".a fine overview of jazz from its humble beginnings through 1929. Tomita digs in deep, not only covering the major stars of the burgeoning movement, but also many lesser-known, but important, artists along the way." -- Downbeat "Tomita's Early Jazz is relatively short and effectively mixes information about the technical aspects of jazz with some wonderful anecdotes about all the musicians who contributed to its development." -- New Jersey Jazz Society "Countless books have been written about jazz, but the topic of early jazz history has been largely neglected for more 50 years. Grounded in seminal works, such as Gunther Schuller's Jazz History (1968), Early Jazz updates such writings with a detailed study of the genre from its earliest manifestations in the 1870s through 1929 . Meticulously documented, it belongs in academic and public libraries with music collections." -- CHOICE ".

Early Jazz is a history of jazz from its nineteenth-century roots through to 1929, when the Swing Era began to emerge. It's the first comprehensive history of early jazz since Gunther Schuller's classic title from the 60s, and Tomita sees his book as in some ways an update of it. Unlike Schuller, Tomita fully embraces entertainment as well as art . The book is overall a very enjoyable read." -- UK Jazz News "Tomita presents a richer concept of early jazz. Instead of looking for a rarefied art form through the lens of hindsight, he hears the popular elements and folk idioms crucial to the music's development (aspects that its contemporaries likely recognized). Far from diluting or compartmentalizing the story, his approach expands the narrative to include a broader range of musicians and factors . Early Jazz is a welcome introduction to a lot of great music.

" -- Vintage Jazz Mart.