New York in the 1950s. On the stage at Birdland is the midget master of ceremonies, 3'9" Pee Wee Marquette, dressed in a zoot suit and loud tie, smoking a huge cigar and screeching mispronounced introductions into the microphone. Pee Wee is just one of the many characters that have made Bill Crow's forty years in jazz seem like an instant. In the same key as his acclaimed Jazz Anecdotes, this collection of revealing, hilarious, and sometimes moving stories runs the full gamut of New York's nightspots, introducing us along the way to the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Stan Getz, Judy Holliday, Yul Brynner, and Simon and Garfunkel.

His blistering guitar playing breathed life back into the blues. Performing night after night - from his early teens to his tragic death at age thirty-five, in tiny pass-the-hat clubs and before thousands in huge arenas - Stevie Ray Vaughan fused blazing technique with deep soul in a manner unrivaled since the days of Jimi Hendrix. The genuineness and passion of his music moved millions. It nearly saved his life. Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire is the first biography of this meteoric guitar hero. Emerging from the hotbed of Texas blues, Stevie Ray Vaughan developed his unique style early on, in competition with his older brother, Jimmie Vaughan, founder of the Fabulous Thunderbirds - a competition that shaped much of Stevie's life. Fueled by drugs and alcohol through a thousand one-night stands, he lived at a fever pitch that nearly destroyed him. Musically exhausted and close to collapse, in his final years Stevie Ray mustered the courage to overcome his addictions, finding strength and inspiration in a new emotional openness. His death in a freak helicopter crash in 1990 silenced one of the great musical talents of our time. Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire reveals Stevie Ray Vaughan's life in all its remarkable, sometimes unsavory detail. It also brings to life the rich world of Texas music out of which he grew, and captures the staggering dimensions of his musical legacy. It will stand as the definitive biographical portrait of Stevie Ray.

Hard bop was a brand of post bebop jazz that enveloped many of the most talented American musicians in the period between 1955 and 1956. These were years unrivalled in jazz history for the number of musically brilliant records issued - including Art Blakey's Ugetsu, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, Thelonius Monk's Brilliant Corners, and Sonny Rollins's Saxophone Colossus.

This is the first book devoted entirely to hard bop, combining a narrative of the movement's evolution, from its beginnings as an amalgam of bebop and R&B to its experimental breakthroughs in the 1960s. With close analyses of musicians' styles and recordings, as well as specific tendencies within the school, such as `soul jazz', it offers a much needed examination of the artists, milieus, and above all the sounds of one of America's greatest musical epochs.

Here, for the first time, is a book which analyses popular music from a musical, as opposed to a sociological, biographical, or political point of view. Peter van der Merwe has made an extensive survey of Western popular music in all its forms - blues, ragtime, music hall, waltzes, marches, parlour ballads, folk music - uncovering the common musical language which unites these disparate styles. The book examines the split between `classical' and`popular' Western music in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, shedding light, in the process, on the `serious' music of the time. With a wealth of musical illustrations ranging from Strauss waltzes to Mississippi blues and from the Middle Ages to the 1920s, the author lays bare the tangled roots of the popular music of today in a book which is often provocative, always readable, and outstandingly comprehensive in its scope.

W. C. Handy's blues, Memphis Blues," "Beale Street Blues," "St. Louis Blues",changed America's music forever. In Father of the Blues, Handy presents his own story: a vivid picture of American life now vanished. W. C. Handy (1873-1958) was a sensitive child who loved nature and music but not until he had won a reputation did his father, a preacher of stern Calvinist faith, forgive him for following the "devilish" calling of black music and theatre. Here Handy tells of this and other struggles: the lot of a black musician with entertainment groups in the turn-of-the-century South his days in minstrel shows, and then in his own band how he made his first 100 from "Memphis Blues" how his orchestra came to grief with the First World War his successful career in New York as publisher and song writer his association with the literati of the Harlem Renaissance.Handy's remarkable tale,pervaded with his unique personality and humour,reveals not only the career of the man who brought the blues to the world's attention, but the whole scope of American music, from the days of the old popular songs of the South, through ragtime to the great era of jazz.

This book is not a recounting of ancedotes nor a simple chronology of musical events, but a history. It evaluates the gathered evidence and draws conclusions. Its narrative and summaries are based on repeated careful listenings to thouands of recordings, on the reports of musicians who witnessed and experienced many of the crucial events and created some of the masterworks, and on the fresh research and insightful thought of hundreds of serious scholars who love and respect this music.

"Russo has undertaken an ambitious project, attempting to discuss together the elements of music that are commonly treated separately in books on harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration. As such, his new book contains enough musical instruction to be of interest even to students not particularly interested in 'jazz' or Russo's own musical idiom. For the student who wants to compose or arrange for 'jazz' ensembles from dance bands to full orchestras, Russo has shown himself to be a generous source of good advice."--Jon Newsom, Notes

This is a biographical and critical guide to performers and writers in a wide variety of musical fields, including pop, rock, rap, jazz, rhythm and blues, folk, New Age, country, gospel, and reggae. Each biannual volume covers 80-100 musicians.

"Contemporary Musicians provides comprehensive information on more than 2,000 musicians and groups from around the world. Entries include a detailed biographical essay, selected discographies, contact information and a list of sources. Features include e-mail addresses and online sources where available.

New Volume Students and other researchers will love this biographical and critical series covering performers and others in a wide variety of musical fields. Each volume covers more than 80 musicians and provides vital statistics, critical essays, photographs and more. Musician and subject indexes facilitate research. Look for:
-- Rap star 2Pac
-- Country sensation Shania Twain
-- Dance hitmakers Soul II Soul
-- Eclectic British rockers Blur
-- Punk-folk artist Ani DiFranco
-- Jazz bassist Christian McBride
-- And many others

New Volume Students and other researchers will love this biographical and critical series covering performers and others in a wide variety of musical fields. Each volume covers more than 80 musicians and provides vital statistics, critical essays, photographs and more. Musician and subject indexes facilitate research. Look for:
-- Rap star 2Pac
-- Country sensation Shania Twain
-- Dance hitmakers Soul II Soul
-- Eclectic British rockers Blur
-- Punk-folk artist Ani DiFranco
-- Jazz bassist Christian McBride
-- And many others

New Volume Students and other researchers will love this biographical and critical series covering performers and others in a wide variety of musical fields. Each volume covers more than 80 musicians and provides vital statistics, critical essays, photographs and more. Musician and subject indexes facilitate research. Look for:
-- Rap star 2Pac
-- Country sensation Shania Twain
-- Dance hitmakers Soul II Soul
-- Eclectic British rockers Blur
-- Punk-folk artist Ani DiFranco
-- Jazz bassist Christian McBride
-- And many others

"Contemporary Musicians provides comprehensive information on more than 2,000 musicians and groups from around the world. Entries include a detailed biographical essay, selected discographies, contact information and a list of sources. Features include e-mail addresses and online sources where available.

Provides jazz scholars, specialists, and both novice and experienced listeners with a detailed, critical commentary on this jazz master's recordings from 1924 to 1974. The guide begins with a brief overview of the artist and the complexity and unending creativity of his music. The chapters follow the chronological sequence covering identifiable stages in output and list essential Ellingtonia. The appendixes include a bibliography, a comprehensive discography listing both LPs and CDs, a list of useful addresses, and a list of Ellington musicians and the date of their membership in the band.