Alfred's Pocket Dictionary of Music [Paperback] Review

After searching for the past several years for my own students and teachers who study with me, I can finally state that I've found a music dictionary equal to the original "Pocket-Manual of Musical Terms" edited by Dr. Theodore Baker back in 1947 (published by G.Schirmer).Unfortunately, that same dictionary is still available in an "updated" format.I say 'unfortunately' because the new author (ie editor) decided to delete many of the classic terms for reasons unknown.But thanks to Alfred Publishing, Sandy Feldstein has done a great job of maintaining an excellent balance between content and precise meanings in an easy to understand manner. In fact, this small pocket dictionary has more charts and drawings of notes and key signatures than any other dictionary of the same size.In addition, a wonderful biographical section is included in the last section featuring basic facts on the great composersbothpast and present. You will not regret purchasing thishandy size ( 4 x 5 inches) edition,as I have widely recommended thislittle book to hundreds of teachers and schools.

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Product Description:
Contains thousands of entries covering all eras of music. It is unique in that it includes contemporary terms and composers from the popular genre as well as classical terms and composers. It is organized in a logical sequence for quick and easy reference.

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Guitar: Music History Players [Paperback] Review

"Guitar" comes on like a nice, well-designed coffee-table book, albeit on a rich topic: guitars and guitarists. Immediately, it becomes much more than that.Eric Clapton contributed the forward, and author Richard Chapman, an accomplished musician, offers a brief introduction. He has a heartbreaker of a story, told in around fifty words.As an English teenager living in a village inKent in the '60's he loved the guitar, saved his money, and bought one. His parents disapproved. "When I was 14, all my music and instruments were destroyed and burned by my father (...)" You know you are reading a work of passion and love - and great optimism, for he continues, "but this only gave me a greater determination to succeed."
Chapman surveys the guitar's music, history, and many of its most significant players. There is a gorgeous painting of Segovia, and engravings and pages from medieval manuscripts that show guitars or guitar-like instruments.You read his paragraphs in awe of his ability to tell a lot, briefly. He analyzes the music - pleasingly. You get a little music theory, and I welcomed it. In addition Chapman seems to have a deep store of music-history tidbits. On the roots of slide guitar, we learn that W.C. Handy in around 1903 "passed through a southern railroad station and saw a singer playing slide guitar with a knife, producing what he termed 'the weirdest music I ever saw.' "
The book is divided into Classical, Flamenco, Blues, Country, Folk, Jazz, Rock and Pop of the UK and Europe, Rock and Pop of North America, Latin and World. Within those categories are many subcategories. Lots of great photos. The text is orderly and elegant. Influences and origins are given careful attention. There are color and black and white illustrations - historical documents, appropriate snippets of written music, paintings, and archival material. Famous electric and acoustic guitars - Gibsons, Resonators, Rickenbackers, Stratocasters, Martins, others - are in here. There's an enormous amount of material. The layout and art direction is continuously a pleasure, the captions are consistently informative, and the glossary and index are thorough.
Chapman lets you know at the outset that the vastness of the subject necessitated an enormous amount of culling, and then paring down. He loves the guitar, and can teach it, too - and has put that enthusiasm to great use. It's a first-rate documentary that is scholarly, lively, and greatly satisfying.

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Product Description:
From flamenco to folk, classical to country, and blues to rock-and-roll, Guitar: Music, History, Players is a truly definitive look at an instrument that has captured the imagination of generations. In addition to tracing the guitar's origin from over two thousand years ago to the present day, the author focuses on 300 artists, featuring highlights of their performing careers and analyses of their style and technique along with tablature of their most famous songs.

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Cats of Any Color: Jazz, Black and White [Paperback] Review

Gene Lees strikes me as one of the more level-headed individuals in jazz. Like it or not, the hard-core jazzword is these days filled with elitists, racists (mostly reverse thesedays), and people protecting their "territory."When I see the doings andhear the rantings of the likes of Stanley Crouch and other pretentious writers and "social critics," I am reminded of the character ofMax Mercy from Bernard Malamud's novel (and the movie) The Natural...Mercyisn't interested in baseball and has never played a game, but stirring upcontroversy using baseball as his medium keeps him in the spotlight andmakes him rich.Crouch is much the same way--would any of us have heard ofhim, would he have a tenth of his current income and notoriety were he notclutching the coattails of a currently well-known jazz musician?Lees'discussion of Crouch, of other figures in jazz history, and his inside stories about the jazz world and the psyches within it are like a bucket of cold water to most of what passes for jazz scholarship today.But don't get the impression this is a kiss-and-tell book, or something scandalous.Mr. Lees is actually a rather level headedindividual.A must read for anyone not in any "camp" ordefending any "turf" but who just loves music and musicians and realizes that jazz, like any art, is a mixture and mixing that quickly becomes so intricate it's impossible for any one group to claim they "own" it.Too bad there are only two other reviews of this book on Amazon's page as of this writing.I can see people would rather believe the hypola histories instead.Too bad...

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