London-based musician and journalist Gordon Jack's method is to let the musicians tell their own stories with minimum intervention, in the manner of Ira Gitler's classic Swing to Bop. Famous or obscure, these more than 30 musicians who came to prominence in the 1950s each has a story to tell, and Jack captures the style and tone of his interviewees in this oral retrospective of what may have been jazz's last golden age. The musicians are: Gene Allen, Mose Allison, Dave Bailey, Chuck Berghofer, Eddie Bert, Bob Brookmeyer, Pete Christlieb, Bill Crow, Joe Dodge, Bob Enevoldsen, Don Ferrara, Herb Geller, Corky Hale, Peter Ind, Frank Isola, Lee Konitz, Stan Levey, Jack Montrose, Gerry Mulligan, the Gerry Mulligan Quartet (with Larry Bunker, Chico Hamilton, Carson Smith, Bob Whitlock), Lennie Niehaus, Jack Nimitz, Hod O'Brien, Bill Perkins, Bud Shank, Phil Urso, and Phil Woods. Jack's introductions and notes unobtrusively sketch out the life and achievements of each musician, and there are photographs of each one, many of them taken by Jack himself.

"...excellent book...Great humor appears throughout, whether in descriptions of characters like altoist Gene Quill or in quotes from well-known wits like Al Cohn or Zoot Sims." - Jazzreview.com

"The book is interesting reading because every musician speaks his own mind. Many fascinating and humorous details surface along the way...This is an important publication because - to my knowledge - no other book treats the history of jazz in the 1950s this way." - Jazz Special

"...a useful source book. largely authoritative and dependable." - Jazz Review

"The merit of such a book as this lies in the balance it strikes between the familiar and the unfamiliar. People such as Lee Konitz, Bob Brookmeyer and Bud Shank have been interviewed often whereas Don Ferrara, Gene Allen and Joe Dodge have spoken far less often. If anything, one might have liked more from some of these minor figures. But it's a job well done." - Jazzwise