The Future of Jazz: By Will Friedwald, Ted Gioia, Jim Macnie, Peter Margasak, Stuart Nicholson, Ben Ratliff, John F. Szwed, Greg Tate, Pet

Will jazz be marginalized in the next hundred years, or will it experience a rebirth? This is the question that looms over the 10 lively essays by such music critics and musicians as Ted Gioia, Ben Ratliff and Greg Tate in The Future of Jazz. Edited by A Cappella Books editor Yuval Taylor, the pieces address topics ranging from the fusion of jazz and rock to the role of race to the business of jazz; aimed at a knowledgeable audience, they're laden with references that go beyond the fair-weather listener's knowledge of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Each essay is followed by a dialogue in which the other nine writers sound off.