A year-by-year history of people and events, The Chronicle of Jazz tells the whole story of jazz music and its personalities. Each chronologically arranged section contains special features, on topics ranging from the bossa nova craze to jazz in Paris, personality sketches and seminal gigs and albums.

Readers are brought fully up to date with the significant and exciting recent developments in the world of jazz, from the rise of modern big bands and the renaissance of the piano trio to the popular appeal of Jamie Cullum and HBOs television series Treme, set in New Orleans. The Chronicle of Jazz is a celebration of this most imaginative and enduring music, and is a complete resource for both jazz aficionados and lovers of music in general.