One of the bestselling ‘Crash Course’ guides, Jazz covers the history of jazz from its origins to the present day. In a light-hearted but informative way, it covers all the main musicians, styles and instruments, as well as giving recommendations on some good jazz to listen to on CD.

PUBLISHED BY Simon & Schuster

A jazz critic and reviewer for more than 25 years, first for Jazz Journal and then more recently for Richard Cook’s Jazz Review, Simon specializes in modern jazz, particularly the music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, as well as jazz piano and vocalists.

Simon was a major contributor on British jazz music and musicians to the original New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (1988) and its three-volume second edition of 2002.