The Book of Jazz

The first book about jazz that I read. The Book of Jazz: A Guide to the Entire Field by Leonard Feather, 1957. I read the 1976 edition in the summer of 1977. I was exploring jazz and getting a lot of albums during those mid to late 1970's. I spent a lot of time at the record bins at 3rd Street Jazz in Philly at the time.

At that time in the 70's Leonard Feather was well known as a jazz critic and journalist. He had written several well known books about jazz and would go on to write a few more in the 1980's. He was 80 years old when he passed away in 1994. 

The other day I went up on the 3rd floor and got this book from the book shelf. I've been enjoying reading parts of it here and there downstairs in my chair.

Here is the original book cover from the 1957 edition. It was called a guide to the entire field.