History of Swing Music: Book recommendations

[SiMonster]

Hello there!

I would really like to learn more about the history of swing music and therefore I'm looking for a book with all the knowledge I need. I have questions like "Who was influenced by whom?" "Who played together?" "How did the different styles evolve and how can I tell the difference between them?"

When I searched the web, I saw, that there are tons of different books so I thought, maybe you have a special recommendation for me?
Perfect would be, if you even knew, where I can get books somewhere in Europe, so the shipping costs wouldn't be like 10x the book price

Thank you for your ideas,
Simon

[penguin]

I read this one: "The World of Swing"

It's a series of (more or less) extended interviews with great swing musicians. It can be heavy going but it's a good read http://www.amazon.com/The-World-Swing-O ... 0306810166

[trev]

I agree with the "The World of Swing" recommendation and would add;

The Swing Era by Gunther Schuller. This book is fantastic and really helped with my understanding.

There is also a companion book dealing with the (pre-1933) development of jazz called Early Jazz.

[SiMonster]

Thank you penguin and trev for your recommendations!

Fun fact: These are actually 2 of the books that were shortlisted, when I browsed around a bit on amazon

[trev]

So I've been re-reading The Swing Era by Gunther Schuller.

I last read it about 8 years ago, but since then I've collected much more (if not most) of the example tracks he critiques. It's been fascinating to read and listen along at the same time. I've made a few new [to me] discoveries - I'd overlooked Benny Goodman's 1936 "House Hop" for example, which sounds like it would be a brilliant little track for Bal or medium/fast Lindy.

Can't recommend this book enough.