Written by active jazz musician and jazz historian Mark Gridley, the Concise Guide to Jazz was created in response to students and professors asking for a clear and accurate introductory jazz text. This brief text examines how jazz originated, how it is made, what to listen for, and the major style eras. By focusing on just over fifty historical figures, Concise Guide to Jazz, seventh edition allows students to understand a broad range of jazz styles without feeling overloaded. Concise Guide to Jazz focuses on the diversity of jazz styles and serves as a basis for further jazz exploration.
Its a good book to learn the history of Jazz and how modern music relates to it. I learned for instance, that Jazz can trace its linage to military brass bands from the Civil War. So it's literally a musical phenomena that has been going on for centuries.
But it is a tad boring at first for someone who is not particularly into music or already knows the history well.
In either case, its a good read and comes with its sound track of Jazz music.