All Music Guide or Penguin?

[John B]

Mny -

I just grabbed a copy of this that a fellow board member had for sale. I am looking forward to hearing it!

[Guest Chaney]

Anyone wanting to purchase the 6th edition of the Penguin Guide might want to consider doing so via the Amazon link on Alan Lankin's Jazzmatazz site.

The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6th Ed.

This way, we help one of our own.

[patricia]

Speaking as someone who writes CD reviews (although not for the AMG), I think it is important to bear in mind that *any* review in any publication is merely a reflection of *one* person's subjective opinion.  Both the Penguin Guide and the AMG must, therefore, be taken with a whole shaker-full of salt.  Taken from that perspective, I think that both are very useful, and I tend to look recordings up in both.  I, too, wish that the Penguin Guide had more reviews, but the ones they have are quite good, if you bear in mind Cook and Morton's particular likes and dislikes (they don't have much use for Hank Mobley, for example, but they seem to love George Coleman).  The AMG has lots of reviews, but it seems that only fans of a particular artist write the reviews.  For that reason, pretty much everything seems to get a rave (even if it only rates two stars).  A bad write up in either the AMG or the Penguin Guide might give me pause, but it wouldn't prevent me from buying a CD that I was interested in.

As with any other type of critic, the critics who write in the Penguin Guide, as well as AMG are giving their opinion, which may or may not be mine. However, the mere listing of less well-known artists has been invaluable to me, especially when I first became re-acquainted with jazz, about seven years ago now. If I hadn't browsed the lists, and read about the artists, I would have had no idea where to start. That, combined with recs from more experienced jazzers is the base of my collection of jazz.

Of course, the Penguin guide lists only CD's, so artists whose work is mainly found on vinyl are a little shortchanged, but that doesn't happen as often now that re-mastered CD's are to be had of the really old stuff.

I haunt a vintage vinyl shop here and am more often delighted, than disappointed in discs I have bought, solely on the strength of the covers and the extensive descriptions on them. The field is enormous and any help is good help, I think.

Edited May 30, 2003 by patricia