This is a revised version – with several new chapters added – of a book which had 10 successive editions at Presses Universitaires de France after its initial publication in 1972.
A work born of a tremendous depth of historical knowledge combined with a great deal of life experience, it is aimed at both the general public and academics. The 13 symbolic figures* that are assembled in this book incarnate, in the author’s viewpoint, the major types of jazz. Thus the entire adventure of Jazz winds up analyzed and commented upon.

*King Oliver, Louis Amstrong, Sidney Bechet, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Lester Young, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and B.B King.