Gene Lees, author of the highly acclaimed Singers and the Song, offers, in Meet Me at Jim and Andy's, another tightly integrated collection of essays about post-War American music. This time he focuses on major jazz instrumentalists and bandleaders.
Jim and Andy's, on 48th Street just west of Sixth Avenue, was one of four New York musicians' haunts in the 1960s--the others being Joe Harbor's Spotlight, Charlie's, and Junior's. "For almost every musician I knew," Lees writes, " it was] a home-away-from-home, restaurant, watering hole, telephone answering service, informal savings (and loan) bank, and storage place for musical instruments."
In a vivid series of portraits, we meet its clientele, an unforgettable gallery of individualists who happen to have been major artists--among them Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Art Farmer, Billy Taylor, Gerry Mulligan, and Paul Desmond. We share their laughter and meet their friends, such as the late actress Judy Holliday, their wives, even their children (as in the tragic story of Frank Rosolino). We learn about their loves, loyalties, infidelities, and struggles with fame and, sometimes alcohol and drug addiction. The magnificent pianist Bill Evans, describing to Lees his heroin addiction, says, "It's like death and transfiguration. Every day you wake in pain like death, and then you go out and score, and that is transfiguration. Each day becomes all of life in microcosm."
Himself a noted songwriter, Lees writes about these musicians with vividness and intimacy. Far from being the inarticulate jazz musicians of legend, they turn out to be eloquent indeed, and the inventors of a colorful slang that has passed into the American language.
And of course there was the music. A perceptive critic with enormous respect for the music he writes about, Lees notes the importance and special appeal of each artist's work, as in this comment about Artie Shaw's clarinet: "A fish, it has been said, is unaware of water, and Shaw's music so permeated the very air that it was only too easy to overlook just how good a player and how inventive and significant an improviser he was."

A People's Music presents the first full history of jazz in East Germany, drawing on new and previously unexamined sources and vivid eyewitness accounts. Helma Kaldewey chronicles the experiences of jazz musicians, fans, and advocates, and charts the numerous policies state socialism issued to manage this dynamic art form. Offering a radical revision of scholarly views of jazz as a musical genre of dissent, this vivid and authoritative study marks developments in the production, performance, and reception of jazz decade by decade, from the GDR's beginning in the 1940s to its end in 1990, examining how members of the jazz scene were engaged with (and were sometimes complicit with) state officials and agencies throughout the Cold War. From postwar rebuilding, to Stalinism and partition, to detente, Ostpolitik, and glasnost, and finally to its acceptance as a national art form, Kaldewey reveals just how many lives jazz has lived.

Introduced in 1922, the Gibson L5 is the precursor of the modern archtop guitar. It was the first archtop to feature f-holes, which allowed it to project through the horn-dominated bands of the day. Its strong, full, warm sound was an immediate and overwhelming success that turned the heads of makers, players and listeners alike. This book takes a look at its history and most famous players, from its creation, through the Norlin years, to its standing today as the world's most popular jazz guitar. With its stunning 16-page full-color photo section, this book is a must for every guitar enthusiast's collection! 8-1/2 inch. x 11 inch..

In this collection of musical portraits, jazz pianist and radio host Marian McPartland pays tribute to such beloved and legendary figures as Benny Goodman, Bill Evans, Joe Morello, Paul Desmond, Alec Wilder, Mary Lou Williams, and others. McPartland's reminiscences and anecdotes about these jazz greats are informed by her encyclopedic knowledge of their music, making this richly detailed collection an important addition to the literature of jazz. In a preface to this new edition - originally published as All in Good Time - McPartland extends her commentary to include details of her long-running National Public Radio show Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz and memories of her late husband, famed Chicago trumpeter Jimmy McPartland. Marian McPartland, a renowned musician, has hosted Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio since April, 1979. She has many recordings to her credit and continues to perform in the United States.

Miles Davis, supremely cool behind his shades. Billie Holiday, eyes closed and head tilted back in full cry. Blue Notes in Black and White charts the development of jazz photography from the swing era of the 1930s to the rise of black nationalism in the '60s. Through text and photographs, Benjamin Cawthra provides a fascinating account of the partnership between two of the twentieth century's most innovative art forms.

For over two decades Julian Joseph has been a towering figure in contemporary jazz. A prodigious composer, a phenomenal pianist, a respected bandleader, an inspirational educator and a highly-engaging broadcaster, he is a true champion of the music. In Music of Initiative Julian Joseph shares his insight into the philosophy and practice of jazz and jazz performance. With incisive text, stunning imagery, and downloadable exercises and videos, this unique guide teaches the listener of jazz how to immerse themselves in the music, and the performer how to approach learning repertoire and improvisation. Bold, provocative, thoughtful and deeply inspiring, Music of Initiative will provide life-long stimulation and inspiration to fans, and performers, of jazz.

Few American artists in any medium have enjoyed the international and lasting cultural impact of Duke Ellington. From jazz standards such as "Mood Indigo" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," to his longer, more orchestral suites, to his leadership of the stellar big band he toured and performed with for decades after most big bands folded, Ellington represented a singular, pathbreaking force in music over the course of a half-century. At the same time, as one of the most prominent black public figures in history, Ellington demonstrated leadership on questions of civil rights, equality, and America's role in the world.
With "Duke Ellington's America," Harvey G. Cohen paints a vivid picture of Ellington's life and times, taking him from his youth in the black middle class enclave of Washington, D.C., to the heights of worldwide acclaim. Mining extensive archives, many never before available, plus new interviews with Ellington's friends, family, band members, and business associates, Cohen illuminates his constantly evolving approach to composition, performance, and the music business--as well as issues of race, equality and religion. Ellington's own voice, meanwhile, animates the book throughout, giving "Duke Ellington's America" an intimacy and immediacy unmatched by any previous account.
By far the most thorough and nuanced portrait yet of this towering figure, "Duke Ellington's America" highlights Ellington's importance as a figure in American history as well as in American music.

From Queen Latifah to Count Basie, Madonna to Monk, "Hole in our soul: the loss of beauty and meaning in American popular music" traces popular music back to its roots in jazz, blues, country, and gospel through the rise in rock'n'roll and the emergence of heavy metal, punk, and rap. Yet despite the vigour and balance of these musical origins, Martha Bayles argues, something has gone seriously wrong, both with the sound of popular music and the sensibility it expresses. Bayles defended the tough, affirmative spirit of Afro-American music against the strain of artistic modernism she calls"perverse". She describes how perverse modernism was grafted onto popular music in the late 1960s, and argues that the result has been a cult of brutality and obscenity that is profoundly anti-musical. Unlike other recent critics of popular music, Bayles does not blame the problem on commerce. She argues that culture shapes the market and not the other way around. Finding censorship of popular music "both a practical and a constitutional impossibility", Bayles insists that "an informed shift in public tastes may be our only hope of reversing the current malignant moods".

Radio and television broadcasts are an essential component in the career of jazz musician Thomas "Fats" Waller. The medium suited his character well, allowing his friendly, energetic personality to shine through. This book meticulously documents Waller's on-air appearances: from his first known broadcast in 1923 at age 19 to the final airing before his premature death in 1943. Fats Waller On The Air: The Radio Broadcasts and Discography adds another dimension to the life of this dynamic performer. Author Stephen Taylor combines established material with fresh research, resulting in a wealth of new information. The broadcasts, including tributes to Waller after his death, are covered in detail, featuring dates, times, songs played, and other artists who appeared on the program. Through descriptions from contemporary newspapers and magazines, accounts from individuals who were in attendance, and remarks by radio announcers from original transcripts, the book provides historical perspective and a clear sense of the character and feel of the broadcasts. The book also offers a timechart of early sound recording and radio transcriptions, allowing easy comparison of Waller's presence in the field. Never before published photos and a thorough, accurate discography-including 78 and 45 rpm records, transcriptions, LPs, CDs, and DVDs-make this an important reference tool for fans of Fats Waller, jazz music, stride piano, black social history, and broadcast history.

This definitive guide includes a unique chapter-by-chapter playlist for the reader. Jazz: A Beginner's Guide is a lively and highly accessible introduction to a global musical phenomenon. Award-winning music journalist and author Stuart Nicholson takes the reader on an entertaining journey from jazz's early stirrings in America's south through to the present day, when almost every country in the world has its own vibrant jazz scene. En route we meet a host of jazz heroes past and present, from Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman and Miles Davis, to Keith Jarrett and Kamasi Washington. Each chapter is accompanied by a playlist designed to provide a stimulating and enjoyable entry point to what has been described as the most exciting art form of all.

15 year-old Bob Inman was given a radio for Christmas in 1935. From then until August 1938, he kept a meticulous log of all the radio shows he listened to and chronicled the hundreds of jazz shows he witnessed. Along with his collection of pictures and autographs, these logs eventually became seven large scrapbooks detailing the world of swing music in New York. Bob saw Benny Goodman at the Paramount Theater, Louis Armstrong at Loews State, Duke Ellington at Harlem's Apollo Theatre, Chick Webb at the Savoy Ballroom, Count Basie at Roseland, and hundreds of other prominent musicians and venues. Inman's descriptions of these trips form a social history of life during one of Manhattan's most vibrant and charming periods. Ken Vail has applied his talent as a graphic artist to enhance the presentation of these radio logs and turn them into a fascinating and useful reference source, which includes: * listings of commercial studio recordings for the period * autographs of hundreds of musicians * publicity photographs and original snapshots by Bob Inman and friends Together with a preface by Dan Morgenstern, this scrapbook will interest students and historians alike.

"New Musical Figurations" exemplifies a dramatically new
way of configuring jazz music and history. By relating
biography to the cultural and musical contours of contemporary
American life, Ronald M. Radano observes jazz practice as part
of the complex interweaving of postmodern culture--a
culture that has eroded conventional categories defining jazz
and the jazz musician. Radano accomplishes all this by
analyzing the creative life of Anthony Braxton, one of the
most emblematic figures of this cultural crisis.
Born in 1945, Braxton is not only a virtuoso jazz
saxophonist but an innovative theoretician and composer of
experimental art music. His refusal to conform to the
conventions of official musical culture has helped unhinge
the very ideologies on which definitions of "jazz,"
"black music," "popular music," and "art music" are founded.
"New Musical Figurations" gives the richest view
available of this many-sided artist. Radano examines
Braxton's early years on the South Side of Chicago, whose
vibrant black musical legacy inspired him to explore new
avenues of expression. Here is the first detailed history of
Braxton's central role in the Association for the Advancement
of Creative Musicians, the principal musician-run institution
of free jazz in the United States. After leaving Chicago,
Braxton was active in Paris and New York, collaborating with
Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski, and other
composers affiliated with the experimental-music movement.
From 1974 to 1981, he gained renown as a popular jazz
performer and recording artist. Since then he has taught at
Mills College and Wesleyan University, given lectures on his
theoretical musical system, and written works for chamber
groups as well as large, opera-scale pieces.
The neglect of radical, challenging figures like Braxton
in standard histories of jazz, Radano argues, mutes the
innovative voice of the African-American musical tradition.
Refreshingly free of technical jargon, "New Musical Figurations"
is more than just another variation on the same jazz theme.
Rather, it is an exploratory work as rich in theoretical
vision as it is in historical detail.

(Bass Builders). This book/CD pack features over 50 examples covering walking bass, the two feel, 3/4 time, Latin, and ballads. It covers soloing, performance protocol, and includes seven complete tunes.

(Real Book Play-Along). These three CDs contain rhythm section backing tracks for all 60 songs in the popular Charlie Parker Omnibook lead sheet books.

This book is part player's manual, part historical profile, and part musical portrait. It explores in-depth all facets of jazz bass playing - from the development of "walking" and other techniques, to the human and musical interaction inside a rhythm section, to the bassists who made their instrument an integral part of America's greatest art form. Citing examples from key recordings in the jazz canon, the book defines the essence of the musical contributions made by every important jazz bassist. These achievements are explained both conceptually and technically, helping musicians and fans alike understand the art and craft of jazz bass playing. Bassists get expert guidance on mastering proper technique, practice methods, and improvisation, plus new insight into the theoretical and conceptual aspects of jazz. The companion CD featuring bass plus rhythm section allows readers to hear technical examples from the book, presented in slow and fast versions. It also offers play-along tracks of typical chord progressions.

Taking in the jazz and blues icons whom Jefferson idolised as a child in the 1950s, ideas of what the female body could be - as incarnated by trailblazing Black dancers and athletes - Harriet Beecher Stowe's Topsy reimagined in the artworks of Kara Walker, white supremacy in the novels of Willa Cather, and more, this breathtakingly eloquent account is both a critique and a vindication of the constructed self.

For almost half a century, Amiri Baraka has ranked among the most important commentators on African American music and culture. In this brilliant assemblage of his writings on music, the first such collection in nearly twenty years, Baraka blends autobiography, history, musical analysis, and political commentary to recall the sounds, people, times, and places he's encountered. As in his earlier classics, "Blues People "and "Black Music, "Baraka offers essays on the famous--Max Roach, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane--and on those whose names are known mainly by jazz aficionados--Alan Shorter, Jon Jang, and Malachi Thompson. Baraka's literary style, with its deep roots in poetry, makes palpable his love and respect for his jazz musician friends. His energy and enthusiasm show us again how much Coltrane, Albert Ayler, and the others he lovingly considers mattered. He brings home to us how music itself matters, and how musicians carry and extend that knowledge from generation to generation, providing us, their listeners, with a sense of meaning and belonging.

(Berklee Labs). Melodies based on triads and melodic extensions sound more natural and musical than ones developed exclusively from scales. Triads the fundamental building blocks of harmony are a simple and effective remedy for scale dependency in improvisation. In Jazz Improvisation for Guitar: A Melodic Approach, explore the potential of triads and their melodic extensions and learn to connect them using guide tones. You'll learn to create solo phrases in the style of some of the world's finest jazz guitarists like Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, and Pat Martino.

**As featured on Barack Obama's Summer 2022 Reading List** Winner of the Gordon Burn Prize Winner of the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist for the Pen/Diamonstein-Spievogel Award for the Art of the Essay Shortlisted for the National Book Award 'Gorgeous' - Brit Bennett 'Pure genius' - Jacqueline Woodson 'One of the most dynamic books I have ever read' - Clint Smith At the March on Washington, Josephine Baker reflected on her life and her legacy. She had spent decades as one of the most successful entertainers in the world, but, she told the crowd, "I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too". Inspired by these words, Hanif Abdurraqib has written a stirring meditation on Black performance in the modern age, in which culture, history and his own lived experience collide. With sharp insight, humour and heart, Abdurraqib explores a sequence of iconic and intimate performances that take him from mid-century Paris to the moon -- and back down again, to a cramped living room in Columbus, Ohio. Each one, he shows, has layers of resonance across Black and white cultures, the politics of American empire, and his own personal history of love and grief -- whether it's the twenty-seven seconds of 'Gimme Shelter' in which Merry Clayton sings, or the magnificent hours of Aretha Franklin's homegoing; Beyonce's Super Bowl show or a schoolyard fistfight; Dave Chapelle's skits or a game of spades among friends.

Artists like Bill Robinson, King Rastus Brown, John Bubbles, Honi Coles and others who speak to us in this book, are our Nijinskys, Daighilevs, Balanchines, and Grahams. There are so many books on ballet and modern dance. There are still a few on tap dance and they are so cavalierly allowed to go out of print even though the interest in them is so deep and sustaining.

"Revelatory . . . one of the most briskly revealing pieces of jazz biography that I've read." -Richard Brody, The New Yorker When Billie Holiday first stepped into a recording studio in November 1933, it marked the beginning of what is arguably the most remarkable and influential career in twentieth-century popular music. Her voice weathered countless shifts in popular taste, and today new reincarnations of her continue to arrive, most recently in the form of singers like Amy Winehouse and Adele. Most of the writing on Holiday has focused on the tragic details of her life-her prostitution at the age of fourteen, her heroin addiction and alcoholism, her series of abusive relationships-or tried to correct the many fabrications of her autobiography. But Billie Holiday strips away the myths and puts her music front and center, staying close to her artistry, her performance style, and the self she created and put on record and onstage. Drawing on a vast amount of new material that has surfaced in the last decade, critically acclaimed jazz writer and musician John Szwed presents not just a biography, but a meditation on Billie Holiday's art and its relation to her life. Along the way, he illuminates her influences, her uncanny voice and rhythmic genius, her signature songs-including Strange Fruit and God Bless the Child-and her enduring legacy as the greatest jazz singer of all time.