al Rose
Storyville, New Orleans Al Rose (1978)
Jazz in specific cities
7 titles Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles Clora Bryant et al. (eds.) (1998)
Before Motown: A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920–60 Lars Bjorn and Jim Gallert (2001)
Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop Frank Driggs and Chuck Haddix (2005)
Chicago Jazz: A Cultural History, 1904–1930 William Howland Kenney (1993)
Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story Between the Great Wars William A. Shack (2001)
52nd Street: The Street of Jazz Arnold Shaw (1977)
Red and Hot: The Fate of Jazz in the Soviet Union S. Frederick Starr (1990)
Jazz photography / visual culture
5 titles Jazz Seen William Claxton (1999)
The Sound I Saw: Improvisation on a Jazz Theme Roy DeCarava (1983)
Bass Line: The Stories and Photographs of Milt Hinton Milt Hinton (1988)
Jazz, Giants, and Journeys: The Photography of Herman Leonard Herman Leonard (2006)
The Blue Note Years: The Jazz Photography of Francis Wolff Michael Cuscuna, Charlie Lourie and Francis Wolff (1995)
Swing era history and big bands
7 titles Duke Ellington's America Harvey G. Cohen (2010)
The World of Duke Ellington Stanley Dance (1970)
Swingin' the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture Lewis A. Erenberg (1998)
Swing, Swing, Swing: The Life and Times of Benny Goodman Peter Levinson
The Swing Era Gunther Schuller
The Big Bands George T. Simon (1967)
Swing Changes: Big-Band Jazz in New Deal America David W. Stowe (1994)
Economics and business of jazz
10 titles Blue Note Records: The Biography Richard Cook
Live at the Village Vanguard Max Gordon (1980)
John Hammond on Record: An Autobiography John Hammond (1977)
Norman Granz: The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice Tad Hershorn (2011)
A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album Ashley Kahn
Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece Ashley Kahn
The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records Ashley Kahn
The Rise of a Jazz Art World Paul Lopes (2002)
Wait Until Dark: Jazz and the Underworld, 1880–1940 Ronald L. Morris (1980)
Why Jazz Happened Marc Myers (2012)
Jazz and gender / women in jazz
6 titles Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen Linda Dahl (1984)
Harlem Nocturne: Women Artists and Progressive Politics During World War II Farah Jasmine Griffin (2013)
Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams Tammy L. Kernodle (2004)
Becoming Ella Fitzgerald Judith Tick (2023)
Big Ears: Listening for Gender in Jazz Studies Nichole T. Rustin and Sherrie Tucker (eds.) (2008)
Swing Shift: 'All-Girl' Bands of the 1940s Sherrie Tucker (2000)
Bebop, hard bop, cool jazz history
7 titles The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History Scott DeVeaux (1997)
The Birth (and Death) of the Cool Ted Gioia (2009)
West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945–1960 Ted Gioia (1992)
Jazz Masters of the Forties Ira Gitler (1966)
Jazz West Coast: The Los Angeles Jazz Scene of the 1950s Robert Gordon (1986)
Bebop: The Music and Its Players Thomas Owens
Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music, 1955–1965 David H. Rosenthal (1992)
Reference works
12 titles All Music Guide to Jazz Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra and Stephen Thomas Erlewine (eds.) (2002)
Encyclopedia of Jazz Leonard Feather
The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire Ted Gioia
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz Barry Kernfeld (ed.) (1988)
The Oxford Companion to Jazz Bill Kirchner (ed.) (2000)
The 100 Best Jazz Albums: A History of Jazz on Records Len Lyons
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Richard Cook and Brian Morton (1992)
The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz Tom Piazza
The Rough Guide to Jazz Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather and Brian Priestley (2004)
Jazz Records, 1897–1942 Brian Rust (1969)
Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History Robert Walser (ed.) (1998)
The Jazz Masters Series (MacMillan) Martin Williams (ed.) (1965–1972)
Fusion / jazz-rock / contemporary jazz
5 titles Birds of Fire: Jazz, Rock, Funk, and the Creation of Fusion Kevin Fellezs (2011)
Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius Bill Milkowski (1996)
Is Jazz Dead? (Or Has It Moved to a New Address) Stuart Nicholson (2005)
Jazz-Rock: A History Stuart Nicholson (1998)
Miles Beyond: The Electric Explorations of Miles Davis Paul Tingen (2001)