More Jazz Reading

West Coast Jazz is another noteworthy reading on jazz written by Ted Gioia, author of the invaluable History of Jazz. Unlike hip-hop, there was no beef between east and west jazz. Gioia is not interested in defining the territory, but the music itself: the sound of the West and the musicians. He delves into the lives of major jazz phenomena, whose works flourished in the west, including Dave Brubeck, Chet Beker and Art Pepper. He also mentioned the avant-garde sounds of Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman as important contributors not only to the west but the entire jazz world.