The Rolling Stone Jazz and Blues Album Guide is the most comprehensive guide to jazz and blues recordings in print, including authoritative reviews of more than ten thousand albums. The result is an encyclopedic guide through the history of jazz and blues, from the historic 1920s recordings of Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five through the heyday of swing music played by the big bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller, down to the contemporary popularity of saxophonist Branford Marsalis and vocalist Cassandra Wilson. The Rolling Stone Jazz and Blues Album Guide steers listeners to the best compact discs with incisive evaluations and simple one- to five-star ratings.