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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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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Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop [Hardcover] Review

Race Music is a wonderful example of music scholarship. Ramsey's work provides a rigourous, fresh, and inciteful look into African American Music. Unlike many music scholars who unsuccessfully negotiate the academic and popualar terrains simultaneously, Ramsey presents an unflinchingly academic book in a way that allows the lay public access into his wonderful world of idas. A must read!!!!

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Art of the Shuffle (Guitar Educational) [Paperback] Review

The Art of Shuffle by Dave Rubins is the best book on the subject I have ever come across and is a sheer delight for teachers and students alike.It realistically defines an area of study and then simply and clearlydelivers all that the printed page can.Where the printed page falls off,the information is then supported by a CD that is divided into individualtracks foreasy-find student repetition.At first the student will usethese tracks to understand what is being rhythmically and musically saidthen, later on, it is just good jam tracks to enjoy and keep your memoryand chops together.I particularly appreciate the divided tracks (thisshould be an industry standard) so you can skip over the tuning section orany part you're not focussing on instead of having to listen to the wholeCD in order to get to a specific section.I give this effort eleven stars( a perfect ten...plus) and I sincerely hope this author will do it again;I'd love to have one on turnarounds and as many other aspect of the bluesas any series could ever hold. This author makes the art of shuffle simplyirresitable.

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Product Description:
Art Of The Shuffle This method book explores shuffle, boogie and swing rhythms for guitar. Includes tab and notation, and covers Delta, country, Chicago, Kansas City, Texas, New Orleans, West Coast, and bebop blues. Also includes audio for demonstration of each style and to jam along with.

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America's Musical Life: A History [Hardcover] Review

In the late 1980s, having passed the US Foreign Service written test, I took the Oral Exam, one part of which was basically aimed at probing - in front of a panel of 3 Foreign Service officers - one's general knowledge of American history, culture, and world affairs, plus ability to think on one's feet.Among other questions, I was presented with the following (without any advance warning): `pretend you are a high school teacher giving a lecture on the history of American music; you have 3 minutes - GO!' Well, all I can say is, I wish that Richard Crawford's "America's Musical Life: A History" had been available back then, and that I had read it, because, let's just put it this way, there's a good reason why I didn't pass the Oral Exam!!Having now read Crawford's book, I feel like asking for a second shot at the question...
Basically, what this extremely learned, intelligent, well-organized, readable (and mercifully free of musicologist jargon) book does is to help us understand America from the perspective of music (i.e., what music meant to America), and also to understand American music from the perspective of its social, cultural, economic, political, racial, geographic, and technological history (i.e., what America meant to music).As Crawford states in his introduction, his goal is to undertake a study from a "broader scope [which] might illuminate parallels and intertwinings that give the country's music...its distinctive identity." Crawford accomplishes this, and more, starting from American music's early origins (Native American, Early Christian, "Old, Simple Ditties," and New England Psalmody), moving on to 19th century music (devotional music, minstrels, parlor songs, patriotic and war songs, classical music, etc.) to the folk, jazz, blues, pop, theatrical, and rock music of the 20th century.Throughout, Crawford makes it clear: 1) that there IS such a thing as "American" music; 2) that this music is extremely diverse, both in its expression and its origins; and 3) that to fully understand America, one needs to understand its music, and vice versa.
In sum, this book represents an obvious labor of love by an extremely well qualified author.I highly recommend it, whether or not you are a Foreign Service candidate!

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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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Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 (Music in American Life) [Paperback] Review

A few pages into this book, one realizes the title is a double entendre. The recorded sounds documented here - which include popular music, ragtime, jazz, cabaret, classical, spoken word, politics, poetry, and more - are not merely "lost" in the sense that their existence has been uncelebrated. They are also in danger of being lost to us forever if immediate steps are not takento preserve the fragile materials upon which they live.

Additionally, U.S. copyright laws have made it nearly impossible for anyone to reissue them as CDs. According to the author, there were approximately 800 recordings made by African Americans prior to 1920, the majority of which are still intact but half of which are owned by successor corporations like Sony and BMG who will neither reissue them nor allow anyone else to do so.Which explains why the majority of this material ends up being released overseas.

The book documents more than 40 artists chronologically, assessing their work and skillfully placing their biographies within the context of a complex and tumultuous era. It covers the famous (Bert Williams, Eubie Blake, Fisk Jubilee Singers) and a host of lesser-knows. The Discography provides a listing of CD reissues (if available) for each chapter, plus web sites where you'll most likely find them.

While seemingly an exhaustive tome, the author himself reminds us it's intended to stimulate preservation and future research: the final chapter "Miscellaneous Recordings" examines unissued recordings, "custom" noncommercial recordings, rumored but unconfirmed recordings, records by artists sometimes misidentified as black and more, in the hopes that future research will turn up more information.

Though massive at 656 pages, the book is highly readable and entertaining, very well organized and indexed making it easy to zoom in on particular aspects of interest. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the era of early recording in general, or African American studies in particular, and feel no library shelf should be without it. It's a wonderful resource for interdisciplinary studies.

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Product Description:
Available in paperback for the first time, this groundbreaking in-depth history of the involvement of African Americans in the early recording industry examines the first three decades of sound recording in the United States, charting the surprising roles black artists played in the period leading up to the Jazz Age and the remarkably wide range of black music and culture they preserved. Applying more than thirty years of scholarship, Tim Brooks identifies key black artists who recorded commercially and provides illuminating biographies for some forty of these audio pioneers.Brooks assesses the careers and recordings of George W. Johnson, Bert Williams, George Walker, Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, W. C. Handy, James Reese Europe, Wilbur Sweatman, Harry T. Burleigh, Roland Hayes, Booker T. Washington, and boxing champion Jack Johnson, as well as a host of lesser-known voices.Many of these pioneers faced a difficult struggle to be heard in an era of rampant discrimination and "the color line," and their stories illuminate the forces - both black and white - that gradually allowed African Americans greater entree into the mainstream American entertainment industry.The book also discusses how many of these historic recordings are withheld from the public today because of stringent U.S. copyright laws. Lost Sounds includes Brooks' selected discography of CD reissues, and an appendix by Dick Spottswood describing early recordings by black artists in the Caribbean and South America. Tim Brooks is Executive Vice President of Research at Lifetime Television. He is coauthor of "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows" and "The Columbia Master Book Discography", and the author of "Little Wonder Records: A History and Discography". He is past president of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections and the winner of its Lifetime Achievement Award. Dick Spottswood is a freelance author, broadcaster, and record producer. He is the author of the seven volume reference work, "Ethnic Music on Records".

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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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1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them [Paperback] Review

In the iPod era, it seems like everybody and their mother has a book out about "essential playlists," as if you can condense a band like the Beatles into 20 randomized gems. Interesting though books like this are, none are worth owning any more than one should buy a tracklist for a compilation CD. So why should this massive title be any different?

The answer is simple. In its size lies content... Creswell says something about each song. It's more like a book of brief stories, as opposed to the bound grocery lists similar titles offer... you get recommendations and reasons why. See, this book is like talking to your friend about music... he'll tell you he's just discovered Portishead, you'll share that you've lately been really into Neil Young's latest, and perhaps after you'll go home and check out what the other was hyping.

There is plenty of hyping going on in here, too, with 1001 tracks waiting for you to discover them. Neither the songs nor the artists are all the same old standards... you'll find, for example, Pearl Jam's "Alive," but I was all the more pleased to find a young woman named Thea Gilmore listed within... a name which might be more well known in England, but is not as well known here in the US. If you're looking for the Great American Songbook, you'll be disappointed. Of course, if you're looking for songs that classic, that well known, what more new can be written? The title states that these are great songs. This is, of course, debateable, but what is not debateable is that these are not necessarily the greatest. This book isn't meant to be a top 1001 of all songdom... it is meant to simply be 1001 songs that the author feels are truly great. I'd recommend this book to any avid music fan, anyone who enjoys learning about music they didn't know before, and anyone open to hearing that which may not be familiar... that is the niche it serves. If you need a countdown, look elsewhere, and if you can't look past the classics, Michael Buble will have a new CD soon enough.

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Product Description:
The fascinating stories behind more than a thousand best-loved songs from the last 50 years are explored in this entertaining collection. Intriguing background and biographical information on each song and its artist - from Elvis and Fatboy Slim to Leonard Cohen and Pulp - is included alongside more than 400 rare, full-color photographs of the musicians. Keeping in line with the way that iPods and other portable mp3 players have changed the way people listen to music - with personalized playlists and mixes just a few clicks away - this collection places more emphasis on specific songs than entire albums. The eclectic mix of profiled songs are randomly ordered, similar to a playlist, widening listeners' horizons while educating them on a variety of styles and artists.

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Riding On A Blue Note: Jazz And American Pop [Paperback] Review

When I was first getting seriously into jazz, this book (along with MartinWilliams's The Jazz Tradition) was the principal critical aid.Since thenI've reread it for pleasure countless times, for it's not only criticallyperspicacious but also has considerable literary merit.Da Capo isrighting a longstanding wrong by putting this book back into print, as theoriginal Oxford University Press edition has been unavailable forsometime.Not only new converts, but old sweats who happened to miss it thefirst time around should read this book, or just anyone who likeswell-written prose.One of the nice things about reprints is the chancefor an author to put in a contemporary word, and it's very nice to see thatthis book has a new preface by Giddins, written almost 20 years after theintroduction to the first edition.He comments with bemusement on theyounger writer represented in these pages, and gives valuble information onthe publishing history of Riding On A Blue Note, as well as updating theRed Rodney piece somewhat.
Though this is a book primarily about jazz, itlives up to it's subtitle (Jazz and American Pop) by including chapters onBing Crosby, Otis Blackwell, Bobby Blue Bland, the Dominoes, and FrankSinatra, though Giddins gives fair warning in the old intro that they arestudied from the viewpoint of a jazz critic.In fact, the chapter entitled"Just How Much Did Elvis Learn from Otis Blackwell?" is one ofthe most fascinating in the book as it attempts to uncover some of thetangled, subterranean back-and-forth influences between black and whitemusic.The chapter on Red Rodney ("Adventures of the Red Arrow")is funny as hell and functions as an entertaining short story even if it issomeday proved to be a Rodney-perpetrated hoax.I'm tempted to say thatGiddins is particularly sound on Ellington, Count Basie, and Dexter Gordon,but then I would have to add that he also does well by trombonist JackTeagarden, Irving Berlin, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie,and Charlie Parker... Though I hate to sound like a jacket blurb, the factis that this truly is one of those rare collections in which every essay isa gem, both informative on first reading and a delight to reread.The onlydrawback is that Da Capo charges top dollar for their paperback reprints,but it's worth it. Giddins has written several other fine books over theyears but there's something special about this one.

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"The most imposing figure in jazz writing today" (JazzTimes) on artists from Duke Ellington to Elvis Presley to Irving Berlin-all with that pervasive "blue note" of jazz in common
Gary Giddins, winner of the 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award, has a following that includes not only jazz enthusiasts but also pop music fans of every stripe. Writing here in a lyrical and celebratory style all his own, Giddins dazzlingly shows us-among many other things-how performers originally perceived as radical (Bing Crosby, Count Basie, Elvis Presley) became conservative institutions...how Charlie Parker created a masterpiece from the strain of an inane ditty...how the Dominoes helped combine church ritual with pop music...and how Irving Berlin translated a chiaroscuro of Lower East Side minorities into imperishable songs.
"Nobody writes with greater style and authority about American music than Gary Giddins. The great musicians are all here-from Professor Longhair to Charlie Parker-and it's a pleasure to enjoy their company with a fine writer." (Pete Hamill)

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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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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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Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s [Paperback] Review

Did you know that women were the first popular blues singers? Black Pearls explores the pioneering women who in the 20's changed the record instustry and music as we know it. Having read a few blues books by now, I found that portions in the introductory sections lacked the sort of awe-inspiring insight that makes for an excellent blues book. And my attention span had me skipping half-way through the chapter on lyrical analysis. Howvever, once I got to the sections that focus on the individual performers, this book excelled. There are many who seem hellbent on denying these particular women a hallowed place in the history of popular music (read Alan Lomax's brief dismissal of the classic blues era in his "The Land Where the Blues Began"), but Harrison's prodigious biographical and musical insights really open the door to a greater appreciation of the women she features. As a companion, I might suggest the cd "Classic Blues Women" by Rhino Records.

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Those Amazing Musical Instruments! with CD: Your Guide to the Orchestra Through Sounds and Stories [Hardcover] Review

This book/CD is REALLY AMAZING!I couldn't believe the information in this book and the accuracy.I teach music in a public school and ordered this for a unit I will be teaching on the orchestra.The interactive CD-ROM can be used with a projector so the entire class can view it.

The book is set up in sections:Introduction/Orchestra/Seating/Sound Waves; Strings; Woodwinds; Brass; Percussion; Keyboards; Voice; Electronic Instruments; Conductor; and even a Dictionary!An overview is given for each of the sections and each instrument has sound files on the CD-ROM. The photographs of each instrument are colorful, with the parts labeled. The descriptions include famous people who learned to play that instrument, how it is played, different genres where it is used; ranges of the instrument and it's relationship to the range of the entire orchestra.

This book not only includes orchestral instruments, but some folk instruments such as guitar (acoustic and electric) and mandolin.The Woodwind section includes 5 of the recorders, great bass, bass, tenor, alto, soprano, and sopranino!Awe shucks, they left out the little garklien!

I let children check out materials from my room and I want more copies of this book for them and one for myself!

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From the cello to the clarinet to the trumpet to the drums, Those Amazing Musical Instruments! takes readers on a musical tour, with notes on the history, construction and sounds of the instruments from each of the major instrument "families." They can see the parts of the violin working together, read about the flute in Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro," or hear the different sounds of the tuba on the included CD-ROM. This interactive CD-ROM includes individual musical samples giving readers an audible taste of each instrument, as well as full orchestra pieces showing how they play together.

Those Amazing Musical Instruments! features noted conductor Marin Alsop as kids' guide to the instruments, offering helpful comments and tips throughout the book.

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Raise Up Off Me: A Portrait of Hampton Hawes [Paperback] Review

If you like jazz, get your hands on this book and read it! Its humor, honesty, attention to detail, and readability put other autobiographies (mingus, miles) to shame.
Hawes was the bluesiest of the beboppers and could rightly be called the unrecognized father of hard bop.Unfortunately, he also had a herion habit that crippled his career.For more on that, read the book.Some of his recordings are still in print.Give them a listen, and then start calling DeCapo Press to get them to reprint this jazz literature classic!END

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Hampton Hawes [1928-1977] was one of jazz's greatest pianists. Among his peers from California the self-taught Hawes was second only to Oscar Peterson. At the time of his celebration as New Star of the Year by downbeat magazine (1956), Hawes was already struggling with a heroin addiction that would lead to his arrest and imprisonment, and the interruption of a brilliant career. In 1963 President John F. Kennedy granted Hawes an Executive Pardon. In eloquent and humorous language Hampton Hawes tells of a life of suffering and redemption that reads like an improbable novel. Gary Giddins has called it a major contribution to the literature of jazz. This book includes a complete discography and eight pages of photographs.

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Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones [Paperback] Review

Quincy Jones embodies the best of what it means to be fully human.He's always been on the cutting edge, at least a generation ahead of everyone else: in movies, in theater, in television, and, of course, in music.Now, in the disguise of an artist, he transcends art into healing.
This is a great book and works on so many different levels: as intimate biography, as powerful literature, and the story of one who transcended suffering into healing.And what an interesting life!
But this is more than just a fascinating story.He offers a wise roadmap to self-discovery and wholeness, both individually and culturally.Read it and be inspired by his courage and wisdom.
Somehow, the corrosive idea that the evil guy is interesting and the good guy is boring has entered popular culture, especially in rap and hip-hop.Only an artist of Quincy Jones' stature could show by extraordinary example even to the most angry and dispossessed that it is possible to be both loving and cool, generous and hip, selfless and self-fulfilled--and that it's a lot more fun and exciting to live this way.Come for the music and stay for the love.

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1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (1,000 Before You Die) [Paperback] Review

What most readers/reviewers fail to recognize is that this book is not about the BEST 1000 recordings it is about recordings you should HEAR. Those who complain that some really great music is missing are missing the point. Buy this book for education and enjoyment not to see how close Moon comes to your top 1000 music recordings ratings of all time.

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The musical adventure of a lifetime. The most exciting book on music in years. A book of treasure, a book of discovery, a book to open your ears to new worlds of pleasure. Doing for music what Patricia Schultz-author of the phenomenal 1,000 Places to See Before You Die-does for travel, Tom Moon recommends 1,000 recordings guaranteed to give listeners the joy, the mystery, the revelation, the sheer fun of great music.

This is a book both broad and deep, drawing from the diverse worlds of classical, jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, world, opera, soundtracks, and more. It's arranged alphabetically by artist to create the kind of unexpected juxtapositions that break down genre bias and broaden listeners' horizons- it makes every listener a seeker, actively pursuing new artists and new sounds, and reconfirming the greatness of the classics. Flanking J. S. Bach and his six entries, for example, are the little-known R&B singer Baby Huey and the '80s Rastafarian hard-core punk band Bad Brains. Farther down the list: The Band, Samuel Barber, Cecelia Bartoli, Count Basie, and Afropop star Waldemer Bastos.

Each entry is passionately written, with expert listening notes, fascinating anecdotes, and the occasional perfect quote-"Your collection could be filled with nothing but music from Ray Charles," said Tom Waits, "and you'd have a completely balanced diet." Every entry identifies key tracks, additional works by the artist, and where to go next. And in the back, indexes and playlists for different moods and occasions.

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Who Is Artie Shaw...and why is he following me? [Paperback] Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, since it related to other books I read about Shaw, including the books he wrote. His was a unique & interesting life story, with the flavor of the WW2 days, and the book gave some answers to his military experiences during that era.I never could understand why such a talented musician found it necessary to end his career so early, and I remember being disappointed when I heard about it in the 50's. The first recording I bought as a teenager was "Summit Ridge Drive", and today I have most of his released recordongs which I still enjoy.

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Bebop: The Music and Its Players [Paperback] Review

It is gratifying to find such a carefully written study of bebop -- a study which focuses from start to finish on the music. We know that many of the musicians had troubled lives and suffered with drugs and discrimination. The social and personal dimensions of bebop, however, have received ample attention in books, movies, and TV shows. This book is almost unique in providing a readable and scholarly analysis of the music. Owens faced a number of choices as to how to present his material, and he made the intelligent choice each time: Focus on the music (rare), not the details of "personal problems" (common); present just the right level of technical detail, never vague but never overly pedantic; trace the historical development of the music rather than an abstract description or a "how to play bop" approach (also common); and my favorite: organize the discussion around the idioms and masters of specific instruments -- sax, trumpet, piano, and so on. This last choice enables him to provide fresh insights as to how specific stylistic innovations on different instruments finally produced the characteristic ensemble style of bebop. I've bought two copies and I'm constantly recommending this book to friends.

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Jazz The Golden Era [Hardcover] Review

This is a scatological romp through most of the early history of Jazz with suitable riffs here and there. It is well that it includes a CD of 20 priceless tracks for the biographic sketches, while interesting at times, are not to be mistaken for the real deal. They are mostly a glorified discography, with historical tidbits thrown in from time to time. Despite the fact that some of them make important links to modern Jazz, I am still waiting for a book that properly recognizes the two quite separate entities and their quite separate histories.

As always, the handful of heavyweights get top billing, but even in the case of Satchmo (the heaviest of them all), the full range of these musicians' talents get short shrift: And while it is true that they were all entertainers (mostly having to pander to all white audiences), they were almost without exception fluent on more than one instrument, could both compose and direct their own charts, had secondary jobs and even secondary careers, and almost to a man and woman, had interesting non-musical careers and lives.

My main complaint is that no distinction is made between the shift from "white Jazz," which was pretty much a one dimensional repetitive extension of New Orleans Dixieland, and "Modern" or "Progressive Jazz," ushered in in the early 1940s by Diz and Bird, which at least aesthetically was quite a bit more. Most writers somewhat disingenuously conflate the two always failing to make clear that even though the connections between the two are indirect, that there nevertheless was a sea change and clear disconnect between them when Bird and Diz came on the scene.

This is probably not the place to fight this battle, but the problem with conflating the two is that the "old school" invariably gets over emphasized while the "new school" (the much more important one in my humble view) gets under emphasized. I have been watching this procession most of my life and it seems that no one is prepared to make the necessary mid-course corrections to right this imbalance.

I am not arguing that the two do not have the same pedigree: quite clearly they do, but the younger child, modern Jazz, is the far richer and more expressive of the two. I just believe that it is high time that modern Jazz starts getting its proper due. And here, by beginning with Louis Armstrong and ending with Miles Davis, leaving out the likes of John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Sonny Rollins, etc., Modern Jazz is still being put in the back seat of the musical bus. Three stars

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Product Description:
In the 1940s, a young generation of jazz musicians forged a new style out of the swing music of the 1930s. A new breed of players like Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, and Thelonius Monk transformed the jazz scene with advanced harmonies, complex syncopation and chord substitutions. Illustrated with photographs from the William Gottlieb collection, this book and sampler CD is a perfect introduction to this important era of jazz.

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Collected Works: A Journal of Jazz 1954-2001 [Paperback] Review

OK, Whitney Balliett never got into Miles Davis's electric stuff. So he's a Moldy Fig. To quote Miles, "So What?" For my money, he's still the greatest observer of the modern jazz scene. What makes him great is the accuracy of his observation: No other jazz critic ("Notes and Tones" was written by Art Taylor, a drummer) has been as generous as Balliett at letting the musicians speak for themselves. Reading his reviews, you often forget he's there. That never happens with Stanley Crouch, now does it? I don't like to think about how old Balliett is, nor do I like to think about what jazz criticism will be like without him. By the way: Balliett is not an exclusionary writer. You do not need a Hip Merit Badge to read and enjoy his work. He's a national treasure. Recognize his greatness while he's still here to enjoy it!

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Living the Jazz Life: Conversations with Forty Musicians about Their Careers in Jazz [Paperback] Review

As Continental forces and Virginia militia units were engaged in winning independence, American quartermasters and provisioners struggled to provide these units with all the necessities of life, from meals and guns to meat, fodder for horses, the horses themselves, firewood, and every other type of material. Much of this was requisitioned from the civilian population and certificates were issued payable in either continental or state funds, depending on the units supplied, upon presentation to court authorities. Thousands of these certificates issued to Virginians were duly entered by the courts, and they provide a fascinating insight into the period of the Revolution. These "Publick" Claims booklets contain interesting and useful information about the contributions of ordinary people to the Revolutionary War. They provide some details of people's service in the militia or as guards for prisoners of war; they indicate where some bodies of troops were at particular times; and they identify providers of horses, wagons, cattle, grain, or other supplies. Much of the information in these booklets cannot be found anywhere else, which makes the surviving records particularly valuable. Also remarkable is the fact that records survived from virtually every county in the state at that time with the exception of the newly formed Kentucky counties. This makes the collection even more valuable in covering areas which heretofore in this time period have suffered from a lack of personal data. The "Virginia Publick Claims" are published by counties. In addition to a faithful transcription by Janice Luck Abercrombie and the late Richard Slatten, a complete index is provided for each county booklet. This series is an extremely important genealogical tool for searchers in Revolutionary-era materials.

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