Presents:
Bird Lives
By Ross Russell
"Inspired by great affection and dedication, Bird Lives! provides a vivid and accurate picture not only of the saxophonist-composer as artist and human being but of his zeitgeist and the musical/social setting that produced him. Parker was an immensely complex personality; saint and satyr, loving father and footloose vagabond, with a limitless appetite for sex, music, food, pills, heroin, liquor, life. A man of vast influence, the most admired and imitated creator of the mid-1940s bop revolution, he was forced to work in dives, reduced to bumming dollars when he should have been respected as a reigning virtuoso...A sensitive, penetrating portrait." - Leonard Feather, Los Angeles Times
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Hard Bop Academy:
The Sidemen of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
By Alan Goldsher
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers was one of the most enduring, popular, reliable and vital small bands in modern jazz history. Blakey was not only a distinguished, inventive and powerful drummer, but along with Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, he was one of jazz's foremost talent scouts. The musicians who flowed seamlessly in and out of this constantly evolving collective during its 36-year run were among the most important artists not just of their eras, but of any era. Though their respective innovations were vital to the evolution of bebop, hard bop and neo bop, the recorded work of the Messengers sidemen has never been properly analyzed. Until now. Hard Bop Academy: The Sidemen of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers critically examines the multitude of gifted artists who populated the many editions of the Jazz Messengers. In addition to dissecting the sidemen's most consequential work with Blakey's band, jazz musician and acclaimed novelist Alan Goldsher offers up engaging profiles of everyone from Wynton Marsalis to Terence Blanchard to Hank Mobley to Wayne Shorter to Horace Silver to Keith Jarrett to Curtis Fuller to Steve Davis. And that's only the beginning. Goldsher conducted over 30 interviews with surviving graduates of Blakey's Hard Bop Academy, many of whom spoke at length of their tenure with the legendary "Buhaina" for the first time. Alan Goldsher is a bassist who has recorded with Janet Jackson, Digable Planets, Cypress Hill and Naughty By Nature. His writing has been published in Bass Player, Tower Pulse, Sport and BasketBull: Chicago Bulls Magazine. Goldsher's debut novel, Jam, was published in 2002 by Permanent Press. He lives in Chicago. Hardcover.
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Kind of Blue - The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece
By Ashley Kahn.
The complete inside story of the creation of the legendary jazz album Kind of Blue. Critics call it the one jazz album every fan must own. Decades since its recording in 1959, it has sold millions worldwide and sits near the top of any list of most important records of the century. How did two impromptu sessions produce such a timeless acknowledged masterpiece? Now, for the first time, Ashley Kahn takes us into the studio to witness the creation of an album that still thrills jazz musicians, enthusiasts, and newcomers alike with its deceptively simple tunes. Using eyewitness accounts and newly discovered documents, Kahn traces Miles' move from bop to modal jazz, re-creates the sessions using master tapes (weighing in on fragmentary takes and the dispute about composers), and follows the rise of the album from its contemporary reception to its transformation into a cultural landmark through conversations with those who were there. Extensively searched and copiously illustrated, this book recovers an invaluable piece of musical history and heightens fans' appreciation of the album they know and love. Over forty new interviews with musicians, producers, and critics, including Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, Quincy Troupe, George Avakian, Nat Hentoff - and the only people still living who witnessed the making of the album: Jimmy Cobb, engineer Bob Waller, and photographer Don Hunstein. Included: Previously unpublished photos of the recording session, featuring a rare shot of Miles's charts; studio logs and internal memos from Columbia about the making and marketing of the album; the handwritten version of Bill Evans's famous linernotes, more. Hardcover - 224 pages.
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Miles - The Autobiography
Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe.
Thick, 450 page paperback. In this blunt narrative, Miles Davis addresses the drug addiction he overcame, the racism he encountered in the music business, the women in his life, and other musicians who helped pioneer jazz.
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Wes Montgomery
By Adrian Ingram
Wes Montgomery was unquestionably the most significant jazz guitarist to emerge during the 1960s. By the '70s and '80s he had, like Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt before him, become a major influence on other guitar players. Elements of his style are discernible in many of today's finest players. Although many musicians acknowledge Wes as one of the finest guitar players of the 20th century, there has been until now a lack of detailed biographical and analytical material. This definitive work is a must for all guitarists and jazz lovers alike.
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Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
by Terry Teachout
Wall Street Journal Review arts columnist Terry Teachout has drawn on a cache of important new sources unavailable to previous Armstrong biographers, including hundreds of private recordings of backstage and after-hours conversations that Armstrong made throughout the second half of his life, to craft a sweeping new narrative biography of this towering figure that shares full, accurate versions of such storied events as Armstrong's decision to break up his big band and his quarrel with President Eisenhower for the first time. Certain to be the definitive word on Armstrong for our generation, Pops paints a gripping portrait of the man, his world and his music that will stand alongside Gary Giddins' Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams and Peter Guralnick's Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley as a classic biography of a major American musician.
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Thelonious Monk:
The Life and Times of an American Original
by Robin D. G. Kelley
"The piano ain't got no wrong notes!" So ranted Thelonious Sphere Monk, who proved his point every time he sat down at the keyboard. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers. Yet throughout much of his life, his musical contribution took a backseat to tales of his reputed behavior. Writers tended to obsess over Monk's hats or his proclivity to dance on stage. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. But these labels tell us little about the man or his music.
Robin D.G. Kelley is a professor of history and American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. From 2003-2006, he was the William B. Ransford Professor of Cultural and Historical Studies at Columbia Univeristy. From 1994-2003, he was a professor of history and Africana Studies at New York University as well the chairman of NYU's history department from 2002-2003. One of the youngest tenured professors in a full academic discipline—at the age of 32—Kelley has spent most of his career exploring American and African-American history with a particular emphasis on African-American musical culture, including jazz and hip-hop.
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Lady Sings the Blues: The 50th Anniversary Edition
by Billie Holiday, William Dufty , David Ritz
Lady Sings the Blues is the fiercely honest, no-holds-barred autobiography of Billie Holiday, the legendary jazz, swing, and standards singing sensation. Taking the reader on a fast-moving journey from Holiday’s rough-and-tumble Baltimore childhood (where she ran errands at a whorehouse in exchange for the chance to listen to Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith albums), to her emergence on Harlem’s club scene, to sold-out performances with the Count Basie Orchestra and with Artie Shaw and his band, this revelatory memoir is notable for its trenchant observations on the racism that darkened Billie’s life and the heroin addiction that ended it too soon. We are with her during the mesmerizing debut of “Strange Fruit”; with her as she rubs shoulders with the biggest movie stars and musicians of the day (Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Clark Gable, Benny Goodman, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and more); and with her through the scrapes with Jim Crow, spats with Sarah Vaughan, ignominious jailings, and tragic decline. All of this is told in Holiday’s tart, streetwise style and hip patois that makes it read as if it were written yesterday.
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Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend
by Michael Dregni
Django Reinhardt was arguably the greatest guitarist who ever lived, an important influence on Les Paul, Charlie Christian, B.B. King, Jerry Garcia, Chet Atkins, and many others. Yet there is no major biography of Reinhardt.
Michael Dregni is a writer for Vintage Guitar magazine; his work has also appeared in Acoustic Guitar, Guitar Player, and The Utne Reader, among other publications. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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To Be, or Not . . . to Bop
by Dizzy Gillespie, Al Fraser
Dizzy Gillespie (1917–1993) was an American jazz trumpet virtuoso as well as a bandleader, singer, and composer.
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Coltrane: The Story of a Sound
by Ben Ratliff
Finalist for the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism
The New York Times - Pankaj Mishra
Ratliff patiently explicates Coltrane's legend, writing in short, aphoristic bursts, often as elliptically as his subject played tenor saxophone, but never less than lucidly.
Ben Ratliff has been a jazz critic at The New York Times since 1996. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and their two sons. His New York Times Essential Library: Jazz was published in 2002.
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Duke Ellington, Jazz Composer
by Ken Rattenbury, Duke Ellington
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American composer, pianist, and orchestra leader Duke Ellington was the first genuine jazz composer of truly international status. In this book Ken Rattenbury offers the most thorough musical analysis ever written of Ellington's works, assessing the extent to which Ellington drew on the black music traditions of blues and ragtime and the music of Tin Pan Alley, and examining how he integrated black folk music practices with elements of European art music.
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Sassy: The Life of Sarah Vaughan
by Leslie Gourse
"Sarah Vaughan possessed the most spectacular voice in jazz history. In Sassy, Leslie Gourse, the acclaimed biographer of Nat King Cole and Joe Williams, defines and celebrates Vaughan’s vital musical"
Leslie Gourse is the author of Everyday: The Story of Joe Williams, Unforgettable: The Life and Mystique of Nat King Cole, and Louis’ Children: American Jazz Singers.
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Richard Cook's Jazz Encyclopedia
by Richard Cook
Far more than an A—Z guide to the artists and bands who have shaped jazz, this invaluable resource also tracks the history of jazz and its changing styles and terminology. Whether readers want to know why Louis Armstrong was called Satchmo, what bebop is, or the difference between Gil Evans and Bill Evans—this wonderfully accessible book has all the answers.
* Contains sixty pages of photos
* Includes more than 2,000 entries on jazz artists and bands
* Provides clear definitions of key terms such as swing and fusion
Richard Cook is the former editor of the Wire and is currently the editor of the leading UK jazz magazine, Jazz Review. He is the coauthor of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings.
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Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone
by Nadine Cohodas
From the author of the acclaimed Dinah Washington biography Queen comes this complete account of the triumphs and difficulties of the brilliant and high-tempered Nina Simone. Her distinctive voice and music occupy a singular place in the canon of American song.
Princess Noire is a fascinating story, well told and thoroughly documented with intimate photos—a treatment that captures the passions of Nina’s life.
Nadine Cohodas is the author of several books, most recently Queen: The Life and Music of Dinah Washington, which received an award for Excellence in Research in Recorded Jazz Music from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. She lives in Washington, D.C.
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