The History of Music according to the Compact Disc:
1. One's Own Library – The New Year's Sound
2. More Jazz Masterpieces, More Discography Confusion
3. Organizing Your Jazz Listening with Cook and Morton's Penguin Guide to Jazz
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Organizing Your Jazz Listening with Cook and Morton's Penguin Guide to Jazz
As part of this process of re-engaging with my C. D. collection, I decided to get a copy of one of the Penguin guides to Jazz, authored by Richard Cook and Brian Morton across ten edtions from 1992 to 2010, to help guide me through a particular but large portion of my collection: Yes, I have readily, excessively bought Jazz reissues in the past. They often come in series, making it easy to pick out discs to add to an existing collection. And the standards of musicianship are going to be quite high if the album in question made it into one of those series. Despite the presentation of the music often being a distraction (bad album titles and art, lots of sessionography and discography arcana thrown at you by liner-note authors) Jazz music is more consistently rewarding than the Rock and other musics that replaced it as the commercially-successful popular music of the West. Consistency being the key factor, having both virtues and faults.
Anyway... so I got the first edition of Cook and Morton's series: The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP & Cassette, as it was called then, 1992. Cook and Morton only include reviews of albums in print; this approach seems unhelpful, wildly off-the-mark even, for Jazz music, given the large, convoluted discographies of certain major artists. But, alas, the book was intended for consumers in 1992, not 2025. And in 1992, before the C. D. reissue business had reached its dizzying heights, even albums that were soon to become easily available were not, strictly speaking, availabe for sale and, when you attempted to get them second-hand, could be hard to find.
Few albums get the first edition's highest rating of five stars. While more of these five-star titles were studio albums than not, the artists represented only by compilations are highly significant, being generally the earlier major Jazz artists. Not surprisingly the compilations chosen by Cook and Morton have in many cases been supplanted by later collections. Others, noted throughout all the editions of their reference guide, are those released by budget labels like John Stedman Productions (J. S. P.) and Retrieval; in some cases, these compilations are necessary, given that certain artists that the Penguin guides rank as highly important (say, Muggsy Spanier and Lars Gullin) have not received the lavish attention that the reissue trade time and again bestows upon certain "classic" artists. Overall, though, inferior compilations are noted merely because they meet two conditions: covering a significant time span and being in-print. Here are the five-star titles from the 1992 volume:
Louis Armstrong - Hot Fives and Sevens Vol. 3 [J. S. P. compilation, not corresponding to the now-standard Columbia volume 3]
Count Basie - The Original American Decca Recordings [European edition of U. S. compilation The Complete Decca Recordings]
Art Blakey - Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk
Peter Brötzmann - Machine Gun
Betty Carter - The Audience with Betty Carter
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme and The Major Works of John Coltrane
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch
Duke Ellington - The Blanton-Webster Years and The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse
Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby
Art Farmer - Blame It on My Youth
The Ganelin Trio - Catalogue: Live in East Germany
Lars Gullin - The Great Lars Gullin Vol. 5[ 1954/55: Danny's Dream & Manchester Fog]
Andrew Hill - Point of Departure
Bobby Hutcherson - Dialogue
J. J. Johnson - The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 1
George Lewis - Homage to Charles Parker
John McLaughlin - Extrapolation
Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Thelonious Monk - The Genius of Modern Music Volume 1
Jelly Roll Morton - The 1923-24 Piano Solos [Fountain compilation titled such on its back cover; the front cover presents the title as Presenting 19 Rare Recordings of Piano Solos by the King of Jazz & Stomp]; Jelly Roll Morton Volume One [J. S. P. compilation]
Fats Navarro - The Fabulous Fats Navarro: Volume 1
Joe 'King' Oliver - King Oliver Volume One 1923 to 1929 [B. B. C. reissue; yet again, the title is given incorrectly—in fact, it is Volume One: Great Original Performances 1923-1929]
Charlie Parker - Charlie Parker on Dial: Volume 1, Charlie Parker on Dial: Volume 4, and Charlie Parker on Dial: Volume 5 [Spotlite Records compilations]
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
Alexander Von Schlippenbach - Pakistani Pomade
Muggsy Spanier - Spanier 1931 and 1939 [B. B. C. compilation]
Sun Ra - Jazz in Silhouette
Art Tatum - The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces
Larry Young - Unity
John Zorn - The Big Gundown
By the time the Ninth Edition of the guide came out in 2008 (now titled The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings), Richard Cook had passed away; Morton finished the volume without him. The five-star ranking had long since disappeared; instead, beginning with the seventh edition, certain four-star albums comprised a Core Collection and a selected number of these Core albums were marked by a crown illustration: the kings (and occasionally queens) of the Jazz canon.
Confusingly, though, some albums not part of the Core Collection are given crowns. And some of the Core Collection albums do not receive four stars, instead are given what we can call the almost-four rating [***(*)], even as there are hundreds of other albums not part of the Core Collection that do win four stars. The description given for the Core Collection in the book's introduction does not exactly clarify why a record that is not up to "four-star" standards can be part of the Core; they write, "[The Core Collection] is meant as a balanced selection covering every strain in the music." They readily acknowledge the obvious point that their selections are going to be debatable; they do not explain why they could not find a four-star album, instead of a three-and-one-half-star, to represent whatever certain artist, style, or period ("strain") they have in mind. For example, Erroll Garner's Concert by the Sea only warrants an almost-four. Is it part of the Core Collection because of its popularity, being one of the highest-selling Jazz albums? Or its popularity combined with its position as a representative Garner album? If so, I cannot but think that, if Garner is important enough to warrant being in the Core Collection, he would also have an album with a four-star ranking.
An explanation for this problem of course derives from Cook and Morton's decision to include only in-print titles. The reader is left wondering if a four-star Garner album is simply out of print. A clearer example perhaps comes with Rahsaan Roland Kirk; a "two-for" reissue of his is included in the Core Collection, but it only receives the almost-four rating. A later Kirk album that receive four stars is crowned but not "Core," presumably not considered representative. Was a better album than these two, but that is also more representative, not in print? In other words, do we merely have here a Core Collection of Jazz albums in Print when the Ninth Edition of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Was Published? Such is obviously less appealing than a Core Collection of Jazz Recordings, full stop.
On one hand, the continued exclusion of out-of-print titles, by 2008, no longer made much sense. Or at least it didn't for devoted Jazz listeners. Sure, a massive number of C. D. reissues had come and gone in the years since '92, and some of them had become rare and pricey (after all, most Jazz releases come out in editions of only a few thousand). But most of them were readily available via second-hand online sellers or as unofficial downloads via online peer-to-peer networks and "sharity" blogs. Streaming services were also making their debut around this time. To be fair... of course Cook and Morton (or, rather, Penguin) undoubtedly did not want the latest editions would be too long to be made into a single book, a problem only solved by turning the guide into an expensive, encyclopedia-like multi-volume set.
On the other hand, the crowned portion of the Core Collection offers a helpful list of exemplary albums by those considered to be Jazz's landmark innovators, simply because landmark albums were not going to be out-of-print and, again, Cook and Morton use cheapo compilations to ensure that major early artists like Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver are represented. In other words, the list of crowned "Core" titles provides a handy list for those new to Jazz, hardly the intended audience for the Penguin Guide! Twenty-two of these 28 are studio albums.
The Core Collection, crowned:
Louis Armstrong - Hot Fives & Sevens [J. S. P. compilation]; The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings [Columbia compilation]
Albert Ayler - Spiritual Unity
Studio album recorded June 1964, released '65
Count Basie - The Original American Decca Recordings
Arthur Blythe - Lexon Avenue Breakdown
Studio album recorded 1978(?), released '79
Peter Brötzmann - Machine Gun
Studio album recorded and released 1968
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Studio album recorded 1964, released '65
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Studio album recorded and released 1959
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch!
Studio album recorded and released 1964
Charles Gayle - Touchin' on Trane
Concert album recorded 1991, released '93
Andrew Hill - Point of Departure
Studio album recorded 1964, released '65
J. J. Johnson - The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volumes 1 & 2
Lee Konitz - Motion
Studio album recorded and released 1960
Thelonious Monk - The Complete Blue Note Recordings
Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder
Studio album recorded 1963, released '64
Joe 'King' Oliver [King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band] - The Complete Set [Retrieval compilation]
Evan Parker - The Snake Decides
Studio album recorded 1986, released '88
Max Roach - We Insist! Freedom Now Suite
Studio album recorded and released 1960
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
Studio album recorded 1956, released '57
Sonny Rollins - A Night at the Village Vanguard
Concert album recorded 1957, released '58
Tomasz Stańko - Leosia
Studio album recorded 1996, released '97
Sun Ra - Jazz in Silhouette
Studio album recorded and released 1959
Warren Vaché[/ Bill Charlap] - 2gether
Studio album recorded 2000, released '01
Kid Thomas Valentine - Kid Thomas-George Lewis Ragtime Stompers [G. H. B. compilation]
Sarah Vaughan - Sarah Vaughan
Studio album featuring Clifford Brown recorded 1954, released '55
Edward Vesala - Lumi
Studio album recorded 1986, released '87
Bobby Watson - Love Remains
Studio album recorded 1986, released '87
Larry Young - Unity
Studio album recorded 1965, released '66
John Zorn - The Big Gundown
Studio album recorded 1984-1985, released '86
Crowned but not part of the Core Collection:
John Abercrombie - The Third Quartet
Studio album recorded 2006, released '07
Jan Allan - Jan Allan - 70
Studio album recorded 1968-1969, released '70
Amalgam - Prayer for Peace
Studio album recorded and released 1969
Lenadro 'Gato' Barbieri - Chapter 4: Alive in New York
Concert album recorded and released 1975
Ran Blake - All That Is Tied
Studio album recorded 2005, released '06
Art Blakey - Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers with Thelonious Monk
Studio album recorded 1957, released '58
Anthony Braxton - For Alto
Studio album recorded 1969 (?), released '71
Betty Carter - The Audience with Betty Carter
Concert album recorded 1979, released '80
Oscar 'Papa' Celestin['s Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra/Sam Morgan's Jazz Band] - Papa Celestin & Sam Morgan [Azure compilation, split between the two artists; actually titled New Orleans Classics, unless one were to claim that such is a series title, making the album self-titled, in which case it is still not titled Papa Celestin & Sam Morgan!]
June Christy - Something Cool: The Complete Mono and Stereo Versions
Studio album recorded 1953-1955, released 1954 (10-inch format), 1955 (12-inch)
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
Studio album recorded and released 1959
John Coltrane - Ascension
Studio album recorded 1965, released 1966
Miles Davis - The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel; Highlights from the Plugged Nickel—the latter only receives an almost-four rating
Miles Davis and Gil Evans - The Complete Columbia Studio Sessions
Duke Ellington - The Duke at Fargo 1940
Concert album recorded 1940, released 1978
Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard; Waltz for Debby
Concert albums recorded 1961; released '61 and '62, respectively
Art Farmer - Blame It on My Youth
Studio album recorded and released 1988
The Ganelin Trio - Ancora Da Capo
Concert album recorded 1980, released 1982
Stan Getz - The Complete Roost Recordings [Blue Note compilation]
Dizzy Gillespie - The Complete RCA Victor Recordings [Bluebird compilation]
Jimmy Giuffre - Free Fall
Studio album recorded 1962, released '63
Al Haig - The Al Haig Trio Esoteric
Studio album recorded and released 1954
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage
Studio album recorded 1965, released '66
Steve Harris & Zaum - Above Our Heads the Sky Splits Open
Concert album recorded and released 2004
Woody Herman - Woody's Winners/Jazz Hoot
First album, live recordings recorded 1965, released '66; second, both live and studio recordings 1965, 1967-68
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - A Meeting of the Times
Studio album recorded 1972, with the exception of one track recorded 1965; released 1972
Krzysztof Komeda - Astigmatic
Studio album recorded 1965, released '67
Peter Kowald - Was Da Ist
Studio album recorded 1994, released '95
George E. Lewis - Homage to Charles Parker
Studio album recorded 1979 (?), released 1979
Joe Lovano - From the Soul
Studio album recorded 1991, released '92
Shelly Manne - At the Black Hawk
Strictly speaking no such title exists; rather, this entry actually comprises five concert albums all recorded 1959 and released 1960
René Marie - Vertigo
Studio album recorded and released 2001
John McLaughlin - Extrapolation
Studio album recorded and released 1969
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Studio album recorded and released 1959
Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Studio album recorded and released 1963
Thelonious Monk[ Quartet] - With John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
Concert album recorded 1957, released 2005
Thelonious Monk - The Complete Riverside Recordings
Jelly Roll Morton - Jelly Roll Morton Volumes 1-5 [J. S. P. compilation, actually titled 1926-1930]
The New Orleans Rhythm Kings - 1922-1925 The Complete Set [Retrieval compilation]
Tony Oxley - The Baptised Traveller
Studio album recorded and released 1969
Charlie Parker - The Complete Savoy and Dial Studio Recordings[1944-1948] [Atlantic compilation]; Newly Discovered Sides also included in this listing, but only receives three stars
Evan Parker - 50th Birthday Concert
Concert album recorded and released 1994
Howard Riley - The Day Will Come
Studio album recorded and released 1970
ROVA[/ Orkestrova] - Electric Ascension
Studio album recorded 2003, released '05
Alexander von Schlippenbach - Pakistani Pomade
Studio album recorded 1972, released '73
Alexander von Schlippenbach - Monk's Casino
Studio album recorded 2003-2004, released '06
[Chris Tyle's ]Silver Leaf Jazz Band - New Orleans Wiggle
Studio album recorded when(?), released 1999
John Surman[/ John Warren] - Tales of the Algonquin
Studio album recorded when(?), released '71
Horace Tapscott - The Dark Tree
Concert album recorded 1989, released '91
Art Tatum - The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces
Cecil Taylor - Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come
Concert album recorded 1962, released '63
The non-crowned bulk of the Core Collection:
Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley - Somethin' Else
Air - Air Time; Air Song, Live Air, and Air Mail also included in this listing, but each only receives three stars
Henry "Red" Allen - Henry "Red" Allen & His Orchestra 1929-1933
Mose Allison - The Word from Mose
Louis Armstrong - Louis Armstrong 1946-1947—only receives an almost-four rating
Chris Barber - The Complete Decca Sessions 1954/55
Count Basie - The Complete Atomic Mr. Basie
Sidney Bechet - Shake 'Em Up
Bix Beiderbecke - Bix and Tram
Ran Blake - The Short Life of Barbara Monk
Art Blakey - A Night at Birdland Volumes 1 & 2
Paul Bley - Time Will Tell
Don Braden - After Dark
Ruby Braff - Calling Berlin: Volume 1
Anthony Braxton - Eugene (1989)
Bob Brookmeyer - New Works/Celebration
Clifford Brown - The Complete Blue Note and Pacific Jazz Recordings
Dave Brubeck - Time Out
Kenny Burrell - Ellington Is Forever Volume 1
Gary Burton - Hotel Hello
Benny Carter - Further Definitions
Serge Chaloff - Blue Serge/Boston Blow Up
Teddy Charles - The Teddy Charles Tentet
Nat Cole - After Midnight—only receives an almost-four rating
Ornette Coleman - At the Golden Circle, Stockholm: Volumes 1 & 2
Graham Collier - Hoarded Dreams
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Keny Colyer - Club Session with Colyer—only receives an almost-four rating
Eddie Condon - Eddie Condon 1927-1938
Chris Connor - Chris Connor [Atlantic album]
Sonny Criss - Sonny's Dream
Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis - Very Saxy
Miles Davis - Milestones
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way; The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions
Vic Dickenson - Nice Work
Vic Dickenson - The Essential Vic Dickenson
Arne Domnérus - Face to Face
Kenny Dorham - 'Round about Midnight at the Café Bohemia Vol. 2
Dave Douglas - Convergence
Roy Eldgridge - Heckler's Hop
Duke Ellington - Never No Lament
Duke Ellington - Ellington at Newport 1956 (Complete)
Duke Ellington - New Orleans Suite
Bill Evans - The Complete Live at the Village Vanguard 1961
Gil Evans - Out of the Cool
Art Farmer - Portrait of Art
Ella Fitzgerald - The Cole Porter Songbook
Chico Freeman - Destiny's Dance
Bill Frisell - Have a Little Faith
Jan Garbarek - Dis
Erroll Garner - Concert by the Sea—only receives an almost-four rating
Stan Getz - Focus
Dizzy Gillespie - Birks Works
Benny Goodman - At Carnegie Hall 1938 - Complete
Benny Goodman - The Complete Small Group Sessions
Dexter Gordon - Our Man in Paris
Stephane Grappelli - Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark
Grant Green - The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark
Lars Gullin - Danny's Dream
Charlie Haden - Beyond the Missouri Sky
Scott Hamilton - Scott Hamilton Plays Ballads
Lionel Hampton - Lionel Hampton 1937-1938—only receives an almost-four rating
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
Barry Harris - Magnificant!
Coleman Hawkins - The Stanley Dance Sessions
Julius Hemphill - Flat-Out Jump Suite
Joe Henderson - The State of the Tenor Volumes One and Two
Woody Herman - Blowin' Up a Storm
Earl Hines - Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington; Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington Vol. 2—the latter only receives an almost-four rating
Billie Holiday - Lady Day Swings!
Dave Holland - Conference of the Birds
Noah Howard - The Black Ark
Freddie Hubbard - Open Sesame
Dick Hyman - Forgotten Dreams
Abdullah Ibrahim - Yarona
Ahamd Jamal - At the Pershing; Complete Live at the Pershing—the latter only receives an almost-four rating
Keith Jarrett - The Köln Concert
Bunk Johnson - Bunk's Brass Band and Dance Band 1945
Thad Jones - Consummation
Louis Jordan - Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five
Sheila Jordan - Portrait of Sheila
Stan Kenton - City of Glass
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Rip, Rig and Panic/Now Please Don't You Cry, Beautiful Edith—"two-for" reissue; both only receive almost-four ratings
Lee Konitz - Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh
Steve Lacy - 5 x Monk x 5 x Lacy
George Lewis [clarinetist] - Jazz Funeral in New Orleans; Jazz in the Classic New Orleans Tradition—only receives an almost-four rating
Meade Lux Lewis - Meade Lux Lewis 1927-1939
Dave Liebman - Drum Ode
London Jazz Composers' Orchestra - Ode
Humphrey Lyttelton - The Parlophones Volumes One-Four
Wynton Marsalis - J Mood
Ron McClure - Soft Hands
Jackie McLean - Let Freedom Ring
Marian McPartland - In My Life
Brad Mehldau - The Art of the Trio Volume 1
Helen Merrill - Helen Merrill with Clifford Brown and Gil Evans
Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus
Charles Mingus - Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus
Roscoe Mitchell - Sound
Roscoe Mitchell - Composition/Improvisation No. 1, 2 & 3
The Modern Jazz Quartet - The Complete Last Concert—only receives an almost-four rating
Miff Mole - Slippin' Around
Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners
Wes Montgomery - Incredible Jazz Guitar
Bennie Moten - Band Box Shuffle 1929-1932
Paul Motian - Sound of Love
Gerry Mulligan - The Original Quartet
David Murray - Ming; Home—the latter only receives an almost-four rating
Fats Navarro - The Complete Fats Navarro on Blue Note and Capitol
Original Dixieland Jazz Band - The Original Dixieland Jazz Band 1917-1921
Greg Osby - Banned in New York
Charlie Parker - Charlie Parker on Dial: The Complete Sessions
Charlier Parker - Charlie Parker [Verve compilation of quartet recordings]
Charlie Parker - The Quintet - Jazz at Massey Hall
Joe Pass - Virtuoso
Mario Pavone - Deez to Blues
Art Pepper - Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section
Oscar Peterson - Night Train
Oscar Peterson - My Favorite Instrument; Girl Talk, Action, The Way I Really Play, Mellow Mood, and Travelin' On also included in this listing, but each only receives three stars
Michael Petrucciani - Solo Live
Michael Petrucciani - The Complete Concert in Germany
Oscar Pettiford - Nonet & Octet 1954-55
Oscar Pettiford - Complete Big Band Studio Recordings
Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 1
Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 2
Django Reinhardt - The Classic Early Recordings in Chronological Order
Max Roach - Alone Together
Shorty Rogers - The Sweetheart of Sigmund Freud
Sonny Rollins - This Is What I Do
ROVA - Bingo
George Russell - Jazz Workshop
Alexander von Schlippenbach - Swinging the Bim
Maria Schneider - Concert in the Garden
John Scofield - Quiet
Artie Shaw - Self Portrait
Archie Shepp - Four for Trane
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
Horace Silver - Blowin' the Blues Away
Zoot Sims - If I'm Lucky
Wadada Leo Smith - The Kabell Years
Wadada Leo Smith - Divine Love
Jimmy Smith - Groovin' at Smalls' Paradise
Muggsy Spanier - Muggsy Spanier 1939-1942
Spontaneous Music Ensemble - Quintessence
Bobo Stenson - Serenity
Maxine Sullivan - Close as Pages in a Book
Sun Ra - The Magic City
John Surman - A Biography of the Rev. Absalom Davis—only receives an almost-four rating
Art Tatum - The Tatum Group Masterpieces Vol. 8
Cecil Taylor - Jazz Advance
Cecil Taylor - For Olim
Cecil Taylor - The Tree of Life
Clark Terry - Memories of Duke
Mel Tormé - Mel Tormé Swings Shubert Alley
Lennie Tristano - Lennie Tristano [Atlantic album with Lee Konitz]
McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy
McCoy Tyner - Time for Tyner
James Blood Ulmer - Odyssey
Weather Report - Mysterious Traveller
Eberhard Weber - Yellow Fields
Ben Webster - Music for Loving
Mike Westbrok - On Duke's Birthday
Kenny Wheeler - Music for Large & Small Ensembles
Mary Lou Wiliams - Free Spirits
Tony Williams - Life Time—only receives an almost-four rating
Phil Woods - Phil Woods/Lew Tabackin
Lester Young - The Complete Aladdin Sessions
That makes for 167 albums or compilations added to the "crown" winners (if we do not count the multiple-title entries, most if not all of which seem to have been presented in such a way only to help organize each artist section more effectively, not suggest that all of the albums listed as such are part of the Core Collection). And, again, there are many more albums that win four stars. For example, for the "Ma" section of the alphabet, there are about 40 albums that receive four stars. Taking into account variation across the ten editions of the Penguin Guides—not to mention all those stubborn out-of-print albums that never got reviewed—one can safely conclude that there are thousands of albums that Cook and Morton consider top-notch worthy listens. Even for a genre of music thought to have prolix tendencies, that is a great deal of music. Yet, one hears about certain artists being criminally neglected, their work poorly documented. As arguable as this point is in some cases (definitely some artists have been inconsistently documented; for example, Cecil Taylor), it is not debatable that such discussions distract from listening to the massive amounts that have been documented!
As for the Penguin Guide's reviews.... Cook and Morton wrote the book collectively (i. e. the reviews or artist entries are not individually signed) and the two seemed to defer to each other when necessary (that is, when one viewed a certain artist more negatively, he let the other's opinions prevail) but their idiosyncrasies, perhaps shared, perhaps not, are readily apparent. At times their axes to grind clash with the the book's status as a reference guide. Do we need a review of John Coltrane's Blue Train that claims it's "a perfect example of the Blue Note effect, an overvalued record which bathes in the cachet of a fleeting association with the most glamorous label of its time"? This comment is gobbledygook to a novice and annoying to those of us who know what the authors are talking about. While they provide reasoning for their critique, the album being over-rated, if it is so, is a simpler matter: it was a major album by John Coltrane released by a prominent Jazz label that, as the authors note, paid for its musicians to have sufficient studio time, unlike the Prestige label that Coltrane also recorded for in the late Fifties. And how does an album have a "fleeting" association with the label that released it? Is that possible? Sounds like someone wanted to write an editorial about Jazz aficionados excessively lavishing praise upon Blue Note Records. There is a (different) time and place for that. Cook and Morton then inexplicably give the album four stars!
For the most part, though, when Cook and Morton's reviews struck me as odd, I could only accept them as informed opinions from two persons whose devoted listening is perhaps only matched by another Jazz reference master, Scott Yanow. While understandably skeptical that Cook and Morton listened to these countless volumes of music as attentively as one must in order to offer serious critiques, I find few glaring instances of perfunctory criticism. Indeed, I cannot but conclude that Cook and Morton approached Jazz recordings in a manner befitting the genre: as real-time experiences most of all, regardless of how frequently they re-listened to them later. Given how practiced they got to be, I imagine them listening to an album closely upon first sitting and, considering their initial impression and their storehouse of information about the artists in question, efficiently rendering an effective verdict. As much as I am on occasion flummoxed by their negative takes (about, for example, Dave Holland's playing on Gateway or Elvin Jones's on Crescent outside his showcase ‘The Drum Thing’) I allow that they might be hearing something that I am not.
In a few specific instances where I found fault with Cook and Morton's reviews, they seemed to be inconsistently imposing a demand that the music in question embody progress, some sort of advance in the development of Jazz music or at least the individual artist's work. In some cases, this demand is implied, as with their ranking, in 1992, of Peter Brötzmann's Machine Gun above later albums by the trio of Brötzmann, Fred Van Hove, and Han Bennink; Machine Gun, despite its status as a pioneering work of European Free Jazz, suffers horribly from its low-fidelity recording quality, which is plainly not, as Cook and Morton claim, a "fitting medium for the music." In others, as with Muhal Richard Abrams, it is stated directly. In the 1992 edition's review of Abrams' The Hearinga Suite, the authors complain about the artist's lack of progression, then quote E. M. Forster to the effect that progress "isn't everything" and explain why they actually give the album only two stars. Perhaps skip that first part? By the time of the 2008 edition, this negative take on Abrams had been significantly revised, The Hearinga Suite elevated to an almost-four rating. After all, given that albums like Bobby Watson's Love Remains and Warren Vaché's 2gether were now ranked by Cook and Morton as among the greatest of all time, avant-garde status is clearly not a requirement.
Cook and Morton's apparent preference for recordings that fit a sort of "history at work" trope or supposedly inspired innovation at a specific moment of time is very clear in their high accolades for Miles Davis's December 1965 recordings at the Plugged Nickel nightclub in Chicago. For them, the box set that documents them in full is the "Rosetta Stone of modern jazz," wherein the improvisations by the Second Quintet (Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams) "don't so much float on the chords as react against them like phosphorous"; and "Miles is moving out into areas of harmonic/melodic invention and performance dynamics which were unprecedented." The use of "Miles" there as shorthand for the whole quintet is an unwitting flub. As is well documented, and clearly heard on the recordings, Davis had dealt with physical ailments caused by sickle-cell amenia for much of 1965, and struggled during his performances at these gigs. The other four musicians more than made up for this unfortunate situation, expanding dramatically upon the great work they had already done as a performing unit and on their debut studio album, E.S.P., recorded in January before Davis fell ill. As historically important as the Plugged Nickel performances are, nonetheless Cook and Morton's failure to mention Davis's bad state is not exactly sloppy (they were certainly aware of it) but certainly peculiar. Granted, they do not put the recordings in the "Core Collection"; instead, the set is one of those that is crowned only, an acknowledgement of the particular nature of their high ranking of the set. Still, I expect a reference guide not only to explain to novice listeners such an important problem with the Plugged Nickel set but also perhaps give the brilliant studio album that followed these performances, Miles Smiles, recorded in October '66, an exalted place.
Perhaps I am fussing excessively over a few objections and trying too hard to construct an overarching summation of Cook and Morton's critical interpretation of Jazz history. That is, I risk presenting a misleading view of the Penguin guides. In many ways, their opinions confirm my own impressions and those of countless others. Their unique, at times controversial, takes on certain albums might draw the most attention. But let us also consider the albums (or collections that can be roughly grouped into albums) which Cook and Morton rank as essential listening, agreeing with what we could call the "received wisdom" of the day: Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven records, Count Basie's Decca recordings, Arthur Blythe's Lenox Avenue Breakdown, Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch!, Andrew Hill's Point of Departure, Thelonious Monk's early Blue Note sides and his recently-discovered Carnegie Hall set with John Coltrane, Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder, Jelly Roll Morton's 1926-1927 Red Hot Peppers sessions, Charlie Parker's Savoy and Dial recordings, Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus, the self-titled Sarah Vaughan album featuring Clifford Brown, and Larry Young's Unity. Cook and Morton seemed not to decide upon a single, definite Duke Ellington recommendation, except that the collection of the Blanton-Webster years got five stars in the '92 book, so include that too plus a representative work from the later years—most would say the complete Newport '56 set. Elevate Brubeck's Time Out, at least a couple Earl Hines titles, something by the later Basie band, Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours or Songs for Swingin' Lovers, a selection of the Tatum solo and group recordings that Cook and Morton already highlight, one or two of Ella Fitzgerald's songbook albums, and perhaps a selection of key tracks, most obviously Coleman Hawkins' ‘Body and Soul’ and at least a few by Fats Waller, perhaps also a few by early masters who too often get ignored these days, say Bix Beiderbecke or Pee Wee Russell; the resulting selection would serve well enough as a canon of Jazz from roughly 1920 to 1965.
Though Cook and Morton deserve high praise for their efforts to present a single guide to all Jazz, right up to the Aughts, no similar canon exists for Jazz after both the Free Jazz "New Thing" and Jazz-Rock Fusion sowed discord in the Jazz community. The massive discgraphies of major figures like Anthony Braxton, Keith Jarrett, Steve Lacy, and Evan Parker are difficult for even devoted fans to digest; traditionalists, meanwhile, reject most of it, deluding themselves with the notion that Wynton Marsalis compares favorably to titans of old. A couple Cook-Morton recommendations, Parker's Conic Sections and Schlippenbach's Pakistani Pomade seem like sure bets. In contrast, the esteemed place that Braxton's For Alto is given seems to reflect, as with the Plugged Nickel recordings, its significance in showing changes in the way the music is played, as compared to an album that would serve as both the culmination of those very changes and a cohesive, pleasurable listening experience, as several later Braxton albums could be said to be: say, Creative Orchestra Music 1976 or Willisau (Quartet) 1991.
For all the expected inconsistency caused by the two reviewing such a massive amount of music, Cook and Morton nonetheless provide insightful guides to the major Jazz artists. Any book about Jazz music that stretches from the Original Dixieland Jazz Band to the latest albums by Roscoe Mitchell or the ROVA Saxophone Quartet is simply astounding, a monumental achievement. More importantly, for those of us immersed in listening to old music, they provide much-needed fellowship; however indirect it is, I appreciate the company. Noticing their negative take on Thelonious Monk's Underground in the first ediiton, I was happy to see that, several years down the line, the unabridged version (discussed in the first entry in the ‘History of Music according to the Compact Disc’ series) gets their endorsement. I can put myself in their shoes, be impressed that they took the time to listen to the new version, also appreciated its superiority, and made note of it for us—for me, reading it in 2025.
–Justin J. Kaw, May 2025