Hardcover. NY, Oxford University Press, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 336 pages, b&w illustrations. Author Larry Hamberlin guides us through this large but oft-forgotten repertoire of operatic novelties, and brings to life the rich humor and keen social criticism of the era. In the early twentieth-century, when new social forces were undermining the view that our European heritage was intrinsically superior to our native vernacular culture, opera-that great inheritance from our European forebearers-functioned in popular discourse as a signifier for elite culture. Tin Pan Opera shows that these operatic novelty songs availed this connection to a humorous and critical end. Combining traditional, European operatic melodies with the new and American rhythmic verve of ragtime, these songs painted vivid images of immigrant Americans, liberated women, and upwardly striving African Americans, striking emblems of the profound transformations that shook the United States at the beginning of the American century. Clean copy.
Softcover. Evanston IL, Northwestern University Press, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 390 pages. INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR on title page. A swing note is, to the listener of the rhythm, an unexpected note, and it is the spark of life in jazz and its relatives. Whether playing the standards or the most experimental piece, it is how a musician handles these notes--fearlessly or safely--that determines the fate of the performance. Howard Reich's critical writing is similarly unexpected and fearless, and Let Freedom Swing is a collection of the articles from the past three decades that best capture this spirit. Each section of Let Freedom Swing composes a suite, focusing on either a person, place, or scene. Reich gives new life to the standards with his profiles and elegies for such giants as Gershwin, Ellington, and Sinatra. A profile of Louis Armstrong brings out the often angry side of Satchmo but also reveals a more remarkable musician and human being. His open-mindedness makes Reich a particularly astute observer of the experimental and new, from Ornette Coleman to Chicago experimentalist Ken Vandermark. And his observations about street music open our ears to the songs of everyday life. Reich's fearlessness is evident in his writing about daunting subjects, such as the New Orleans music scene after Katrina, the lost legacy of jazz in Panama, and the complicated legacy of "race music" in America. Clean copy.
Softcover. Southern Domestic, 1st, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 328 pages, b&w illustrations. SIGNED BY RIGBY on the title page. follows one young woman's progression from Elton John fan in the Pittsburgh suburbs to Manhattan art student; from punk show habitue to fledgling musician to cult singer-songwriter who caused a sensation with 1996 debut solo album Diary Of A Mod Housewife. Set in a ramshackle twentieth century New York world of homemade clubs and bands, through love affairs, temp jobs and motherhood, GIRL TO CITY describes the screw-ups and charmed moments it took for a girl in the crowd at CBGB to pick up a guitar and sing her truth on stage, creating an identity as an artist back when female musician role models were still rare. Clean copy.
Softcover. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 253 pages. In this work, Ingrid Monson juxtaposes musicians' talk and musical examples to ask how musicians go about "saying something" through music in a way that articulates identity, politics, and race. Clean, bright copy.
Hardcover. NY, Schirmer Books, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 309 pages, b&w photos. Shortly after Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917, they began moving into an uptown Manhattan neighborhood that would become known as Spanish Harlem. By 1930, Afro-Cuban music had gained a firm foothold in the city, setting the stage for the mambo, boogaloo, salsa and Latin-jazz scenes that followed. In this collection of profiles and essays, Max Salazar, perhaps the most eminent Latin-music historian in the United States, tells the story of the music and the musicians who made it happen, including Tito Puente, Machito, Tito Rodriguez, Charlie and Eddie Palmieri, Hector Lavoe and many others. Clean copy.
Hardcover. London, Methuen & Co., 1st, 1928, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, gray boards with a white label on front cover, blue cloth spine, 92 pages, b&w illustrations by Ernest Shepard. . The verses and pictures in this book first appeared in 'Punch' magazine. Edge wear, rubbing, light soiling to boards. Previous owner's inscription on front fly leaf and bookplate inside front cover. Else a clean, tight copy.
Softcover. Kansas City, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1st pbk, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 120 pages, profusely illustrated. The Kansas City Jazz Museum traces the evolution of jazz music in America, from the early 1920s to the present day, focusing on the contributions of such Kansas City-based musicians as Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Lester Young, and other jazz greats. Clean, bright copy.
Hardcover. New York, W.W Norton Co, 1st, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 270 Pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, tight copy with only marginal wear to edges.
Hardcover. US, Taschen, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 560 pages. A compilation of more than 750 remarkable album covers, from legendary to rare record releases. Artists as varied as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Sex Pistols, Pink Floyd, The Cure, Iron Maiden, and Sonic Youth are gathered together in celebration of the cover art that defined their albums and their cult status. Each cover is accompanied by a fact sheet listing the art director, photographer or illustrator, year, label, and more, while nearly 250 records that marked particular turning points for a band, an artist, or the music genre, are highlighted with short descriptions. Large heavy volume. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap.
Hardcover. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1st, 1954, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 324 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Music scores throughout. Clean, tight copy. Illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen. Dust jacket chipped and chunk missing from spine.
Hardcover. NY, Dey St., 1st, 2021, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 376 pages, b&w illustrations. This book is divided into five main parts, with a total of 24 chapters. In the Introduction, Grohl describes an epiphany he had when he realized how he wanted to age: "I would celebrate the ensuing years by embracing the toll they'd take on me." He also explains that his memory is triggered by sound, and his recollections of the events in his life are mostly centered around songs, albums, and bands that he was apart of. Clean, like-new copy.
Hardcover. Chicago, Chicago Review Press, 1st, 2017, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in bright, unclipped dust jacket. Maximum Volume offers a glimpse into the mind, the music, and the man behind the sound of the Beatles. The first book of two, Maximum Volume traces Martin's early years as a scratch pianist and his groundbreaking work as the head of Parlophone Records. It dramatically narrates the story of Martin's unlikely discovery of the Beatles and his painstaking efforts to prepare their newfangled sound for the British music marketplace. As the story unfolds, Martin and the band craft numerous number-one hits, progressing toward the landmark album Rubber Soul--all of which bear Martin's unmistakable musical signature.
Softcover. Dublin IR, The Lilliput Press, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 266 pages, b&w illustrations. INSCRIBED BY SANDS on the front fly leaf. 'With a Fenian fiddle in one ear and an Orange drum in the other', singer Tommy Sands was reared in the foothills of the Mourne mountains, where he still lives. As a child, he was immersed in folk music - his father played the fiddle, his mother the accordion. The kitchen was where Protestant and Catholic farmers alike would gather for songs and storytelling at the end of a day's harvesting. During the sixties and seventies Tommy was chief songwriter for The Sands Family, who played wherever they were welcome, from local wakes and weddings to New York's Carnegie Hall; his songs have been recorded by Joan Baez, Dolores Keane, Dick Gaughan and The Dubliners. He tells of his family's traditional way of life; of the turbulent days of the civil rights movement; The Bothy Band brawling in Brittany; encounters with Alan Stivell, Mary O'Hara and Pete Seeger; Ian Paisley on his radio show Country Ceili; and a 'defining moment' during the Good Friday Agreement talks, when he organized an impromptu performance with children and Lambeg drummers. The Songman is a memoir replete with warmth and wit.
Hardcover. London, Cassell and Company, 2nd pr., 1950, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn and chipped dust jacket. 182 pages B/w photographs, drawings and diagrams illustrate the text: "3 half-tone and 82 other illustrations." First part of the book originally published in 1923 as a Work Handbook; this edition adds a second part giving detailed instruction for making a 'cello. Original publisher's cloth binding in sand color with black lettering at spine.
Softcover. Jackson MS, University Press of Mississippi , 1st, 2018, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 235 pages. Throughout his life, Louis Armstrong tried to explain how singing with a barbershop quartet on the streets of New Orleans was foundational to his musicianship. Until now, there has been no in-depth inquiry into what he meant when he said, "I figure singing and playing is the same," or, "Singing was more into my blood than the trumpet." Creating the Jazz Solo: Louis Armstrong and Barbershop Harmony shows that Armstrong understood exactly the relationship between what he sang and what he played, and that he meant these comments to be taken literally: he was singing through his horn. Clean copy, like new.
Hardcover. NY, St. Martin's Press, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. From the dj: "Is jazz dead? In these pages Tom Piazza takes aim at those who argue that it is... Blues Up and Down chronicles two decades of upheaval in the jazz world - and presents a persuasive argument for the music's continuing role in our culture." Among the chapters are: McCoy Tyner's Present Tense; Mary Lou Williams Keeps the Faith; Black and Tan Fantasy; Portrait of Wynton Marsalis; Keepers of the Flame; The Little Record Labels That Could; How Two Pianists Remade a Tradition; Jazz Piano's Heavyweight Champ; etc. SIGNED BY PIAZZA on the title page.
Softcover. Boston, Back Bay Books, 1st, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 246 pages, b&w illustrations. Documents the history of swing music and dancing, covering the important artists, style and fashion, albums, and dance moves of swing. A bright, clean copy that has a light smoker's odor.
Softcover. Wochester MA, Simplex Player Action Company, reprint, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover booklet, undated, but appears to be a reprint from about 1940. Instructions for a device that used to help tune and repair pianos. 40 pages, b&w illustrations. Light wear to wrapper otherwise clean.
Hardcover. New York, Ktav Pub Inc, 1st, 1982, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 226 pages, INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR on title page, with photographs throughout. Minor dust jacket edge wear, otherwise, very clean and tight.
Hardcover. London, Robert Hale, 1st UK, 1986, Hardcover, 254 pages, in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Biography of the nineteenth century composer, Franz Schubert (1797-1828). The author "corrects the legend that Schubert was a penniless, myopic roly-poly. This sympathetic and musically astute biography pays tribute to Schubert's raw talent and shows him to have been a composer of outstanding brilliance".
NY, RCA Victor, 1949, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Two Records/4 Sides, Youth Series Y-345, narrated by Stering Holloway. Records have moderate wear. Features the music and story from the Disney animated production "Make Mine Music!". Inside a folding album with illustrations from the story on inside covers. Mild soil to outer covers.
Softcover. NY, Algonquin Books, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 289 pages illustrated in color and b&w. More than 300 illustrations: photos, record covers, posters, setlists, postcards, and letters. Clean copy.
Softcover. Camden NJ, RCA Records, 1st, circa 1939, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 44 pages staple bound wraps. 9 1/4 tall x 6 3/4 ". Edited by John Reid. Illustrated with B&W photos. Lists by musicians and bands with descriptions and reviews of specific records. Lists of personel and recording dates. A bit of wear and soiling to cover. Panassie was an important writer about Jazz of the 1930's and he gives interesting reviews of the music of the great of the period who mostly recorded with RCA.
Hardcover. Guilford CT, Applause, 1st, 2021, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 200 pages, b&w illustrations. Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and . . . Dorothy Fields. These are the giants of the golden age of musical theater. Although she may not be as well known as her male counterparts, Dorothy Fields was America's most brilliant and successful female lyricist, who for five decades kept up with the greats. As the only woman among the boys' club of popular song, Fields was welcomed by her fellow male artists, who considered her as both an equal and a beloved colleague. Working with thirteen different composers, Fields wrote the lyrics and/or librettos for unforgettable masterpieces, such as Annie Get Your Gun, Redhead, and Sweet Charity. Her more than four hundred songs include the standards "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Pick Yourself Up," and "The Way You Look Tonight," among other classic tunes.
Softcover. San Francisco, Miller Freeman Books, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 263 pages, b&w illustrations. This story of a musician hailed as a genius and dismissed as a madman will appeal to anyone intrigued by the fine line between creative inspiration and insanity. the author looks deep inside the life and music of this talented but tormented bass player who revolutionized his instrument and became one of the most potent forces in modern music. "Like his heroes Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, Jaco didn't make it to age 40. But by the time he died at 35, the music world was indebted to him. Jaco had reinvented the role of the electric bass. Includes is the CD, "Jaco Pastorius: The Birthday Concert" in a pocket in the back of the book and is in excellent condition.
Hardcover. NY, Gotham Books, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 455 pages, b&w photos. The definitive biography of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, with fascinating findings on his life as a Civil Rights activist, an entrepreneur, and the most innovative musician of our time. Playing 350 shows a year at his peak, with more than forty Billboard hits, James Brown was a dazzling showman who transformed American music. His life offstage was just as vibrant, and until now no biographer has delivered a complete profile. The One draws on interviews with more than 100 people who knew Brown personally or played with him professionally. Using these sources, award-winning writer RJ Smith draws a portrait of a man whose twisted and amazing life helps us to understand the music he made. The One delves deeply into the story of a man who was raised in abject-almost medieval-poverty in the segregated South but grew up to earn (and lose) several fortunes. Covering everything from Brown's unconventional childhood (his aunt ran a bordello), to his role in the Black Power movement, which used "Say It Loud (I'm Black and Proud)" as its anthem, to his high-profile friendships, to his complicated family life, Smith's meticulous research and sparkling prose blend biography with a cultural history of a pivotal era. Clean, bright copy.
Softcover. Tubingen GR, Advance Music, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 98 pages plus publisher's ads. This book/CD set addresses the development of improvisation in all its forms, individual and collective, textural and structural, and is designed to open up the mind to all the players in any jazz situation. 11 recordings on the CD. Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, W.W. Norton & Company, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 430 pages. During America's Swing Era, no musician was more successful or controversial than Artie Shaw: the charismatic and opinionated clarinetist-bandleader whose dozens of hits became anthems for "the greatest generation." But some of his most beautiful recordings were not issued until decades after he'd left the scene. He broke racial barriers by hiring African-American musicians. His frequent "retirements" earned him a reputation as the Hamlet of jazz. And he quit playing for good at the height of his powers. The handsome Shaw had seven wives (including Lana Turner and Ava Gardner). Inveterate reader and author of three books, he befriended the best-known writers of his time. Tom Nolan, who interviewed Shaw between 1990 and his death in 2004 and spoke with one hundred of his colleagues and contemporaries, captures Shaw and his era with candour and sympathy, bringing the master to vivid life and restoring him to his rightful place in jazz history. Clean, bright copy.
 "Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction by: Monso, Ingrid")
 "Kansas City--And All That's Jazzby: Kansas City Jazz Museum")
 "Everybody's Doin' It: Sex, Music and Dance in New York, 1840-1917by: Cockrell, Dale")
 "Rock Coversby: Busch, Robbie")
 "Creating the Jazz Solo: Louis Armstrong and Barbershop Harmony by: Vic Hobson")
 "Jews on Tin Pan Alley: The Jewish Contribution to American Popular Music, 1830-1940 (SIGNED COPY)by: Kanter, Kenneth Aaron")
 "Schubertby: Marek, George R.")
 "Jascha Heifetzby: Weschler-Vered, Artur")