Schuller’s second volume in The History of Jazz has been praised for its scholarship and informed perspective. In it he covers the bands of Goodman, Ellington, Armstrong, Basie and Lunceford in depth. He also covers the great black bands, the great white bands, important soloists, territory bands, and small groups, ending with a chapter called “Things to Come.” He includes some charts in the body of the book. Appendix 1 chronologically charts the songs and the bands while Appendix 2 attempts to illustrate “swing” with transcriptions and verbal descriptions. There is a glossary of terms and an extensive index which highlights extended discussions in bold.

Gunther Schuller, the educator, has held numerous prestigious positions. Schuller, the musician, has written over 160 compositions covering every genre of music. He is the author of The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945 (The History of Jazz, Vol. 2) and The Compleat Conductor, and his writings have been collected in Musings: The Musical Worlds of Gunther Schuller. He is Editor-in-Chief of the forthcoming Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Editions and winner of many awards, among them the 1994 Pulitzer Prize.