Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass (Music in the Twentieth Century) [Hardcover] Review

Potter's book will be best appreciated by those with a much better understanding of music theory than I.However, I learned something about the personal and musical history of so-called "minimalism."(Potter falls prey to some extent to the problem of reifying an abstraction -- having first grouped some things together into a category, then searching for the true meaning of the category.)Is there a torch passed, so to speak, from Young to Riley to Reich to Glass?Glass is the only one to adamantly deny it, but Potter documents the basis for seeing it just that way (including Reich's influence on Glass).

One aspect I am keen to know more about, but which Potter doesn't stress overly much, is the striking confluence of non-Western influences.Young and Riley are both disciples of the North Indian master singer, Pandit Pran Nath, who died in 1996.Reich studied both African drumming as well as the gamelan music of Bali.Glass studied Indian music, after being immersed in serialism.With the European "classical" tradition at an impasse at the turn of the millennium, it seems only natural that the future would lie in creative fusions and combinationswith other traditions.(Not a very original idea, I realize, as evidenced by the recent emphasis of the Kronos Quartet among others.)Minimalism seems by now to be another style that passed into history and critical assessments -- is there an opening there that is being missed?

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Product Description:
This book offers the most detailed account so far of the early works of these four minimalist composers, putting extensive discussion of the music into a biographical perspective. The true musical minimalism of the 1960s and early 1970s is placed in the wider context of their music as a whole, and considered within the cultural conditions of the period, which saw not only the rise of minimalism in the fine arts but also crucial changes in the theory and practice of musical composition in the Western cultivated tradition.

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Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s [Hardcover] Review

Carol Oja's 'Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s' is an important book for those of us who want to know more about the historical development of 'modern' music in the US. Her main thesis is that it was during the latter part of the 1910s and the whole of the 1920s, and particularly in New York, that American composers developed a modernity that was wholly theirs, not something borrowed from Europe. Of course, there were predecessors--giants like Charles Ives--but they were still largely being ignored. It wasn't until a nucleus of composers, patrons, and fledgling arts organizations began coalescing in New York that the American voice finally emerged and was being heard. Beginning with visionaries like Leo Ornstein in the 1910s, this group soon included such rugged individualists as Dane Rudhyar, Edgard Varèse, Carl Ruggles, Henry Cowell, George Antheil, Roger Sessions, Aaron Copland. And individual voices they were, but they recognized, or at least some of them did, that they needed to band together in a sort of artistic and political brotherhood to get their works performed and published. Such efforts as 'Musical Quarterly,' the League of Composers, 'Musical Review,' 'Modern Music,' the Copland-Sessions Concerts and many more came into being. Music journalists (and promoters) like Carl van Vechten and Paul Rosenfield called wider attention to this new music.
This was a heady time. Of course, not all of the excitement was in New York. But many musicians from outside New York were attracted there. For instance, Ruth Crawford, later Ruth Crawford Seeger and one of the most original voices of all, came from Chicago late in the 1920s. Artistic ferment, not only in music but in all the arts, made New York THE place to be.
The book mentions and discusses the works of many composers that are not very well remembered today--but whose music may be due some sort of revival of interest--like Marion Bauer, Louis Gruenberg, William Grant Still, Emerson Whithorne, Frederick Jacobi. And of course composers now very well-known are discussed: Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Roy Harris, Carlos Chávez, Walter Piston.
There is a chapter on the widening influence of jazz on American concert music and a description of the famous Aeolian Hall concert in 1924 that introduced Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue,' (and Zez Confrey's 'Kitten on the Keys,' as well!).
A good deal of engaging prose is written about the wealthy and fiercely devoted women who were important, even crucial, patrons of modern music: Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Blanche Walton, Alma Morgenthau Wertheim.
There are many illustrations--concert programs, pictures of musicians and the like. Particularly interesting are reproductions of literally dozens of pages from musical scores, as from Varèse's 'Octandre,' Antheil's 'Ballet mécanique,' Ruggles's 'Vox clamans in deserto,' Cowell's 'The Voice of Lir,' Copland's 'Piano Variations,' Crawford's 'String Quartet' and many others.
A valuable and fascinating 40-page appendix lists all the pieces played on most of the new music series in New York during the period under discussion.
Oja has obviously done her research meticulously and the book is written in a lively, engaging style. It is not aimed at the scholarly audience, although surely musicologists can find plenty to marvel at here, but would be, I suspect, fascinating for the curious general reader.
Recommended.
Review by Scott Morrison.

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Musica!: The Rhythm of Latin America - Salsa, Rumba, Merengue, and More [Paperback] Review

It is hard to imagine that "Hall of Famer" Willie Colon, who wrote the foreword to this book, actually read it and gave it anendorsement.He writes, "...this book has helped put a face on someof my heroes".What Mr. Colon should have written was that this bookhas helped to distort the truth and put a mask on some of hisheroes.
Musica is a book full of misinformation.Someexamples:
Musician turned dance promoter Federico Pagani was not italian,he was Puertorican.Chick Webb did not die in 1932, he died on June 6,1939."Hall of Famer" Mario Bauza and Dizzy Gillespie did notmove together into Cab Calloway's orchestra, nor did they played withCalloway in 1932.It was in 1938 that Bauza joined Calloway's band. Pretending to be sick, and without warning to Calloway, he sent Gillespieto play in his place...that is how the great Gillespie got into Calloway'sband.
On page 41 a huge blunder is committed.Here it is stated that"Hall of Famer" Maria Teresa Vera was the first Cuban woman onrecord.Her suppose debut recording was in New York with Sexteto Habaneroin 1918.Nothing could be further from the truth.The facts are that thefirst Cuban singer on record was "Hall of Famer" Rosalia"Chalia" Herrera Diaz. Not only was she the first singer of Latinorigen on record, she is also the very first to record a"habanera".She manages to do all this with the famous"Habanera Tu" in New York in 1901!
I doubt very much that MariaTeresa Vera did any recordings with the Sexteto Habanero in 1918...first,this is the year in which the Sexteto Habanero was formed and secondly,those who have done their research indicate that the Sexteto Habanero'sfirst recording was realized on October 29, 1925 with a tune titled"Maldita Timidez"...Maria Teresa Vera was not part of thisrecording.However, Maria Teresa Vera was probably the first female todirect a group in Cuba and probably in South America.She did this withthe famous Sexteto Occidente that did recordings for Columbia Recordsaround 1925 in New York.She also recorded for the Brunswick and Odeonlabels.She later sold the group to "Hall of Famer" IgnacioPineiro who renamed the group Sexteto Nacional.
The book goes on and onwith countless errors.It is a shame, Because Sue Steward is a very goodwriter and the book has a great colorful layout, with dozens of greatphotos.It also has a good amount of solid information.But how is thereader suppose to decipher fact from fiction?You can see the confusion bythe reviews written on this book.People who have no knowledge about thehistory of Latin music gave this book good reviews...they assumedeverything was true and they enjoyed and believed that its content wasaccurate.That's the sad part of this book...people are going to read itand be persuaded that it is accurate and perpetuate the misinformation onto others.
I do believe that all is not lost...perhaps Sue Steward wouldtake the responsible high-road and issue a revised accurate edition. Careful and meticulous research can make this book a winner.In themeantime I would hope that Sue Steward does not attempt to produce atelevision program based on the information in this book...that would be agreat diservice to those who contributed so much to this great music and tothose who work so hard at researching the truth.

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Product Description:
Salsa, the irresistible dance music of the Spanish-speaking world, has made its way into the lives of millions around the globe. But salsa is only one of many popular Latin rhythms. The first comprehensive guide to the music, its history, and its legends, Musica! charts the vast territory of this lively Latin heritage, which began in Cuba and spread throughout the Caribbean and into North and South America. Illustrated with contemporary and vintage photos, Musica! features a gallery of legendary musical performers, plus sections on the musical styles and dances including the rumba, mambo, cha-cha, and merengue. A discography and bibliography complete this comprehensive story of Latin America's extraordinary rhythmic tradition.

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The Ambient Century: From Mahler to Moby--The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age [Paperback] Review

Your evaluation of THE AMBIENT CENTURY will depend on what you're looking for.I expected serious analysis, and by that criteria would give it 1 star.If what you're interested in, though, is an eclectic encyclopedia of interesting 20th century musicians, loosely grouped by the theme of "ambience," which is never defined, then you might think this is great.(I can't comment on the fact-checking criticism, but to me it's a secondary point.)Prendergast moves from "high art" composers including Debussy and Stockhausen, to "minimalism," to rock, broken into categories such as psychedelic, krautrock and synthesizer music, to the '90s techno/house/drum&bass/ambient trend.

However, his definition of "ambient" involves "music being deconstructed" by Mahler and Debussy (sounds really "postmodern," but what does it mean?), and developments in technology/electronics, along with an "interest in pure sound."He pronounces:"[T]he bleeding heart of electronic progress had by its very nature rendered all recorded music, by definition, Ambient." (4)Given this sort of cosmic perspective Prendergast could have included all music, and what he does include seems to be more or less "cool stuff that I like."Harsh, I know, but does Bob Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door," by any stretch of the conceptual imagination, belong on a list of the Essential 100 Recordings of 20th Century Ambient Music?If so, our author fails to offer any explanation.How about Led Zeppelin IV (ie, ZOSO)?I'm at a loss.

If the book was appropriately titled, I would have much less to criticize.But when you title a book "The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age," you lead the reader to expect some sort of theoretical analysis -- what sort of evolution?In what direction?What mechanisms are involved?But there is "no there there" if what is happening is just technological progress, and "an interest in pure sound" may characterize Cage's famous *4'33"* (the silent composition), but there is not even an attempt here to argue that it is the direction of 20th century music.If Prendergast really means to emphasize the use of music as background, where is his discussion of Muzak, and music in advertising?He doesn't develop his embryonic theme(s), but rather rushes headlong into profiles of musicians, which are strung together with little connecting analysis.

Caveat emptor -- if you're looking for serious analysis, look elsewhere, but if you want a breezy journalistic encyclopedia of non-mainstream music (that is seen as cool by The Wire magazine) you might find this a useful reference work.(For a model of analysis of cutting edge music, check out Nyman's EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC.It also has a foreward by Brian Eno!)

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George Gershwin: A New Biography [Hardcover] Review

I ordered this book because I've always liked Gershwin's music & happened to catch the last part of the film Rhapsody in Blue on Turner Movie Classics recently. The book does an adequate job of covering Gershwin's composing career, and indeed most of the chapters are titled according to the major composition discussed. If one is looking for in-depth information about Gershwin himself, his relationships, his family & his interests & activities outside music, the book is less satisfying. For example, one might assume from reading this book that his younger brother Arthur died in infancy as he is not mentioned except for his birthdate. Arthur actually lived to an old age, married, had kids & composed music himself. What relationship he & George had is unknown. Similarly, while Ira's wife Leonore had a part in George's life, she appears haphazardly throughout the book and little about her relationship with George is explored. George was also a painter but that is only tangentially mentioned. There is so much more that could fill out a broader, more in-depth picture of Gershwin. One could also wish for better editing to remove grammar errors & smooth out the repetitious use of some phrases as well as the jerky transitions from one subject to the next. The author's extensive research is evident & the endnotes at each chapter useful. For someone interested in Gershwin's growth as a composer, the book does a creditable job of documenting the major compositions & music events in the composer's life. For more about the man himself, readers must look elsewhere.

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Eurock: European Rock & the Second Culture [Paperback] Review

At a time when music criticism has degenerated into little more than fawning declarations of "best ever", "profound", "unique" and any other in-the-service-of-sales bromide you can stomach, it becomes even more important to take serious note of what comes from people who truly love music.

As he tells us early on, Archie Patterson was raised on records. Music is such a big part of his life that he turns out to be the right man at the right time. Because, while the U.S. might have been drowning in disco during the 1970s, Europe was the home of some of the most compelling, innovative and advanced bands to ever perform or record. Compelling and important enough to lead to the publication of Eurock, which stands far apart in the world of fanzines as an authentic journal of the people, the bands and the ideas that continue to inform and shape the many forms of alternative music today.

The 700+ pages of "Eurock, European Rock & the Second Culture" is nothing short of the definitive word on alternative, experimental and progressive European music written from the perspective of listeners and enthusiasts committed to furthering the cause of an alternative music and the culture it represents. The book's scope is encyclopedic, providing criticism, reviews and interviews with artists and groups, articles on independent labels, technology and instrumentation. The book even offers a rare article by Lester Bangs on Amon Duul.

Organized chronologically, from 1973 - 2002, this book provides information about virtually every important and not-so-important independent and alternative artist you could hope to read about from Europe, the U.S., Japan and points beyond. But much more than music comes through. As the title implies, the writings in this book are part of a time of profound cultural change which was in many ways inseparable from the music in question. Patterson asks us to look not only at the music, but at the social and cultural context of what helped make such music possible, and do so through the voices of the musicians and their audience. It is this aspect of "Eurock, European Rock & the Second Culture" that makes it such an important and authoritative collection of thoughts and observations of music and how music operates in the world. And what you'll find is simply that what mattered in the early 1970s continues to matter today, and will always matter to those that understand music to be more than entertainment or distraction.

So while the current crop of self-styled critics can spare us only a minute or two to tell us and sell us that something is "great" while they already have their eyes and ears on whatever the industry tells them is "next",pull out your copy of Eurock and spend your time with the people and ideas that have remained true to music, for the love of music, for more than three decades.

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Product Description:
Over the span of 30 + years Eurock was the first ever magazine to focus on the burgeoning European Rock scene. It became a renowned subterranean trade publication devoted to Euro-Rock, hence the name "EUROCK". It moved well away from mainstream music and devoted itself exclusively to the realm of "serious listening". Covering experimental, progressive rock, space rock and electronic music, bands like - Can, Amon Duul 2, Tangerine Dream, Neu, Kraftwerk, Faust, Magma, Supersister, Wigwam and Savage Rose. Many of the groups covered would go on to later influence countless hundreds of other bands down the years.
EUROCK - EUROPEAN ROCK & THE SECOND CULTURE compiles all the magazines majoarticlesis into an amazing reference guide that belongs in the collection of all serious experimental rock music buffs.
A Special Bonus introduction is the previously unpublished article on Krautrock from 1971 by the late Editor of Creem Magazine and gonzo rock journalist extraordinaire Lester Bangs - "Amon Duul: A Science Fiction Rock Spectacle".
250 Pictures ~ 2,700 Artists Indexed

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Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion [Hardcover] Review

"Music in the USA" is essential for the student, professor, or enthusiast. Never before has such an array of primary source documents been collected into a single volume. Easy to browse, "Music in the USA" makes for a fantastic research tool as well as a great read for pure enjoyment- one can easily read up on any segment of American musical culture throughout our history. As a student, I highly recommend picking up this book. I have used it many times in my studies, and will surely reference it in my continuing pursuit into the music industry.

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Product Description:
Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion charts a path through American music and musical life using as guides the words of composers, performers, writers and the rest of us ordinary folks who sing, dance, and listen. The anthology of primary sources contains about 160 selections from 1540 to 2000. Sometimes the sources are classics in the literature around American music, for example, the Preface to the Bay Psalm Book, excerpts from Slave Songs of the United States, and Charles Ives extolling Emerson. But many other selections offer uncommon sources, including a satirical story about a Yankee music teacher; various columns from 19th-century German American newspapers; the memoirs of a 19th-century diva; Lottie Joplin remembering her husband Scott; a little-known reflection of Copland about Stravinsky;an interview with Muddy Waters from the Chicago Defender; a letter from Woody Guthrie on the "spunkfire" attitude of a folk song; a press release from the Country Music Association;and the Congressional testimony around "Napster.""Sidebar" entries occasionally bring a topic or an idea into the present, acknowledging the extent to which revivals of many kinds of music play a role in American contemporary culture. This book focuses on the connections between theory and practice to enrich our understanding of the diversity of American musical experiences.Designed especially to accompany college courses which survey American music as a whole, the book is also relevant to courses in American history and American Studies.

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Little Labels--Big Sound: Small Record Companies and the Rise of American Music [Hardcover] Review

O how the landscape has changed!Fifty years ago there were literally hundreds of independent record labels operating in cities and towns all across the USA.Many of these companies were fly by night operations that lasted for only a short period of time. Some managed to stick around long enough to have a hit record or two before disappearing from the scene forever.But, a fair number of these independent labels were quite successful and would leave an indelible mark on American popular music.This is what "Little Labels-Big Sound" is all about.
Whether you are a fan of the blues, rock and roll, R & B, group harmony or jazz, there is little doubt that these "little labels" made asignificant contribution to the development of your kind of music.Authors Rick Kennedy and Randy McNutt have focused on 10 of these important independent labels.It is a very readable and highly entertaining book that both record collectors and history buffs are sure to enjoy.
Hoagy Carmicheal and Louis Armstrong spent their formative years in the 1920's at Gennett Records, a small indie based in Richmond, In.When a young and dynamic James Brown audtioned for King Records in the mid 1950's, label owner Syd Nathan remarked "Nobody wants to hear that noise."History would indeed prove him wrong.Most critics agree that jazz legend Charlie Parker made his finest recordings at Ross Russell's Dial records."Little Labels-Big Sound" tells the story of how Charlie Parker wound up at Dial.There are also chapters devoted to seven other notable indies including Sun, Riverside, Monument and Duke-Peacock. I enjoyed reading about them all.
Today, a few major conglomerates dominate the music business.There is little for most of us to get excited about. "Little Labels-Big Sound" fondly recalls that time in America when small record labels flourished and creativity thrived.It is worth remembering.Recommended.

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Aesthetics and Music (Continuum Aesthetics) [Paperback] Review

The aesthetics of music is an underserved field.Roger Scruton's "Aesthetics of Music" is a formidable achievement, and perhaps so imposing that few have attempted to update it or even tread on the same territory.Andy Hamilton's "Aesthetics and Music" not only dares to engage Scruton, but does so convincingly and with a clarity not often seen in music scholarship.The strength of the book is its attention to the simplest, most important questions we can ask about music: What is it? Is it distinct from mere sound, and if so, how?Hamilton's book should be required reading for all musicologists and music scholars.

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Product Description:
"The Continuum Aesthetics" series looks at the aesthetic questions and issues raised by all major art forms. Stimulating, engaging and accessible, the series offers food for thought not only for students of aesthetics, but also for anyone with an interest in philosophy and the arts. "Aesthetics and Music" is a fresh and often provocative exploration of the key concepts and arguments in musical aesthetics. It draws on the rich heritage of the subject, while proposing distinctive new ways of thinking about music as an art form. The book looks at: the experience of listening; rhythm and musical movement; what modernism has meant for musical aesthetics; the relation of music to other 'sound arts'; improvisation and composition; as well as more traditional issues in musical aesthetics, such as absolute versus programme music and the question of musical formalism. Thinkers discussed range from Pythagoras and Plato to Kant, Nietzsche and Adorno. Areas of music covered include classical, popular and traditional music, and jazz. "Aesthetics and Music" makes an eloquent case for a humanistic, democratic and genuinely aesthetic conception of music and musical understanding.Anyone interested in what contemporary philosophy has to say about music as an art form will find this thought-provoking and highly enjoyable book required reading.

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Masterworks of 20th-Century Music: The Modern Repertory of the Symphony Orchestra [Paperback] Review

"Masterworks of 20th-century music" is written nicely enough, but I had hoped for something which focused more on the music and less on biographical tidbits.If I needed to know biographical info I would read a biography.
Of course, this is the same problem with 99% of the program notes written today; nobody seems to have ears for the music.

I give a minor warning to take things in this book cum grano solis. For example, the article on Ravel's G major piano concerto twice in one paragraph declares the second movement to have a 'languid horn' solo -- but it is an English Horn, not a horn.To musicians, a "horn" is a brass instrument with or without valves, while the lanquid tenor double reed instrument is the cor anglais or English Horn.

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Product Description:
Masterworks of 20th-Century Music introduces over 100 of the greatest compositions by world composers that have entered the standard orchestral repertory.The author surveyed dozens of major American orchestras to find which pieces are commonly performed, and has focused on these works that an average audience member is most likely to hear.Among the popular pieces profiled are Aaron Copland'sAppalachian Spring; Gustav Holst's The Planets; Igor Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps; Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915; George Gershwin's An American in Paris; Charles Ives's Three Places in New England; and many more.With each entry is given a wealth of information about: the composer, when and where the piece was first performed, in what "style" it was composed, and a basic analysis of the music. This book serves the general reader interested in 20th-century music, plus students, teachers, and scholars.

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Blues: An Anthology [Paperback] Review

I have to admit that when I received this book it wasn't everything I expected, but I take the full blame. I made assumptions and put it on my wishlist without really reading the description fully. I felt I didn't need to know anything more than that it had illustrations by Miguel Covarrubias and that it was by Handy.

I expected more history and stories rather than actual songs with music, and I expected illustrations throughout.

After receiving it I know now that it is mainly an anthology of songs, and the illustrations are limited to the introduction.

This does nothing to diminish this book as a treasure in my eyes.

Though the Covarubbias illustrations are much fewer than I'd imagined, they still make me breathless to look at them. Truly gorgeous. The music provided by W C Handy is itself history to me. It's just a beautiful book to own.

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Product Description:
Originally published in 1926, a classic collection of great blues songs arranged for piano and voice--the most famous blues collection in history.Among the first black men to write and publish blues music, Handy did more than anyone else to make blues popular and accepted. Includes historical notes, tunes and arrangements, notes for each song, a bibliography, and a chart of guitar chords.Illustrated by reknowned Mexican illustrator Miguel Covarrubias.

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Listen to Learn : Using American Music to Teach Language Arts and Social Studies (Grades 5-8) with CD [Paperback] Review

I used this book in Summer School this year with 9,10 and 11 year olds and found it to be an excellent blueprint for study of American Music. Tibbett has done her research and provides a comprehensive look at the cultural backgrounds to today's music. The examples on the CD are from original artists when possible and when not, Tibbett steps in admirably.

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Product Description:
Listen to Learn, with its companion music CD, offers teachers a dynamic way to use the history of American music to engage their students (grades 5-8) in reading, writing, social studies, geography, music, and multicultural lessons and activities. The book traces the colorful musical traditions of diverse cultures including early Native music, folk, blues, classical, jazz, country, Tejano, salsa, rock, and rap. The CD features authentic music from such American musical greats as Louis Armstrong, Woody Guthrie, Mahalia Jackson, Lead Belly, Lydia Mendoza, and many more.Listen to Learn features a variety of fascinating activities that encourage students to write about their favorite music, investigate songs as poetry, research the lives of famous musicians, explore family musical traditions, research how instruments make sounds, plot record charts, and much more. Designed in a handy, lay-flat format for easy reproduction, Listen to Learn is divided into four major sections.

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Blowing the Blues: A Personal History of the British Blues [Paperback] Review

Most blues guides focus on American blues music: Dick Heckstall-Smith and Pete Grant's Blowing The Blues covers fifty years of playing British blues, includes cd with previously unreleased tracks, and provides insights into blues saxophone to accompany a blend of autobiography and British blues history. Add cartoons by Biff making comments on the life of a blues musician and you have a honest survey of the music scene of the British blues world.

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This is the autobiography of a master musician, the King of British blues saxophone. In the 60s and 70s Dick was the cornerstone of such seminal R&B bands as Alexis Korner s Blues Incorporated, the Graham Bond Organisation, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Colosseum, paving the way for R&B-influenced rock groups like Fleetwood Mac, the Yardbirds, the Animals and the Rolling Stones.With his pithy humour, Dick describes the revolutionary founding years of British R&B - his anecdotes about Ginger Baker, Alexis Korner, Charlie Watts and the unforgettable Graham Bond alone are worth the price. An extraordinarily entertaining book, Dick's unrelentingly honest account of his musical career also reflects on what it takes to be a full time musician, and grapples with the racism and drug abuse endemic in the music industry.In the back of the book is a CD featuring 25 minutes of previously unreleased tracks by Dick Heckstall-Smith, illustrating the sheer musical diversity of his work.

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A History of American Classical Music With Audio CD [Hardcover] Review

I originally got this book because I wanted to learn more about Scott Joplin's opera _Treemonisha_.I appreciated that Mr. Scherer took the time to contextualize the breadth of Joplin's work when I could find few other resources that did.That attention to the forgotten and underappreciated contributors to American music is one of the strengths and joys of the book.I have learned a great deal about composers and musicians of whom I knew little.As well, Mr. Scherer nicely explains the political, social and cultural background that helped to shape them and their music. (Surprisingly, it acted as a nice history review, reminding me of key events like the War of 1812 and showing how they were linked to other events during that time period.)

Mr. Scherer's writing style is engaging.While he clearly has a scholarly understanding of his subject, he speaks in laymen's terms with a passion for the material that cannot help but elicit an enthusiastic response.I plan to incorporate some of the music into my high school American Lit classes.I'd like to give my students a broader understanding of the periods that we study.Overall, this is a great resource, and I'm glad that it's a part of my library.

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Product Description:
This richly detailed narrative tells the stories of America's classical composers, set against significant events in American history.

Acclaimed music writer Barrymore Scherer follows the development of American classical music, from Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein, Joplin, and Sousa, to lesser-known names such as William Henry Fry and Alan Hovhaness. Scherer surveys the period from the Mayflower through the Europe-tribute years to the two world wars and onwards to the growing academic and concert confidence of the post-war period. Broadway, opera, musicals, bandstands, marching bands and piano players all get their place.

The book includes a CD of carefully chosen pieces. Readers also gain access to an exclusive website that offers new essays, the musical works in full, and more. This revolutionary book utilizes traditional and new media to provide a uniquely rounded portrait of the American classical scene and music.

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Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall [Hardcover] Review

For years we have been sustained by a notion that we could, if we worked hard enough, use documents of all kinds (musical scores, diaries, images, letters, etc.) to figure out something like "what really happened" in the past.Alas, the past is a much vaster ocean than we imagine.The refreshing thing about Horowitz's brilliant Classical Music in America, is that he's not about writing a chronicle, he's about telling a particular story.In the end, it's not whether you agree or disagree that there was something like a Golden Age in the United States around the turn of the century followed by a gradual but inevitable slide, but that the reader is bathed in the very richness of the tale and the telling.Through his passion, his gifts as a writer and thinker, and actually through the very idiosyncratic thinking that can annoy, cajole, and prod, he compels attention, and stimulates deep thought about the past and the present.

Horowitz has been one of our leading cultural critics for decades, and this is a book that should be on every music lover's bookshelf.

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Tell the Truth Until They Bleed: Coming Clean in the Dirty World of Blues and Rock 'n' Roll [Paperback] Review

I learned of this book when listening to an interview with the author on the late night AM radio "Joey Reynolds Show" from WOR 710. As someone who came of age in the 60's and enjoyed a modicum of success in the music business, I found most of the book fascinating. The last few chapters cover more obscure artists which held little interest for me. Even though there is no reference to the cover, I assume it's a photo of Frankie Lymon. The title and cover picture gives no indication of the book's contents and I would have passed it by if I saw it in a bookstore. Overall, it's an interesting read and I recommend it to readers who are interested in learning about how the music business operated some 40 years ago. I'm glad I bought the book!

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Product Description:
A wild insider's ride with one of music's most notorious journalists.Here are 15 music profiles, guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat.Leiber & Stoller, the white fathers of R&B and rock and roll, who possess what is perhaps the last great untold story of the music biz. They created the American songbook of the '50s and '60s, led by Elvis, the Coasters, and the Drifters.Doc Pomus, the only white blues singer in America making records in the 1940s. Half of the hit songwriting team of Pomus-Shuman during the Brill Building era, Doc had the biggest heart in the music business.A sad, comic-tragic romance with the Ronettes' Ronnie Spector, dubbed an "oldie" once she left her teens.

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The Big Book of Blues: The Fully Revised and Updated Biographical Encyclopedia [Paperback] Review

This is a great biographical guide to blues musicians and their careers, but it's time for an updated edition. The book contains 600+ entries with fairly detailed bio info in each, with musicians ranging from Bessie Smith to Robert Cray, and even including crossover groups like the Yardbirds. But the book predates the CD era somewhat, with the "essential listening" section for each musician lacking in CD listings. For some, this is a major omission (I'm thinking of the 1,000 or so Document CDs that could have been accessed with so many of the pre-war musicians).

Books like this often impel people to go through them to note who was left out as well as who made it in. Some of the earlier female blues singers who recorded many important sides in the 1920s seem under represented: Viola McCoy, Josie Miles, Monette Moore, and Merlene Johnson (The Yas Yas Girl) were all left out, though each recorded dozens of sides. Of course, artists who have come on the scene since 1993, when the book was published, are not included either (Keb Mo, Jerry Ricks, and Corey Harris to name just three come to mind). No book, obviously, that is documenting an on-going subject will ever be complete, but this one is valuable enough to warrant a revised edition. Hopefully one is in the planning stages. In the meantime, this is (along with Harris's BLUES WHO'S WHO, which also needs updating) an important reference book for lovers of the blues. A must-have book.

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African American Music: An Introduction [Hardcover] Review

Co-edited by Mellonee V. Burnim and Portia K. Maultsby for a college-level introduction perfect for classroom text use or library reference, you can't go wrong with African American Music: An Introduction - it gathers thirty essays by leading scholars to survey major Afro-American musical genres both sacred and secular over the extent of American history, uses studies from both ethnographic fieldwork and recordings, and adds biography, photos and illustrations, and references which bring the scholarly focus to life. The blend of scholarly research, field research and cultural observation makes African American Music: An Introduction the perfect text for study.

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Product Description:

African American Music: An Introduction is a collection of thirty essays by leading scholars whch survey major African American musical genres, both sacred and secular, from slavery to the present. The work brings together, in a single volume, treatments of African American music that have existed largely independent of each other. The research is based in large part on ethnographic fieldwork, which privileges the voices of the music-makers themselves, while interpreting their narratives through a richly textured mosaic of history and culture. The book is replete with references to seminal recordings and recording artists, musical transcriptions, photographs, and illustrations that bring the music to life as expressions of human beings. At the same time, it includes the kind of musical specificity that brings clarity to the structural, melodic, and rhythmic characteristics that both distinguish and unify the music of African-Americans.



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The African-American Century : How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Country [Paperback] Review

Even though this book gives brief biographical sketches ofsignificant African Americans, I still give it five stars for the following reasons:
1) It is a very neatly organized resource for notable African-Americans, that can give quick and accurate information about these people and their times.I like that each page clearly shows the decade during which that person made major accomplishments. For each person profiled, there is at least onephoto, and a provocative, "boxed" quote.
2) This kind of book is desperately needed by most of America's schoolteachers. Many are not well-informed about the achievements of African-Americans, and here they get a quick, clear, and stimulating profile of many who made major contributions.Further, Professors Gates and West provide a bibliography that leads the reader to at least one significant in-depth work about each person profiled, so those who want to know more are "pointed in the right direction."
3) While there are some sports and entertainment figures, I don't think there is any bias in that direction. With personages like Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, and Hank Aaron, you MUST include them in a work like this because they really transcended sports, and became larger-than-life symbols of social issues.
4) Professors Cornel West and Henry Gates Jr. write in a very clear manner, and don't candy-coat their subject manner.They point out the contradictions in many of these peoples' lives, mention their social critics, and demonstrate that meaningful lives are seldom neat and tidy ones.To professors Gates and West, I say "Thanks, fellas, for not coming across like the stereotypical "stuffy Harvard scholars!"

Finally, if you know of a school teacher who is well-intended about teaching more about African American history, but maybecan benefit from an attractively presented and easily accessible resource book, think of this as a thoughtful gift to that person.Next time February (Black History Month) rolls around, they will have lots of suggestions for class projects and pupil reports.

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The Label: The Story of Columbia Records [Hardcover] Review

THE LABEL has to be one of the finest ever books about music, the music industry, and pop culture.And it has to be the coolest looking!It traces the history of Columbia Records from the invention of the phonograph to the present, and all the greats are there:Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Barbra Streisand, Duke Ellington, Leonard Bernstein, Billie Holliday, Michael Jackson, Janis Joplin, Benny Goodman, Sinatra, Horowitz, Kostelanetz, and on and on!And of course Walter Yetnikoff and the ever-present Clive Davis.What a feast -- you won't want to put it down!The writing is very graceful and astute, filled with fascinating details about deals and star-making and egos, trends and manias and feuds and so on.And the book, with its multiple photo sections and 50 pages of footnotes, is impeccably researched.

Music fiends are going to adore this book - what a great gift idea!I'm giving it to several of my music-fanatic friends, 'cause I know they'll REALLY like it.Very hip.GREAT COVER.A book to disappear into for days...

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