Jazz Blues category: 910 books

A gripping narrative that captures the tumult and liberating energy of a nation in transition, Sweet Soul Music is an intimate portrait of the legendary performers--Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, James Brown, Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Al Green among them--who merged gospel and rhythm...

Faulkner and Becker, sociologists and experienced musicians, wrote a book about their musical experiences—Do You Know? The Jazz Repertoire in Action—describing how musicians who didn’t know each other could perform competently and interestingly without rehearsing, or playing from written music....

The Stevie Ray Vaughan Buying Guide is an illustrated, album by album overview of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist’s too-brief career including a condensed artist biography, a discography with complete song listings, and even a select discography of bootleg albums, all compiled by the Rev....

"Jones has learned-and this has been very rare in jazz criticism-to write about music as an artist."-Nat Hentoff ks Black Music is a book about the brilliant young jazz musicians of the early 1960s: John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Archie...

Georgia on My Mind, Rockin' Chair, Skylark, Lazybones, and of course the incomparable Star Dust--who else could have composed these classic American songs but Hoagy Carmichael? He remains, for millions, the voice of heartland America, eternal counterpoint to the urban sensibility of Cole Porter and...

The life (1912–1988) and career of Gil Evans paralleled and often foreshadowed the quickly changing world of jazz through the 20th century. Gil Evans: Out of the Cool is the comprehensive biography of a self-taught musician whom colleagues often regarded as a mentor. His innovative work as a composer,...

In this classic account of the new black music of the 1960s and 70s, celebrated photographer and jazz historian Val Wilmer tells the story of how a generation of revolutionary musicians established black music as the true vanguard of American culture. Placing the achievements of African-American...

NOW IN PAPERBACK! J.J. Johnson, known as the spiritual father of modern trombone, has been a notable figure in the history of jazz. His career has embodied virtually every innovation and development in jazz over the past half-century. In this first comprehensive biography, filmography, catalog of...

This vivid oral snapshot of an America that planted the blues is full of rhythmic grace. From the son of a sharecropper to an itinerant bluesman, Honeyboy’s stories of good friends Charlie Patton, Big Walter Horton, Little Walter Jacobs, and Robert Johnson are a godsend to blues fans. History buffs...

All musicians need to thoroughly learn their scales, chords, intervals and various melodic patterns in order to become complete musicians. The question has always been how to approach this universal task. Guitar legend Barry Finnerty (Miles, The Crusaders, Brecker Bros., etc.) provides in this book a...

Bud Powell was not only one of the greatest bebop pianists of all time, he stands as one of the twentieth century’s most dynamic and fiercely adventurous musical minds. His expansive musicianship, riveting performances, and inventive compositions expanded the bebop idiom and pushed jazz musicians...

Have you ever wondered how guitarists like Joe Pass, Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery find such full, luscious voicings for their chord melody playing? Well, much of that sound is based on the "Drop 2" principle of chord voicings. In this book, veteran guitarist Randy Vincent explains exactly how you can get that same sound too. Endorsed by Julian Lage, John Stowell, Larry Koonse, etc.

'My music is the spiritual expression of what I am: my faith, my knowledge, my being...' John Coltrane rose from a hard and impoverished childhood in North Carolina to become one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. From session musician to band member of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie...

With twenty-three Grammy wins, Chick Corea is a legendary jazz figure and one of the most prolific and influential contemporary pianists of our time. He has produced hundreds of releases in multiple genres over five decades, and he is one of the hardest-working musicians in the industry, with a yearly...