Jazz category: 919 books
The James Brown Reader
Fifty Years of Writing About the Godfather of Soul
Language: English
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Nelson George and Alan Leeds have assembled the first comprehensive collection of writings about the late, great Godfather of Soul, creating a fascinating mosaic of the man and the musician. Known as the hardest-working man in show business, James Brown embodied rhythm and blues, funk and soul, and...
by Paul Wolfle
Language: English
Release Date: October 3, 2011
Language: English
Release Date: October 3, 2011
From the time the first “Diddley Bo” appeared on a wooden barnyard wall, countless great sounding blues songs, acoustic and electric, have been written and recorded by many talented artists.These ten legendary songs, among them “Boom Boom,” “Little Red Rooster” and “The Thrill...
by Rev. Keith A. Gordon
Language: English
Release Date: November 25, 2015
Language: English
Release Date: November 25, 2015
The Stevie Ray Vaughan Buying Guide is an illustrated, album by album overview of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist’s too-brief career including a condensed artist biography, a discography with complete song listings, and even a select discography of bootleg albums, all compiled by the Rev....
by Bob Carruthers
Language: English
Release Date: February 10, 2012
Language: English
Release Date: February 10, 2012
This is the true story of Eric Clapton tracing his career from obscurity to fame with the Yardbirds and on to international super stardom as a member of Cream, Blind Faith and as a solo icon.A masterful and comprehensive text, featuring interviews with Clapton from across the decades, coupled with...
by Marybeth Hamilton
Language: English
Release Date: June 30, 2009
Language: English
Release Date: June 30, 2009
In this extraordinary reconstruction of the origins of the blues, historian Marybeth Hamilton demonstrates that the story as we know it is largely a myth. Following the trail of characters like Howard Odum, who combed Mississippi's back roads with a cylinder phonograph to record vagrants, John and...
by Maria Lawson
Language: English
Release Date: June 21, 2011
Language: English
Release Date: June 21, 2011
Maria Lawson rose to fame on the hit TV show The X Factor in 2005 but had already enjoyed some success as a singer/songwriter prior to this, having secured a recording and publishing contract through her own efforts and determination to break into the music industry. Life Starts Now follows Maria’s...
by Robert Grey Reynolds Jr
Language: English
Release Date: November 22, 2015
Language: English
Release Date: November 22, 2015
Josephine Baker was the epitome of the American emigre who found her niche in Paris during the years after the First World War. She arrived in France in 1925 following a stint as a bit player in Shuffle Along, the first all-Negro Broadway play. She performed her trademark black bottom dance to the...
by David Dutkanicz
Language: English
Release Date: July 13, 2012
Language: English
Release Date: July 13, 2012
With these easy-to-play renditions, beginning pianists of all ages can enjoy one of America's most celebrated art forms. Sixteen popular blues melodies include traditional songs such as "St. James Infirmary" and "Careless Love" as well as several numbers by blues giants Jelly Roll Morton and W. C. Handy,...
Ain't Too Proud to Beg
The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations
Language: English
Release Date: September 14, 2010
The first and only definitive biography of legendary Motown group, the Temptations
The Temptations are an incomparable soul group, with dozens of chart-topping hits such as My Girl and Papa Was a Rollin Stone. From the sharp suits, stylish choreography, and distinctive vocals that epitomized...
Motown Artist by Artist
A Compilation of the 100 Greatest Motown Artists
Language: English
Release Date: January 18, 2017
In 1959 Berry Gordy Jr., a high school dropout, former boxer and record store owner, founded the Motown record label in Detroit. The company name, which played on the city's proud tradition of car manufacture, was to become synonymous with great music as Gordy took the sound of black America to the...
Who Did It First?
Great Rhythm and Blues Cover Songs and Their Original Artists
Language: English
Release Date: October 10, 2013
“Everybody has to start somewhere. Businessmen start on the ground floor and try to work their way up the corporate ladder. Baseball players bide their time in the minor leagues wishing for an opportunity to move up and play in the majors. Musical compositions aren’t very different—some songs...
Here Comes the Night
The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues
Language: English
Release Date: April 15, 2014
I don’t know where he’s buried, but if I did I’d piss on his grave.” Jerry Wexler, best friend and mentor
Here Comes the Night: Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues is both a definitive account of the New York rhythm and blues world of the early 60s, and the harrowing,...
Early Blues
The First Stars of Blues Guitar
Language: English
Release Date: November 9, 2015
Since the early 1900s, blues and the guitar have traveled side by side. This book tells the story of their pairing from the first reported sightings of blues musicians, to the rise of nationally known stars, to the onset of the Great Depression, when blues recording virtually came to a halt.
Like...
Talking Swing
The British Big Bands
Language: English
Release Date: April 22, 2011
From Palace to Palais, the musicians who played in the big bands tell their own stories, bringing to life an unforgettable era.
Pre-war reminiscences give an insight into a never-to-be-forgotten era, when London's nightclubs were the haunts of the aristocracy and of royalty, and the Prince...