Know It All Jazz

September 15, 2018

Each installment in Wellfleet's "Know-It-All" series, with ten books and growing, addresses 50 essential topics at one page each. The entries all include seven sections, each with a glossary and a brief profile of a key player. In Know-It-All Anthropology, Underdown (biological anthropology, Oxford Brookes Univ.) offers an "instruction manual for human beings," from ancient to modern peoples. Editor Gelly, a former member of the New Jazz Orchestra and a writer for the Observer, organizes his volume by the style and instruments of jazz and covers vocals, classic jazz, and jazz and the blues. Editor Basset, a Master of Wine and World Sommelier Champion, explores everything from training and pruning grapes to tasting wine. VERDICT Though the titles promise to explain each idea in "under a minute," comprehension of some concepts may take longer. These friendly introductions for nonexperts will be useful to most libraries.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2018
Each book in Quarto Press's Know-It-All series presents enough information, in a charmingly digestible format, to make anyone a small-talk aficionado. The volumes share a common format: 50 terms, names, or concepts explained over seven chapters. Each chapter begins with a two-page glossary of terms found in that chapter and a profile of a big name in the field. Each entry runs for two pages each: one page of information, one page of illustration. The information is divided into a thematically named three-second overview, three-minute at-a-glance information, three-second biographies, and cross references. Each book ends with a bibliography of books and websites, contributor biographies, and an index. Although brief, the contents are not elementary; instead, the Know-It-All books are sophisticated fun. Musician and scholar Gelly encourages readers to trust their ears while they learn to get jazz, then covers different styles of jazz, the major instruments and vocalists, key albums, and what is happening in jazz today.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)