Complete Fingerstyle Guitar [Library Binding] Review

I have received a request to review this book from Amazon.
Unfortunately, Amazon never delivered this book.
After about month wait, they sent me a message that the book was unavialble.
I gave three stars, because I am sure that one of Stefan Grossman's books, of which I have several, would have deserved 4-5 star, and Amazon derserves 0.

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Product Description:
This comprehensive text covers the spectrum of fingerpicking technique and styles. Preformance and stylistic notes, fingerstyle guitar solos and a listening guide are presented for each section of the book. Sections include; Gospel Songs; Country Blues; Ragtime Blues; Rags and Dances; Appalachian Fiddle Tunes; Celtic Airs; Jigs and Reels; Classic Rags; Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar and Fingerstyle Guitar Duets. All solos are in notation and tablature and are written by noted fingerpicking guitarists Stefan Grossman, Elizabeth Cotten, Dean Sires, Ton Van Bergeyk, David Laibman, Rev. Gary Davis, Duck Baker, Seth Austen, Steve Tilston, John Morris, Sid Percy, Tom O'Farrell, Jim McLennan, Leo Wijnkamp Jr., Lasse Johansson, and Claes Palmqvist. 237 pages. The 2-CD's contain 43 of the 60 songs in this book.

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The Music of Black Americans: A History [Hardcover] Review

Have you ever heard about The National Negro Opera Company? Founded by Mary Cardwell Dawson, the company made its debut in Pittsburgh in 1941. This is but one of the fascinating things you can discover in this marvelous book. If you have an interest in music of whatever variety, your library is incomplete without this book.
This 3rd edition was done in 1997, thus it is quite up-to-date in its coverage of classical, jazz, rock, pop, gospel, swing, ragtime or blues. If it is music as practiced, performed or composed by people of color, this is where you'll find valuable information about it. Beginning with Africa and continuing to the present day, the four sections detail this rich history: Song in a Strange Land (1619-1775); Let My People Go (1776-1865); Blow Ye the Trumpet (1865-1919) and Lift Every Voice (1920-1996). The latter section is particularly informative reading with sections on Jazz, The Harlem Renaissance, and the Mid-Century Decades. It is these years in which artists of color finally took their well-deserved place on the musical stages of the world. Of course, they had been visible in their own world, and the popularity of such major composers as Scott Joplin and Duke Ellingtonallowed them to more or less effortlessly cross-over to the 'white' world. Lena Horne, the Mills Brothers, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway were--and still are--names to be reckoned with in any list of fabulous performers.
And then there was Marion Anderson who finally made her way to the Metropolitan Opera at the very end of her career, making way for Robert McFerrin, Leontyne Price, Jessye Norman, Simon Estes and George Shirley, who were very much pioneers in their respective repertoire. Today, thankfully, artists of color are not at all rare on the concert and/or opera stages of the world. But lest we forget the individual trauma these artists suffered in order to be able to compete in this way, we need to remember the past while we are glorying in the present. This book will, if you let it, open your mind and your ears to wonderful, glorious sounds, without which our world would be a much quieter and poorer place.
The author of this book is the renowned Eileen Southern (Professor Emerita of Music and Afro-American Studies at Harvard University) who is herself a musician as well as a writer, and is eminently qualified to illuminate The Music of Black Americans to the world in general.
Pages 613 through 646 comprise a rich bibliography and discography; the index takes up 41 pages. NO music lover should be without this invaluable reference work.

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Product Description:
This text provides comprehensive coverage of black American music, from the arrival of the first Africans in the English colonies to contemporary developments in African-American history. The book draws on authentic documents, from colonial times to the present, to illuminate the history of black music. The book provides thorough treatment of black women musicians, including Lil Hardin Armstrong, Marian Anderson, Billie Holiday, Leontyne Price and Ella Fitzgerald.

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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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Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues [Hardcover] Review

Many Americans have shown a great interest in "roots" music as part of a highly commendable effort to understand our country's life and culture.Much of this interest has, over the years, focused on the blues of the Mississippi Delta and, in particular, on the recordings of singer and guitarist Robert Johnson (1911 -1938). Johnson was an obscure figure in his day and his life and music remain the stuff of legend.He had two recording dates in 1936 and 1937.His music was rediscovered in the 1960s and since that time the sales of his collected recordings have numbered in the millions.
In "Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues" (2004), Elijah Wald offers a compelling study of the blues and of blues historiography focusing on Robert Johnson. Wald tries to correct what he deems to be the prevailing myths about Johnson: that he was a primitive folk artist caught in the Mississippi Delta who recorded and perfected a local traditional form of blues.Wald finds Johnson an ambitious young singer who had studied the blues forms popular in his day.Johnson, Wald argues, wanted to escape the Mississippi Delta and pattern himself on the urban blues singers, in particular Leroy Carr, emanating from the midwest and Chicago.
Wald finds that Johnson displayed a variety of blues styles in his recordings and that he was largely ignored by black music listeners of his day because Johnson's early efforts to capture an urban blues style were basically copies of more successful singers and because his songs in the Delta blues style lacked appeal to the urban and sophisticated black audience of the time.
Johnson's music only became well-known, Wald argues, with the rise of English rock, and with his rediscovery by a largely white audience.The tastes of black music listeners had moved in a mostly different direction towards soul, funk, rap, disco and did not encompass rural blues singers.The fascination of modern listeners with Johnson, according to Wald, is due to a romantic spirit -- a boredom with the life of the everyday -- and a search for a past full of authentic individuals who knew their own wants and needs and who projected themselves in their art.
Wald's book begins with a history of the blues before Robert Johnson focusing on the commercial character the music had at the outset.He gives a great deal of attention to the Blues queens -- Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey -- and to their smooth-voiced male sucessors, particularly Leroy Carr, as mentioned above, and Lonnie Johnson.These singers profoundly influenced Johnson's music and his ambitions to become a popular entertainer and not a cult figure.
The central part of Wald's book consists of a brief biography of Johnson -- summarizing the various speculations on his life -- and of a song-by-song discussion of his recordings.In this discussion, Wald discusses the music with a great deal of intelligence and understanding.He shows very clearly Johnson's debts to his more commercially sucessful predecessors and explains as well the variety of blues styles Johnson encompassed in his songs.
The final portion of the book carries the story of the blues forward beyond Robert Johnson's death.It shows how the music at first evolved into a combo style, again approaching popular music, which took blues into a different direction from Johnson's recordings.The book concludes with a discussion of Johnson's rediscovery, and the discovery of other Delta blues singers, beginning in the 1960's.
Wald clearly knows his material.For all his criticism of the mythmaking cult over Johnson, Wald's love for this music shines through, as he is the first to admit.Upon reading this book, I spent considerable time relistening to Johnson's music and felt I came away with a better understanding and appreciation of it than I had before.The goal of every book about music should be to encourage its readers to return to (or get to know) the songs, or what have you, themselves.The book meets this goal admirably.
There are few books on the blues that manage to be both scholarly, critical, and inspiring and Wald's book is one of these few.I do not find Wald's thesis as unsusual as he claims it to be, but it certainly will be worth exploring by listeners and readers who do not have a large backround in this music.
In music, a fair and careful historical account will in the long run perform a greater service to the music and the artists than will legends and stereotypes.The Delta singers discussed in this book, Robert Johnson, Son House, Skip James, Charley Patton, were musicians of talent.Understanding their story can only increase the listener's appreciation of the blues.

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New Orleans Acoustic Blues Guitar:: The Babe Stovall Era 1964-1974 (Volume 1) [Paperback] Review

This is a complex and dense book, and way too short to satisfy most people's taste. What Collins says in one or two sentences aptly sums up the music politics of the city back in those days. This is the evidence and perspective of just one performer---but the plot of ground he has found for new orleans folk music in the city's jazz history is going to yield huge dividends for those writers coming afterwards. The book is obviously a text book written to accompany some sort of visual instruction. And thus, maybe hard to follow. The 8 song examples are really not enough, and Snooks Eaglin leads do not get much attention.Stovall and Lonnie Johnson material can be found elsewhere, as well. The book at times seems sandwiched in between discocography and references. Collins is aware that he cannot take the reader everywhere. But I agree this is a good place to start.

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Product Description:
The folk era of the mid to late 1960s in New Orleans has received little attention from historians and educators compared to the folk scenes of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.The book focuses on styles of Babe Stovall, Snooks Eaglin, and Lonnie Johnson and is the companion book for a university course on acoustic blues...

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Secrets from the Masters [Paperback] Review

This 1992 book is a collection of interviews with famous guitarists - primarily rock and jazz guitarists from the 60s, 70s and 80s. There are some big names missing, but most are there. There are some interesting insights and anecdotes, and some music history. Sometimes I wished the interviews would get more a little more technical - rather than re-hashing the stars band-hopping history. I would like to know more specifics about how these top players view the neck, how they think and how they learnt, for example. That said, the book does contains a lot of insights and variety. I particularly enjoyed the interviews with Steve Morse and Howard Roberts -- guitarists that I was not previously familiar with. Les Paul is incredible. Actually - there are just too many good bits to itemize them here. A good read, and each chapter stands alone. I find that I re-read parts of this from time to time. Worth buying, for a classic rock/jazz (and possibly blues) oriented guitarist.

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Product Description:
Interviews with 50 of the worldÕs greatest guitarists spanning the past 25 years and collected into one information-packed volume. Based on articles originally published in Guitar Player, Secrets From The Masters features the most influential guitarists of our time - from legends such as Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and B.B. King to Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen and Eric Clapton, and all genres in-between. This book celebrates the guitarists who have forever altered the way we play and think about the guitar. Within these interviews you will find poetry and prophesy, the outrageous and the sublime, plus rare photos, challenging music, groovy gear, groundbreaking techniques and other glimpses into greatness. 8-1/2 inch. x 11 inch..

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City Limits [Paperback] Review

I enjoyed Terry Teachout's book of autobiographical essays "City Limits". There is nothing terribly important in the book, but its tone and pace are leisurely & enjoyable and his stories reveal interesting details about an important cultural critic whose influence is rising each year through his books and articles in "Commentary", "The Wall Street Journal" and other influential conservative journals of opinion. Teachout's writing reminds me of my favorite writer, Joseph Epstein (it is probably no coincidence that you often find their pieces in the same issues of publications). Both writers are extremely culturally fluent with a lot of interesting things to say. Their writing is also very accessable to the average, educated person who is looking to learn more about literature, music, theater, art, and the good life in general.

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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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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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Product Description:
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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Progressive Rock Keyboard: Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series [Paperback] Review

I don't why anyone has'nt written a review for this book yet. Its perfect, and the accompanying CD is so helpful to help learn the rhythms of progressive rock keyboard. I would greatly recommend this book if you are sick of playing yankee doodle or any other book with boring sheet music. Contained in the book is an adequate description of the genre and presents perfect examples that you can learn. I found this book very satisfying and not too hard. I also have the rock keyboard and find that one great as well. So do buy these books.

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Product Description:
From the classic sounds of the '70s to modern progressive stylings, this book/CD provides you with the theory and technique to play and compose in a multitude of prog rock styles. You'll learn how soloing techniques, form, rhythmic and metrical devices, harmony, and counterpoint all come together to make this style of rock the unique and exciting genre it is. Also included is an introduction to classic and contemporary keyboard instruments and sounds, and how they can be used in different combinations to produce authentic-sounding keyboard parts. The accompanying CD features many of the examples covered in the book, as well as six complete progressive rock songs recorded by a real band.

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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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Improvising Blues Piano (w/cd) (Music Sales America) [Paperback] Review

Martan Mann can most definately play piano.The accompanying CD may almost be worth the price to hear him play.However, you're looking for instruction if you're reading this.I don't want to slam his product too hard.I'll just say he doesn't teach well and there's not allot of real meat here for beginners.I've also purchased Andrew D. Gordon's 100 Ultimate Blues Riffs.Riffs in all keys with many many different basslines and virtually zero instruction.Then, finally, I got my hands on something I absolutely love and can recommend wholeheartedly to anyone without a vast musical background who wants to play the blues.Check out the book/cd combos level 1 and 2 by David Bennet Cohen.You won't be dissappointed.I just ordered "Improvising Blues Piano" by Tim Richards and am very excited about it as well.One more you might look into.

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Product Description:
Unlock the mystery of blues improvisation as you develop an understanding of different blues styles and express yourself through your music. Contains scores of exercises designed to get you playing the blues.

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The Tombstone Tourist : Musicians [Paperback] Review

Several years ago, my daughter and I went searching for Jimi Hendricks grave while we had some time to kill in Seattle waiting for a plane.I had discovered the name of the cemetery in a book I had read, but it still took us about an hour poking around before we found the actual grave.We left a couple of coins and a note that just said "Thanks Jimi". The experience was quite incredible.We both walked away feeling we had done something worthwhile.We had given something back to the music, and to the memory of a great musician.I was hooked.Since then I have made a point of looking for the graves of people who have left their mark on our culture.Last year I had two major disappointments.I spent a couple of hours early one Sunday morning searching in vain for the grave of Muddy Waters in a suburban Chicago cemetery.A few weeks ago, I spent another two hours in a cemetery in L.A.looking for Frank Zappa and Roy Orbison without success.Two nights ago Amazon.com delivered me Scott Stanton's "The Tombstone Tourist". Within ten minutes, the book had paid for itself.I discovered where all three were precisely located, and why I was unable to find Frank and Roy.They are both buried in unmarked graves, about twenty five feet apart.The book is very tastefully written. It is obvious that Scott has a great deal of respect for all the artists he has taken considerable effort to find.There are excellent bios and an incredible wealth of information and trivia on each of the hundreds of artists presented.The only error I have found is that Chet Baker died in a fall from a Paris hotel room. Actually it was Amsterdam. Close enough.I have not found a better reference book on popular culture than "The Tombstone Tourist". Those of you who feel that looking for dead celebrities is a little macabre should get the book and go out to find someone whose work you admire. You will find it a tremendously rewarding experience.Don't forget to take flowers, or an appropriate gift to leave at the grave.

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Blues for Dummies [Paperback] Review

Includes a very good music CD (34 min. 27 sec.) (All music, no commentary). CONTENTS: I'm your hoochie coochie man / Muddy Waters -- Juke / Little Walter -- Sweet little angel (live version) / B.B. King -- Killingfloor / Howlin' Wolf -- First time I met the blues / Buddy Guy -- Frosty /Albert Collins -- I pity the fool / Boddy Bland -- Okie dokie stomp /Clarence `Gatemouth' Brown -- Rooster Blues / Lightnin' Slim -- Walkin' theboogie (alternate take) / John Lee Hooker -- I'm wild about you baby /Lightnin' Hopkins -- Let the good times roll / Louis Jordan & hisTympany Five.

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Product Description:
Get your mojo working as you take a musical trip from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago's gritty South Side and points beyond with Blues For Dummies, an insightful, toe-tappin', music lovers' guide to the blues. Popular blues guitarist Lonnie Brooks serves as your tour guide through the life and times of the blues, from the acoustic mystique of Robert Johnson and Son House to the urban blues men and women of today: John Lee Hooker, Robert Cray, B.B. King, Etta James, Koko Taylor, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and, of course, Brooks himself.
Blues For Dummies travels from sad to glad, with stops along the way at heartache and despair, hope and joy, on the road to great music. Get hip to the different styles and eras of the blues; discover what makes the blues so blue; find out "Who's Who" among four generations of blues musicians; and make tracks to the best blues clubs on the planet with this great, easygoing reference. Plus, take a listen to some of the greatest blues recordings of all time (from Muddy Waters and Little Walter to Bobby "Blue" Bland, Buddy Guy, and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown) on the exclusive audio CD that comes with Blues For Dummies.

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Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story [Paperback] Review

Warning!: if people are honest you might hear some things you'd rather not read. In this case however, it does mean that through Ray Charles' own words we hear about his life up till 1978 when the book came out.

His youth was hard, becoming blind around age 7, going to a special school and losing his mom when she was only in her thirties were hard. Music is of course the theme that runs through it all, though I personally would have liked to have read more about the musical side of his life than the two things that make up an important part of the book: heroin and sex.

He seems to have been addicted to both but he has always said that heroin was his own choice and that he wasn't pushed into it by other people. That makes it all very openhearted and in a way bearable. The part where he decided to stop smack is heartbreaking and genuine.

He also talks lightly about his blindness, which is great, you forget most of the time that he couldn't see a thing.

The ghostwriter himself has carefully written that Ray himself went over the pages time and time again so we can be pretty sure that everything in it is true to his heart.

We could have done with some more musical history, but it's a great book to read nonetheless

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Product Description:
Ray Charles (1930-2004) led one of the most extraordinary lives of any popular musician. In Brother Ray, he tells his story in an inimitable and unsparing voice, from the chronicle of his musical development to his heroin addiction to his tangled romantic life.Overcoming poverty, blindness, the loss of his parents, and the pervasive racism of the era, Ray Charles was acclaimed worldwide as a genius by the age of thirty-two. By combining the influences of gospel, jazz, blues, and country music, he invented, almost single-handedly, what became known as soul. And throughout a career spanning more than a half century, Ray Charles remained in complete control of his life and his music, allowing nobody to tell him what he could and couldn't do. As the Chicago Sun-Times put it, Brother Ray is "candid, explicit, sometimes embarrassing, often hilarious, always warm, touching, and deeply human-just like his music."

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Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta [Paperback] Review

Palmer's love of the blues shines through in this exceptional book. He's not interested in showing off his knowledge of the form (although that knowledge is exceptional); he's interested in illuminating for the readerthe roots of a great indigenous art form and how that form developed in the20th century. In that effort, he succeeds masterfully.
A fine earlysection explores how the music that we call the blues was seeded in N.America by African music. That chapter is a mini-history lesson in itself;Palmer shows how the music of slaves from W. Africa was viewed assubversive and dangerous by whites in the new land.
The remainder of thebook is chock full of portraits of the heroes of early blues in theMississippi Delta, from Charley Patton to Son House to Robert Johnson toLittle Walter to Muddy Waters and beyond. Palmer shows how these mendeveloped a music that grew directly out of the soil of the Delta, makingdo with the instruments they had and often living itinerant lives, movingfrom tiny town to tiny town to play dances and juke joints to keep themusic alive.
The book also describes the historic migration ofAfrican-Americans from the Deep South to the industrial cities of theNorth, most importantly, of course, Chicago, where the musicianstransformed the blues again, creating the electrified sounds that exertedsuch a powerful influence on white rock musicians from London to Liverpoolto La Jolla, California.
Palmer has given us a great work with "DeepBlues," one that should be read by students of music and socialhistory alike. It deserves a prominent place on the bookshelf of anyserious lover of music.

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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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Blues People: Negro Music in White America [Paperback] Review

This book is probably the greatest ever written on the early history of black music in America. With rare clarity and glowing intensity, Baraka traces the evolution of black forms such as blues and jazz back to Africa,and presents the reader with genuine insight into the world of the creatorsof these important 20th century art forms. The book is as gripping as anynovel you will ever read, and also crammed with facts and mindbogglinglines of thought. Anybody with even the slightest interest in modern blackmusic needs to read this book, and consider its contents thoroughly.

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Product Description:
"The path the slave took to 'citizenship' is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen's music -- through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel development, jazz... [If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music."
So says Amiri Baraka in the Introduction to Blues People, his classic work on the place of jazz and blues in American social, musical, economic, and cultural history. From the music of African slaves in the United States through the music scene of the 1960's, Baraka traces the influence of what he calls "negro music" on white America -- not only in the context of music and pop culture but also in terms of the values and perspectives passed on through the music. In tracing the music, he brilliantly illuminates the influence of African Americans on American culture and history.

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The Devil's Music: A History Of The Blues [Paperback] Review

Very comprehensive; from Slavery era through the 60s, provides a long list of the men and women who created the blues and the following generations that assimilated and popularized them.Discusses the social, economic and political forces that influenced them as well. Good educational read.Pretty much ends at the Muddy Waters/BB King heyday of the 60s. If you're looking more for the modern blues (the Alberts, Buddy Guy, Clapton, Hendrix, SRV even) then this one is not for you.However, if you want to know about the guys (and gals) from whom the modern-era bluesmen learned their chops, this is your book.

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Product Description:
The Devil's Music is one of the only books to trace the rise and development of the blues both in relation to other forms of black music and in the context of American social history as experienced by African Americans. From its roots in the turn-of-the-century honky-tonks of New Orleans and the barrelhouses and plantations of the Mississippi Delta to modern legends such as John Lee Hooker and B. B. King, the blues comes alive here through accounts by the blues musicians themselves and those who knew them. Throughout this wide-ranging and fascinating book, BBC-TV producer Giles Oakley describes the texture of the life that made the blues possible, and the changing attitudes towards the music. The Devil's Music is a wholehearted and loving examination of one of America's most powerful traditions.

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