One of the bestselling ‘Crash Course’ guides, Jazz covers the history of jazz from its origins to the present day. In a light-hearted but informative way, it covers all the main musicians, styles and instruments, as well as giving recommendations on some good jazz to listen to on CD.

PUBLISHED BY Simon & Schuster

A jazz critic and reviewer for more than 30 years, mainly for Jazz Journal and Richard Cook's much missed Jazz Review, Simon specializes in modern jazz, particularly the music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, as well as jazz piano and vocalists.

Simon wrote most of the entries for the jazz, blues and early popular songs in this bestselling book, as well as a handful of entries for later folk songs by the likes of Nick Drake and John Martyn.

PUBLISHED BY Cassell

Simon was a major contributor on British jazz music and musicians to the original New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (1988) and its three-volume second edition of 2002.
    For seven years from 1995, Simon was the editor of the programme books for the summer and winter Spitalfields Festivals in East London, as well as the annual festival report.