Few people have the patience to write more than two or three books about anything, let alone multiple volumes on things like statistics and discographies. This is what makes Tom Lord noteworthy: his dedication to the history of jazz runs so deep that he has written a 26-volume discography of the music. His latest volume of The Jazz Discography finishes off the alphabet, running from the middle W’s (Winther) to Z (Zzebra). The series has been hailed as the most complete jazz reference work ever produced.
Over 1.4 million entries were archived in volumes one through 25 alone, and each edition runs at about 600 pages apiece. Volumes one through 25 are available for $60 each at www.cadencebuilding.com/cadence/lord.html. Volume 26, for $65, is available from www.lordisco.com.
Lord Music Reference has also released a CD-ROM of Volumes 1-25, although it is currently sold out. An updated version, 3.3, will be available shortly, featuring the full content of Volumes 1-26. It has a quick search and is user-friendly enough even for the computer-illiterate.
Lord is also planning future book releases of a musician’s index (of about 1,200 pages), a tunes index (about 1,700 pages) and an addendum volume to The Jazz Discography, featuring updates on artists listed.
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