In this volume author John Corcelli reveals Zappa's roots as a musician from his diverse influences to his personal life. We also learn more about his former band members and the enormous musical legacy inherited by his son Dweezil. The book features a juried examination of Zappa's recordings and his videos. It also features a complete discography and a recommended reading list. Each chapter has a special focus on Zappa's life with sections covering his family his home studio a known as the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen a his keen interest in the Synclavier (a device he first used in 1980) his guitars and more. Special attention is paid to the Mothers of Invention.THEFrank Zappa FAQE is a must-have for fans new and old looking to delve into some of the best music ever made by one of the most innovative artists the world has known.

This stylish album for violin and piano takes players on a musical tour of autumn, presenting well-loved songs such as 'September in the Rain', 'Autumn Leaves', 'Danny Boy', and '(Somewhere) Over the Rainbow' and original compositions on other seasonal themes. The nine pieces reflect a wide variety of jazz styles, including swing, blues, calypso, and bossa nova, and draw on artists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Stephane Grappelli, Didier Lockwood, and Regina Carter. With fully notated rhythms, grooves, and improvisations, Violin Jazz in Autumn is the perfect collection for instrumentalists looking for that authentic sound.

Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia is not merely an A-Z guide to the artists and bands who have shaped jazz, but it also tracks the history of jazz and its changing styles. This is a wonderfully accessible work. Richard Cook's passion for jazz and his strongly held opinions make this the liveliest and most trenchantly witty encyclopedia you'll have read. Whether you're trying to find out why Louis Armstrong was called Satchmo (his nickname as a kid was Satchelmouth), what bebop is, or the difference between Gil Evans and Bill Evans - this book has all the answers.

Over a ten-year period, Ira Gitler interviewed more than fifty of the major figures in jazz history to preserve for posterity their recollections of how jazz moved from the big band era in the late 1930s and 1940s into the modern jazz period. The musicians interviewed recreate their own experiences and also evoke the legendary figures of bop who were especially influential in its development but were rarely or never recorded, people like Clyde Hart and Freddie Webster.

Now you can become the featured session saxophonist on six classic Charlie Parker tracks, transcribed and arranged exclusively for alto saxophone. The book contains note-for-note topline transcriptions, chord symbols, a breakdown and analysis of each solo - containing essential hints and tips, biographical notes on Charlie Parker and a discography. The CD contains complete performances of each piece as well as a slowed-down version to practise with.

Few British jazz musicians have been at the cutting edge of as many movements as Ian Carr. A pioneer bebop player in his youth, a colleague of Eric Burdon and John McLaughlin in the R'n'B explosion of the 60s, co-leader of one of Britain's most innovative jazz groups - the Rendell-Carr Quintet, a free-jazz colleague of John Stevens and Trevor Watts, and the founding father of jazz rock in the UK, with his band Nucleus, Carr's musical career alone is truly remarkable, and a one-man history of British jazz in the 60s and 70s. Add to that his work as a member of the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble, and with such distinguished leaders as George Russell, Stan Tracey and Mike Gibbs, and his work as a player seems even more remarkable. Yet Ian Carr is also one of the most perceptive critical writers and broadcasters about jazz, being not only the co-author of the "Rough Guide", but also the celebrated biographer of Keith Jarrett and Miles Davis. In recent years, he has transformed his writing talents into making innovative and prizewinning films on the music he loves, for which he has always been a fearless and outspoken advocate, from the time of his 1973 book, "Music Outside". As a teacher, his pupils have included such stellar British talents as Julian Joseph, the Mondesir brothers and Nikki Yeoh. He has been a professor of jazz at London's Guildhall School of Music since the 1980s and was founder of the jazz workshop at the Interchange arts scheme. In this full length biography, Alyn Shipton examines the fascinating mix of ingredients that comprise the man and his music, and in the process draws a vivid picture of Carr's home region, the North-East of England, of National Service, of such literary influences as W. Somerset Maughan, of post-war continental Europe and its Bohemian arts scene, and of the London jazz world from the 1960s onwards. The book shows that jazz does not have to have an American accent to be original and innovative, and to inspire audiences all around the world.

Today, jazz is considered high art, America's national music, and the catalog of its recordings-its discography-is often taken for granted. But behind jazz discography is a fraught and highly colorful history of research, fanaticism, and the simple desire to know who played what, where, and when. This history gets its first full-length treatment in Bruce D. Epperson's More Important Than the Music. Following the dedicated few who sought to keep jazz's legacy organized, Epperson tells a fascinating story of archival pursuit in the face of negligence and deception, a tale that saw curses and threats regularly employed, with fisticuffs and lawsuits only slightly rarer. Epperson examines recorded jazz from its careless handling as a novelty in the 1920s and '30s, through the deluge of 12-inch vinyl in the middle of the twentieth century, to the use of computers by today's discographers. Though he focuses much of his attention on comprehensive discographies, he also examines the development of a variety of related listings, such as buyer's guides and library catalogs, and he closes with a look toward discography's future. From the little black book to the full-featured online database, More Important Than the Music offers a history not just of jazz discography but of the profoundly human desire to preserve history itself.

This single volume includes three famous memoirs - Scouse Mouse, Rum, Bum & Concertina and Owning Up, with a new introduction by the author. Scouse Mouse is a funny and frequently touching story of the author's 1930s childhood in a middle-class Liverpudlian household. Rum, Bum & Concertina, the naval equivalent of wine, women and song, describes Melly's National Service as one of the most unlikely naval ratings ever. He becomes an anarchist and connoisseur of Surrealist Art while self-educating himself on some of the wilder shores of love. Once demobbed, Melly comes to London to work in an art gallery, and in Owning Up he describes how he slipped into the world of the jazz revival, revelling in an endless round of pubs, clubs, seedy guest-houses and transport caffs while surrounded by a mad array of musicians, tarts, drunks and arch-eccentrics.

This ground-breaking biography is as much about Sun Ra's music as it is about his passionate, often wildly unorthodox views on the galaxy, black people and spiritual matters. With the various incarnations of his inimitable Arkestra, his repertoire ranged from boogie-woogie to swing to be-bop to fusion to New Age, and his influence extended throughout the jazz and rock worlds. While Sun Ra made a lifelong effort to obscure many of the facts of his early years, he did acknowledge that he was born on the planet Saturn. John Szwed has succeeded brilliantly in delving into and evoking the life and work of this extraordinary artist.

Uncharted: Creativity and the Expert Drummer is a study of creativity in the context of expert popular music instrumental performance. What do expert drummers do? Why do they do it? Is there anything creative about it? If so, how might that creativity inform their practice and that of others in related artistic spheres? Applying ideas from cultural psychology to findings from research into the creative behaviors of a specific subset of popular music instrumentalists, Bill Bruford demonstrates the ways in which expert drummers experience creativity in music performance and offers fresh insights into in- the- moment interactional processes in music. An expert practitioner himself, Dr. Bruford draws on the perceptions of a cohort of internationally renowned, peak- career professionals and his own experience to introduce and guide the reader through the many dimensions of creativity in drummer performance.

Where the Dark and the Light Folks Meet tackles a controversial question: Is jazz the product of an insulated African-American environment, shut off from the rest of society by strictures of segregation and discrimination, or is it more properly understood as the juncture of a wide variety of influences under the broader umbrella of American culture? This book does not question that jazz was created and largely driven by African Americans, but rather posits that black culture has been more open to outside influences than most commentators are likely to admit. The majority of jazz writers, past and present, have embraced an exclusionary viewpoint. Where the Dark and the Light Folks Meet begins by looking at many of these writers, from the birth of jazz history up to the present day, to see how and why their views have strayed from the historical record. This book challenges many widely held beliefs regarding the history and nature of jazz in an attempt to free jazz of the socio-political baggage that has so encumbered it. The result is a truer appreciation of the music and a greater understanding of the positive influence racial interaction and jazz music have had on each other.

Miles Davis, supremely cool behind his shades. Billie Holiday, eyes closed and head tilted back in full cry. John Coltrane, one hand behind his neck and a finger held pensively to his lips. These iconic images have captivated jazz fans nearly as much as the music has. Jazz photographs are visual landmarks in American history, acting as both a reflection and a vital part of African American culture in a time of immense upheaval, conflict, and celebration. Charting the development of jazz photography from the swing era of the 1930s to the rise of black nationalism in the '60s, "Blue Notes in Black and White" is the first of its kind: a fascinating account of the partnership between two of the twentieth century's most innovative art forms. Benjamin Cawthra introduces us to the great jazz photographers--including Gjon Mili, William Gottlieb, Herman Leonard, Francis Wolff, Roy DeCarava, and William Claxton--and their struggles, hustles, styles, and creative visions. We also meet their legendary subjects, such as Duke Ellington, sweating through a late-night jam session for the troops during World War II, and Dizzy Gillespie, stylish in beret, glasses, and goatee. Cawthra shows us the connections between the photographers, art directors, editors, and record producers who crafted a look for jazz that would sell magazines and albums. And on the other side of the lens, he explores how the musicians shaped their public images to further their own financial and political goals. This mixture of art, commerce, and racial politics resulted in a rich visual legacy that is vividly on display in "Blue Notes in Black and White." Beyond illuminating the aesthetic power of these images, Cawthra ultimately shows how jazz and its imagery served a crucial function in the struggle for civil rights, making African Americans proudly, powerfully visible.

Taking to heart Ralph Ellison's remark that much in American life is "jazz-shaped," "The Jazz Cadence of American Culture" offers a wide range of eloquent statements about the influence of this art form. Robert G. O'Meally has gathered a comprehensive collection of important essays, speeches, and interviews on the impact of jazz on other arts, on politics, and on the rhythm of everyday life. Focusing mainly on American artistic expression from 1920 to 1970, O'Meally confronts a long era of political and artistic turbulence and change in which American art forms influenced one another in unexpected ways.

Organized thematically, these provocative pieces include an essay considering poet and novelist James Weldon Johnson as a cultural critic, an interview with Wynton Marsalis, a speech on the heroic image in jazz, and a newspaper review of a recent melding of jazz music and dance, "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk." From Stanley Crouch to August Wilson to Jacqui Malone, the plurality of voices gathered here reflects the variety of expression within jazz.

The book's opening section sketches the overall place of jazz in America. Alan P. Merriam and Fradley H. Garner unpack the word "jazz" and its register, Albert Murray considers improvisation in music and life, Amiri Baraka argues that white critics misunderstand jazz, and Stanley Crouch cogently dissects the intersections of jazz and mainstream American democratic institutions. After this, the book takes an interdisciplinary approach, exploring jazz and the visual arts, dance, sports, history, memory, and literature. Ann Douglas writes on jazz's influence on the design and construction of skyscrapers in the 1920s and '30s, Zora Neale Hurston considers the significance of African-American dance, Michael Eric Dyson looks at the jazz of Michael Jordan's basketball game, and Hazel Carby takes on the sexual politics of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith's blues.

"The Jazz Cadence" offers a wealth of insight and information for scholars, students, jazz aficionados, and any reader wishing to know more about this music form that has put its stamp on American culture more profoundly than any other in the twentieth century.

"A must-read for all dancers as the invaluable historical references and in-depth coverage of the different jazz forms cannot be found in such detail in any other book on the market today."--Debra McWaters, author of "Musical Theatre Training" "Artfully weaves history and professional perspectives to reveal the boundaries of the jazz dance world. It invites the reader to develop a more complicated definition of jazz dance for the twenty-first century."--Susan A. Lee, Northwestern University The history of jazz dance is best understood by thinking of it as a tree. The roots of jazz dance are African. Its trunk is vernacular, shaped by European influence, and exemplified by the Charleston and the Lindy Hop. From the vernacular have grown many and varied branches, including tap, Broadway, funk, hip-hop, Afro-Caribbean, Latin, pop, club jazz, popping, B-boying, party dances, and more.
Unique in its focus on history rather than technique, "Jazz Dance" offers the only overview of trends and developments since 1960. Editors Lindsay Guarino and Wendy Oliver have assembled an array of seasoned practitioners and scholars who trace the numerous histories of jazz dance and examine various aspects of the field, including trends, influences, training, race, aesthetics, international appeal, and its relationship to tap, rock, indie, black concert dance, and Latin dance.Featuring discussions of such dancers and choreographers as Bob Fosse and Katherine Dunham, as well as analyses of how the form's vocabulary differs from ballet, this complex and compelling history captures the very essence of jazz dance.

Your guitar becomes the ultimate jazz solo instrument when you master the techniques and concepts in this book. Picking up where the harmony lessons in Intermediate Jazz Guitar leave off, topics include melody and harmony integration, bass line development, chord enhancement, quartal harmonies, and how to arrange a guitar solo. Learn to simultaneously play the harmony, melody, rhythm, and bass parts of any song! Concepts are illustrated with lots of examples to practice, including arrangements of some traditional melodies. All music is shown in standard notation and TAB, and the CD demonstrates the examples in the book. 64 pages.

It was 1969, and Miles Davis, prince of cool, was on the edge of being left behind by a dynamic generation of young musicians, an important handful of whom had been in his band. Rock music was flying off in every direction, just as America itself seemed about to split at its seams. Following the circumscribed grooves and ambiance of In A Silent Way; coming off a tour with a burning new quintet-called 'The Lost Band'-with Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette; he went into the studio with musicians like frighteningly talented guitarist John McLaughlin, and soulful Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul. Working with his essential producer, Teo Macero, Miles set a cauldron of ideas loose while the tapes rolled. At the end, there was the newly minted Prince of Darkness, a completely new way forward for jazz and rock, and the endless brilliance and depth of Bitches Brew. Bitches Brew is still one of the most astonishing albums ever made in either jazz or rock. Seeming to fuse the two, it actually does something entirely more revolutionary and open-ended: blending the most avant-garde aspects of Western music with deep grooves, the album rejects both jazz and rock for an entirely different idea of how music can be made.

Horace Silver is one of the last giants remaining from the incredible flowering and creative extension of bebop music that became known as hard bop in the 1950s. This freewheeling autobiography of the great composer, pianist, and bandleader takes us from his childhood in Norwalk, Connecticut, through his rise to fame as a musician in New York, to his comfortable life after the road in California. During that time, Silver composed an impressive repertoire of tunes that have become standards and recorded a number of classic albums. Well-seasoned with anecdotes about the music, the musicians, and the milieu in which he worked and prospered, SilverOCOs narrativeOColike his musicOCois earthy, vernacular, and intimate. His stories resonate with lessons learned from hearing and playing alongside such legends as Art Blakey, Charlie Parker, and Lester Young. His irrepressible sense of humor combined with his distinctive spirituality make his account both entertaining and inspiring. Most importantly, SilverOCOs unique take on the music and the people who play it opens a window onto the creative process of jazz and the social and cultural worlds in which it flourishes."LetOCOs Get to the Nitty Gritty "also describes SilverOCOs spiritual awakening in the late 1970s. This transformation found its expression in the electronic and vocal music of the three-part work called The United States of Mind and eventually led the musician to start his own record label, Silveto. Silver details the economic forces that eventually persuaded him to put Silveto to rest and to return to the studios of major jazz recording labels like Columbia, Impulse, and Verve, where he continued expanding his catalogue of new compositions and recordings that are at least as impressive as his earlier work."

Passionate and heartfelt, blues guitar is one of the most difficult of guitar styles to play well. In this tuition course Marten takes a new approach to teaching blues. He examines and explains famous guitarists' playing techniques, teaching the reader how to build and emulate their solos and how to expand their own musical vocabulary as a result. The hour long accompanying CD also includes backing tracks, allowing the reader to develop his own solos.

The skill of playing unprepared in a lively, accurate, creative and musical way is at the heart of jazz performance. The quick study, requiring the recreation of a previously unseen or unheard short head followed by an improvised response, helps you to practise this crucial skill. It will give you the confidence to learn repertoire more effectively and prepare for the very real demands of busking through all those unrehearsed situations which are a regular feature of the jazz musician's life. This book contains a set of graded practice tests covering a wide range of jazz styles. An invaluable introduction explains the concept behind the quick study, useful ways to extend and develop activities related to it, and details of the exam.

An essential how-to guide for students and teachers, this publication is a complete step-by-step guide to playing jazz with confidence and style. Designed for the complete beginner, it breaks down the process of learning jazz into simple activities and contains a range of easy music examples. The accompanying CD provides examples, activities and some great trio playing to use as a backdrop to your own work. It is an indispensable companion to the ABRSM's Jazz Piano exams, with Part III dealing with the exam in detail.

Five superb albums of graded pieces provide a wealth of jazz repertoire for you to play. Throughout, there is a huge range of styles, from bebop blues to calypsos, boogie-woogie to ballads, jazz waltzes to free jazz. There are classic tunes by the jazz greats, including Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. And there are brand-new pieces specially commissioned from professional British jazz musicians and educators. Each album presents 15 pieces in three lists: blues, standards and contemporary jazz. The head of each piece is set out with all the characteristic voicings, phrasing and rhythmic patterns you need for a stylish performance. The improvised section gives guideline pitches and left-hand voicings as a practical starting-point. Accessible, student-centred and of the highest musical standards, these pieces will get you playing jazz confidently and creatively. Contains all the pieces for ABRSM's new jazz piano exam.

This book of jazz piano scales will develop the technical skills you need to play jazz. It introduces patterns characteristic of the idiom, like the blues scales, the b3 pentatonic and various modes. It also explores these patterns on the roots and key centres commonly found in jazz. Regular and flexible practice of these forms, and using them as the basis for improvisation, will give you fluency and technical control and make your playing sound effortless and relaxed. As an accompaniment to the Board's jazz piano syllabus, this book sets out the scales by grade and gives a table of recommended speeds. It also provides details of what the examiner will be looking for in your playing.

Five superb albums of graded pieces provide a wealth of jazz repertoire for you to play. Throughout, there is a huge range of styles, from bebop blues to calypsos, boogie-woogie to ballads, jazz waltzes to free jazz. There are classic tunes by the jazz greats, including Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. And there are brand-new pieces specially commissioned from professional British jazz musicians and educators. Each album presents 15 pieces in three lists: blues, standards and contemporary jazz. The head of each piece is set out with all the characteristic voicings, phrasing and rhythmic patterns you need for a stylish performance. The improvised section gives guideline pitches and left-hand voicings as a practical starting-point. Accessible, student-centred and of the highest musical standards, these pieces will get you playing jazz confidently and creatively. Ccontains all the pieces for ABRSM's new jazz piano exam.