In the foreword, Shipton sets out his approach of using multiple oral history sources to explore such topics as Duke Ellington's Orchestra, the Oscar Peterson Trio, and the role of the swing vocalist. He discusses such source material as interviews with Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen, as well as with Clark Terry, Louie Bellson and Jimmy Woode. He pays attention to such female vocalists as Jewel Brown and Carmen Bradford. He then locates the book in terms of his own historical research, and ways in which a white European writer can approach African American music.