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The Jazzmen

How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America

by Larry Tye ...

From the New York Times bestselling author of Satchel and Bobby Kennedy, a sweeping and spellbinding portrait of the longtime kings of jazz—Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie—who, born within a few years of one another, overcame racist exclusion and violence to become the most popular entertainers on the planet.This is the story of three revolutionary American musicians, the maestro ... Read more

Was $13.49 USD Now $2.99 USD

From the New York Times bestselling author of Satchel and Bobby Kennedy, a sweeping and spellbinding portrait of the longtime kings of jazz—Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie—who, born within a few years of one another, overcame racist exclusion and violence to become the most popular entertainers on the planet.This is the story of three revolutionary American musicians, the maestro
... Read more
Dangerous Rhythms

Jazz and the Underworld

by T. J. English ...

From T. J. English, the New York Times bestselling author of Havana Nocturne, comes the epic, scintillating narrative of the interconnected worlds of jazz and organized crime in 20****th century America."[A] brilliant and courageous book." —Dr. Cornel WestDangerous Rhythms tells the symbiotic story of jazz and the underworld: a relationship fostered in some of 20th century America’s most notorious ... Read more

Was $8.99 USD Now $0.99 USD

From T. J. English, the New York Times bestselling author of Havana Nocturne, comes the epic, scintillating narrative of the interconnected worlds of jazz and organized crime in 20****th century America."[A] brilliant and courageous book." —Dr. Cornel WestDangerous Rhythms tells the symbiotic story of jazz and the underworld: a relationship fostered in some of 20th century America’s most notorious
... Read more
Traveling

On the Path of Joni Mitchell

by Ann Powers ...

*An Observer Best New Biographies of 2024*Celebrated NPR music critic Ann Powers explores the life and career of Joni Mitchell in a lyrical style as fascinating and ethereal as the songs of the artist herself in a definitive biography.“What you are about to read is not a standard account of the life and work of Joni Mitchell. Instead, it’s a tale of long journeying through a life that changed ... Read more

Was $8.99 USD Now $1.99 USD

*An Observer Best New Biographies of 2024*Celebrated NPR music critic Ann Powers explores the life and career of Joni Mitchell in a lyrical style as fascinating and ethereal as the songs of the artist herself in a definitive biography.“What you are about to read is not a standard account of the life and work of Joni Mitchell. Instead, it’s a tale of long journeying through a life that changed
... Read more
Year of Wonder

Classical Music to Enjoy Day by Day

by Clemency Burton-Hill ...

“Year of Wonder is an absolute treat—the most enlightening way to be guided through the year.” **—**Eddie RedmayneA unique celebration of classical music that showcases one inspirational piece each day of the year, written by an award-winning violinist and BBC Radio personalityClassical music has a reputation for being stuffy, bori... ... Read more

Was $4.99 USD Now $2.99 USD

“Year of Wonder is an absolute treat—the most enlightening way to be guided through the year.” **—**Eddie RedmayneA unique celebration of classical music that showcases one inspirational piece each day of the year, written by an award-winning violinist and BBC Radio personalityClassical music has a reputation for being stuffy, bori...
... Read more
Rhythm Man

Chick Webb and the Beat that Changed America

by Stephanie Stein Crease ...

Series series CULTURAL BIOGRAPHIES SERIES
The first comprehensive biography of the Swing Era's pioneering virtuoso drummer and bandleader William Henry "Chick" Webb (1905-39) was one of the first virtuoso drummers in jazz and an innovative bandleader dubbed the "Savoy King," who reigned at Harlem's world-famous Savoy Ballroom. Along with the likes of Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and Cab Calloway, Webb helped create the popular ... Read more

$22.99 USD

The first comprehensive biography of the Swing Era's pioneering virtuoso drummer and bandleader William Henry "Chick" Webb (1905-39) was one of the first virtuoso drummers in jazz and an innovative bandleader dubbed the "Savoy King," who reigned at Harlem's world-famous Savoy Ballroom. Along with the likes of Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and Cab Calloway, Webb helped create the popular
... Read more
Ornette Coleman

The Territory and the Adventure

by Maria Golia ...

Ornette Coleman’s career encompassed the glory years of jazz and the American avant-garde. Born in segregated Fort Worth, Texas, during the Great Depression, the African American composer and musician was the zeitgeist incarnate. Steeped in the Texas blues tradition, Ornette and jazz grew up together, as the brassy blare of big band swing gave way to bebop, a faster music for a faster post-war ... Read more

$22.99 USD

Ornette Coleman’s career encompassed the glory years of jazz and the American avant-garde. Born in segregated Fort Worth, Texas, during the Great Depression, the African American composer and musician was the zeitgeist incarnate. Steeped in the Texas blues tradition, Ornette and jazz grew up together, as the brassy blare of big band swing gave way to bebop, a faster music for a faster post-war
... Read more
The Astaires

Fred & Adele

by Kathleen Riley ...

This is the first book about the theatre career of Fred and Adele Astaire, detailing their years in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in London, their impact culturally, and the essence of their partnership on and off the stage. ... Read more

$15.19 USD

This is the first book about the theatre career of Fred and Adele Astaire, detailing their years in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in London, their impact culturally, and the essence of their partnership on and off the stage.
... Read more
3 Shades of Blue

Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool

by James Kaplan ...

**The National Bestseller • One of The Minneapolis Star Tribune's Best Books of the Year“A superb book...[Kaplan is] a master biographer, a dogged researcher and shaper of narrative, and this is his most ambitious book to date.” —Los Angeles TimesFrom the author of the definitive biography of Frank Sinatra, the story of three towering artists—Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans—and how they ... Read more

$8.99 USD

**The National Bestseller • One of The Minneapolis Star Tribune's Best Books of the Year“A superb book...[Kaplan is] a master biographer, a dogged researcher and shaper of narrative, and this is his most ambitious book to date.” —Los Angeles TimesFrom the author of the definitive biography of Frank Sinatra, the story of three towering artists—Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans—and how they
... Read more
Love Songs

The Hidden History

by Ted Gioia ...

The love song is timeless. From its beginnings, it has been shaped by bohemians and renegades, slaves and oppressed minorities, prostitutes, immigrants and other excluded groups. But what do we really know about the origins of these intimate expressions of the heart? And how have our changing perceptions about topics such as sexuality and gender roles changed our attitudes towards these songs? In ... Read more

$21.89 USD

The love song is timeless. From its beginnings, it has been shaped by bohemians and renegades, slaves and oppressed minorities, prostitutes, immigrants and other excluded groups. But what do we really know about the origins of these intimate expressions of the heart? And how have our changing perceptions about topics such as sexuality and gender roles changed our attitudes towards these songs? In
... Read more
Kick It

A Social History of the Drum Kit

by Matt Brennan ...

The drum kit has provided the pulse of popular music from before the dawn of jazz up to the present day pop charts. Kick It, a provocative social history of the instrument, looks closely at key innovators in the development of the drum kit: inventors and manufacturers like the Ludwig and Zildjian dynasties, jazz icons like Gene Krupa and Max Roach, rock stars from Ringo Starr to Keith Moon, and ... Read more

$32.39 USD

The drum kit has provided the pulse of popular music from before the dawn of jazz up to the present day pop charts. Kick It, a provocative social history of the instrument, looks closely at key innovators in the development of the drum kit: inventors and manufacturers like the Ludwig and Zildjian dynasties, jazz icons like Gene Krupa and Max Roach, rock stars from Ringo Starr to Keith Moon, and
... Read more
Adios, Motherfucker

A Gentleman's Progress Through Rock and Roll

by Michael Ruffino ...

A blend of This Is Spinal Tap and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the cult classic confessions of a debauched rock ’n’ roller and his adventures in excess on the ’80s hair-metal nostalgia tour through Middle America, now in a revised and updated edition.Once upon a time at the start of the new century, the unheard-of Unband got a chance to drink, fight, and play loud music with ’80s metal bands ... Read more

$8.99 USD

A blend of This Is Spinal Tap and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the cult classic confessions of a debauched rock ’n’ roller and his adventures in excess on the ’80s hair-metal nostalgia tour through Middle America, now in a revised and updated edition.Once upon a time at the start of the new century, the unheard-of Unband got a chance to drink, fight, and play loud music with ’80s metal bands
... Read more
The History of Jazz

by Ted Gioia ...

An updated new edition of Ted Gioia's universally acclaimed history of jazz, with a wealth of new insight on this music's past, present, and future. Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz has been universally hailed as the most comprehensive and accessible history of the genre of all time. Acclaimed by jazz critics and fans alike, this magnificent work is now available in an up-to-date third edition that ... Read more

$18.99 USD

An updated new edition of Ted Gioia's universally acclaimed history of jazz, with a wealth of new insight on this music's past, present, and future. Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz has been universally hailed as the most comprehensive and accessible history of the genre of all time. Acclaimed by jazz critics and fans alike, this magnificent work is now available in an up-to-date third edition that
... Read more
Pepper Adams' Joy Road

An Annotated Discography

by Gary Carner ...

Series series Studies in Jazz
Pepper Adams' Joy Road is more than a compendium of sessions and gigs done by the greatest baritone saxophone soloist in history. It's a fascinating overview of Adams' life and times, thanks to colorful interview vignettes, drawn from the author's unpublished conversations with Adams and other musicians. These candid observations from jazz greats about Adams and his colleagues reveal previously ... Read more

$55.99 USD

Pepper Adams' Joy Road is more than a compendium of sessions and gigs done by the greatest baritone saxophone soloist in history. It's a fascinating overview of Adams' life and times, thanks to colorful interview vignettes, drawn from the author's unpublished conversations with Adams and other musicians. These candid observations from jazz greats about Adams and his colleagues reveal previously
... Read more
A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers

by Will Friedwald ...

Will Friedwald’s illuminating, opinionated essays—provocative, funny, and personal—on the lives and careers of more than three hundred singers anatomize the work of the most important jazz and popular performers of the twentieth century. From giants like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland to lesser-known artists like Jeri Southern and Joe Mooney, they have created a ... Read more

Was $24.99 USD Now $17.99 USD

Will Friedwald’s illuminating, opinionated essays—provocative, funny, and personal—on the lives and careers of more than three hundred singers anatomize the work of the most important jazz and popular performers of the twentieth century. From giants like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland to lesser-known artists like Jeri Southern and Joe Mooney, they have created a
... Read more
Princess Noire

The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone

by Nadine Cohodas ...

Born Eunice Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, Nina Simone (1933–2003) began her musical life playing classical piano. A child prodigy, she wanted a career on the concert stage, but when the Curtis Institute of Music rejected her, the devastating disappointment compelled her to change direction. She turned to popular music and jazz but never abandoned her classical roots or her intense ambition. By ... Read more

$17.99 USD

Born Eunice Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, Nina Simone (1933–2003) began her musical life playing classical piano. A child prodigy, she wanted a career on the concert stage, but when the Curtis Institute of Music rejected her, the devastating disappointment compelled her to change direction. She turned to popular music and jazz but never abandoned her classical roots or her intense ambition. By
... Read more
Music to Silence to Music

A Biography of Henry Grimes

by Barbara Frenz ...

Nominated for the 2016 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.Foreword by Sonny Rollins.Henry Grimes recorded and toured with some of the most imaginative American jazz musicians including Sonny Rollins, Cecil Taylor, and Albert Ayler. This book examines the bassist's long but turbulent musical career, recounting his continuously ... Read more

$13.99 USD or Free with Kobo Plus

Nominated for the 2016 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.Foreword by Sonny Rollins.Henry Grimes recorded and toured with some of the most imaginative American jazz musicians including Sonny Rollins, Cecil Taylor, and Albert Ayler. This book examines the bassist's long but turbulent musical career, recounting his continuously
... Read more
Rhythm Is Our Business

Jimmie Lunceford and the Harlem Express

by Eddy Determeyer ...

Series series Jazz Perspectives
"The first detailed study of one of the swing era's most important bands and the first biography of its leader, Jimmie Lunceford. This is a most welcome and significant contribution to the literature of jazz, to our understanding of a vital period in jazz history, and to the music of an outstanding and unique ensemble that was emblematic of the swing era."---Dan Morgenstern, Director, Institute of ... Read more

$19.99 USD

"The first detailed study of one of the swing era's most important bands and the first biography of its leader, Jimmie Lunceford. This is a most welcome and significant contribution to the literature of jazz, to our understanding of a vital period in jazz history, and to the music of an outstanding and unique ensemble that was emblematic of the swing era."---Dan Morgenstern, Director, Institute of
... Read more
Louis Armstrong's New Orleans

by Thomas Brothers ...

"The best book ever produced about Louis Armstrong by anyone other than the man himself."—Terry Teachout, CommentaryIn the early twentieth century, New Orleans was a place of colliding identities and histories, and Louis Armstrong was a gifted young man of psychological nimbleness. A dark-skinned, impoverished child, he grew up under low expectations, Jim Crow legislation, and vigilante terrorism. ... Read more

$14.99 USD

"The best book ever produced about Louis Armstrong by anyone other than the man himself."—Terry Teachout, CommentaryIn the early twentieth century, New Orleans was a place of colliding identities and histories, and Louis Armstrong was a gifted young man of psychological nimbleness. A dark-skinned, impoverished child, he grew up under low expectations, Jim Crow legislation, and vigilante terrorism.
... Read more
Stomp Off, Let's Go

The Early Years of Louis Armstrong

by Ricky Riccardi ...

The revelatory origin story of one of America's most beloved musicians, Louis Armstrong How did Louis Armstrong become Louis Armstrong? In Stomp Off, Let's Go, author and Armstrong expert Ricky Riccardi tells the enthralling story of the iconic trumpeter's meteoric rise to fame. Beginning with Armstrong's youth in New Orleans, Riccardi transports readers through Armstrong's musical and personal ... Read more

$22.79 USD

The revelatory origin story of one of America's most beloved musicians, Louis Armstrong How did Louis Armstrong become Louis Armstrong? In Stomp Off, Let's Go, author and Armstrong expert Ricky Riccardi tells the enthralling story of the iconic trumpeter's meteoric rise to fame. Beginning with Armstrong's youth in New Orleans, Riccardi transports readers through Armstrong's musical and personal
... Read more
Lady Sings the Blues

The 50th-Anniversay Edition with a Revised Discography

by Billie Holiday, William Dufty ...

Series series Harlem Moon Classics
Perfect for fans of The United States vs. Billie Holiday, this is the fiercely honest, no-holds-barred memoir of the legendary jazz, swing, and standards singing sensation—a fiftieth-anniversary edition updated with stunning new photos, a revised discography, and an insightful foreword by music writer David RitzTaking the reader on a fast-moving journey from Billie Holiday’s rough-and-tumble ... Read more

$13.99 USD

Perfect for fans of The United States vs. Billie Holiday, this is the fiercely honest, no-holds-barred memoir of the legendary jazz, swing, and standards singing sensation—a fiftieth-anniversary edition updated with stunning new photos, a revised discography, and an insightful foreword by music writer David RitzTaking the reader on a fast-moving journey from Billie Holiday’s rough-and-tumble
... Read more
Becoming Ella Fitzgerald

The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song

by Judith Tick ...

**An NPR “Books We Love” Pick of the YearA Kirkus Best Nonfiction Book of the Year“[A] radiant, rich, no-stone-unturned biography.”—Paula J. Giddings, author of When and Where I EnterA landmark biography that reclaims Ella Fitzgerald as a major American artist and modernist innovator.**Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) possessed one of the twentieth century’s most astonishing voices. In this first major ... Read more

$27.99 USD

**An NPR “Books We Love” Pick of the YearA Kirkus Best Nonfiction Book of the Year“[A] radiant, rich, no-stone-unturned biography.”—Paula J. Giddings, author of When and Where I EnterA landmark biography that reclaims Ella Fitzgerald as a major American artist and modernist innovator.**Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) possessed one of the twentieth century’s most astonishing voices. In this first major
... Read more
How to Listen to Jazz

by Ted Gioia ...

**An Economist Best Book of the YearAn acclaimed music scholar presents an accessible introduction to the art of listening to jazz.“Mr. Gioia could not have done a better job. Through him, jazz might even find new devotees.” ―Economist**In How to Listen to Jazz, award-winning music scholar Ted Gioia presents a lively introduction to one of America's premier art forms. He tells us what to listen ... Read more

$13.99 USD

**An Economist Best Book of the YearAn acclaimed music scholar presents an accessible introduction to the art of listening to jazz.“Mr. Gioia could not have done a better job. Through him, jazz might even find new devotees.” ―Economist**In How to Listen to Jazz, award-winning music scholar Ted Gioia presents a lively introduction to one of America's premier art forms. He tells us what to listen
... Read more
Thelonious Monk

The Life and Times of an American Original

by Robin D. G. Kelley ...

From the mind of brilliant historian Robin Kelley comes the first full biography of legendary jazz musician Thelonious Monk, including full access to the family's archives, dozens of interviews, and an afterword for Monk’s 2017 centennial.Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist’s struggle to “make it” without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like ... Read more

$16.99 USD

From the mind of brilliant historian Robin Kelley comes the first full biography of legendary jazz musician Thelonious Monk, including full access to the family's archives, dozens of interviews, and an afterword for Monk’s 2017 centennial.Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist’s struggle to “make it” without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like
... Read more
A Love Supreme

The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album

by Ashley Kahn ...

Few albums in the canon of popular music have had the influence, resonance, and endurance of John Coltrane's 1965 classic A Love Supreme-a record that proved jazz was a fitting medium for spiritual exploration and for the expression of the sublime.Bringing the same fresh and engaging approach that characterized his critically acclaimed Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, ... Read more

$11.99 USD

Few albums in the canon of popular music have had the influence, resonance, and endurance of John Coltrane's 1965 classic A Love Supreme-a record that proved jazz was a fitting medium for spiritual exploration and for the expression of the sublime.Bringing the same fresh and engaging approach that characterized his critically acclaimed Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece,
... Read more

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