The first bibliography devoted to a single jazz genre or era, Fire Music is concerned with the music of the jazz avant-gardists such as John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Sun Ra. It makes accessible the most extensive and up-to-date scholarship of the New Jazz beginning in the 1950s. Included are materials on such topics as jazz collectives and the New York loft scene, as well as jazz in specific countries and regions and a lengthy section of biographical and critical studies on more than 400 artists and ensembles from around the world.

Organized by subject and artist, the over 7,100 sources are further divided by type of materials, including films, video, and audio cassettes as well as books, dissertations, and journal and newspaper articles in all major Western languages. A New Jazz Chronology places events in the jazz world in a social, political, and musical context; and a section on African-American Cultural History and the Arts provides background materials. Appendixes offer general reference sources, a directory of archives and research centers, and lists that classify artists by country and instrument. Indexes of artists, subjects, and authors complete the work.