Singing Jazz looks at the ups and downs of this tough profession through the eyes of legendary jazz singers, well-established performers, and some newcomers. Drawing on accounts from vocalists of yesterday and today in all major jazz styles, the book explores the musical influences of jazz singing; the learning process, whether on the road or in training; the challenges of building a repertoire, getting gigs, traveling, and performing under sometimes difficult circumstances; and the ongoing struggle for artistic recognition and financial security in the competitive world of popular music. To reveal the roots and evolution of this unique art form, authors Crother and Pinfold revisit the lives, words, and stylistic innovations of great singers in jazz history, including Carmen McRae, Dinah Washington, Mel Torme, Shirley Horn, Ethel Waters, Anita O'Day, and many more. Plus - interviewed especially for Singing Jazz - some of today's best performers illustrate the contemporary view of jazz singing. Kitty Margolis, Mark Murphy, Helen Merrill, Mark Porter, Christine Tyrrell, and many others discuss the influences and experiences that have shaped their singing careers, and share insights on how their art is still evolving today.

In this blackly comic and politically incorrect tale, all kinds of prejudice are encountered - racial, religious, sexual. When Jimmy's forgetful mum disappears he is suspected of killing her, while he fears that she has fallen foul of a sadistic serial killer. Jimmy and his pals from the Team, West London pub quiz champions, set out to uncover the truth, inadvertently stumbling into a neo-Nazi plot to take over one of Britain's much-loved institutions. The Team is a motley lot: unemployed Jimmy, his Nigerian martial arts expert girlfriend, an old bomb-making Jewish street busker, a foxtrotting Arabian mystery man, and a dim-witted but weirdly gifted skinhead. Dogged by a jaded, ambitious and seriously bigoted policeman, the Team's search uncovers many unpalatable truths - not only about their dangerously intolerant and unpredictable world, but also about themselves.

Texas cop Phil Davis investigates the victim of a road accident who bears scars inflicted over decades. Discovering that similarly scarred men have recently died, Phil digs deeper. Seeking to unearth a dangerous undercover group of political extremists, FBI agent Luis Valdez makes a connection to the scarred men and the long-ago death of a young woman. While Phil and Luis tie together the two investigations, psychiatrist Rozalina Ericson pursues her own agenda through an old man who has served 25 years for the young woman's death. And then there is Quinn, ruthless, unstoppable, an all-purpose killing machine wreaking havoc in northern Texas and New Mexico. These lives intertwine explosively as today's upholders of law and order clash with centuries-old religious extremism.

In New York in 1939 the World's Fair is in full swing, a Joe Louis title fight is coming up, and there are hot times in Harlem every night. Harlem is home to Daniel Leland, a small-time private detective, retired from the NYPD when he was shot during a gunfight with robbers. When an industrial corporation offers Daniel a temptingly large fee he takes the job and is soon over his head in murder and mayhem - and espionage. With war in Europe looming he tangles with Nazi sympathizers. And on top of all this, everywhere he goes Daniel has to confront racism because he is black while most of those he encounters during his investigation - the good and the bad - are white.

Hollywood homicide detective, Toshiko Tanaka, investigating the sadistic killing of a bit-part player in old-time movies finds similarities with killings at Rialto Pictures a half century ago. Harry Kenning, who retired from making Western movies fifty years ago, returns to Hollywood with his old movie sidekick, Billy Ross, to visit some of the people they knew back then. More murders happen, and Toshiko and Harry team up in an unlikely partnership to try to solve today's murders. Along the way, they encounter Lee Castle, Harry's old rival, now internationally famous, Raoul Hernandez, one-time screen lover, Crusher Maguire, former screen villain, and Jane Carson, now a massively successful concert and recording star. Unexpectedly, Toshiko and Harry learn that the long-ago murder investigation was flawed and as they strive to solve the new murders they also discover the truth about the Rialto killings back in the 1950s.

Phil Davis, a cop in a small Texas town investigates a brutal triple homicide. Jack Ryker, enforcer for a Texas crime boss, sees a report on the murders and believes the victims are his wife and young children. He resolves to hunt down the killer. Barbara Nichols, the TV reporter covering the case sees it as her ticket to the big time. The lives of these three, Davis, Ryker and Nichols, intertwine as Phil Davis, more hindered than helped by a devious FBI agent, pursues the killer south through Texas. As Ryker wreaks havoc among the criminals with whom he has long been a feared associate, Barbara risks her life by getting uncomfortably close to him. Phil Davis, enmeshed in political double-dealing, closes in on the killer, simultaneously trying to extricate Barbara from the life-threatening trap into which she has walked.

The Colors Of Your Life is a play about racial and sexual discrimination in the USA in the 1960s and the present day, seen through the dramatic lives and often terrifying experiences of its two characters, May and Shirley, who are grandmother and granddaughter. The play can be performed with or without songs especially written by Ed Anderson. Without songs, it is an absorbing account of life for Black women in America, then and now. With songs, it remains a powerful statement, the songs adding to the account traced in the text. The play is for a cast of two and can be presented with the simplest of sets on stage, in any non-theatrical location (a school or community center for example), or on film/video, or on radio.