music

Hardcover. Naperville IL, Sourcebooks MediaFusion, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. 502 pages, b&w illustrations. For three decades after World War I, Harlem was the site of burgeoning racial and cultural awareness and ambitions among African Americans. In the opening section of this book, Wintz provides the historical context for what became known as the Harlem Renaissance. In separate sections devoted to poetry, music, politics, art, and the phenomenon of the New Negro, contributors profile many of the era's major figures, including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Josephine Baker, W. E. B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, A. Phillip Randolph, and Marcus Garvey. The essays place the Harlem Renaissance in the broader context of an awakening of black culture throughout the U.S. The book contains references to the accompanying CD, which offers 60 minutes of music, poetry, interviews, performances, and speeches, giving voice to the vibrant life of Harlem. Photographs, drawings, book covers, and posters add to the richness of this collection. A fabulous resource on the Harlem Renaissance.

Hardcover. Boston, Northeastern University Press, 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 426 pages, b&w photographs. Bright, clean copy. This engaging biography of Harold Arlen charts the course of his brilliant career, from band leader in his native Buffalo, New York, to songwriter and vocalist in vaudeville, to composer of Broadway musicals and revues at Harlem's Cotton Club, to writer of the everlasting music in The Wizard of Oz and other films. Drawing on a treasure trove of family documents and memorabilia, Edward Jablonski vividly describes Arlen's life, including his loving but troubled marriage to Anya, the strained relationship with his father and brother, his alcoholism and illnesses, and his friendship with Marlene Dietrich. Populated with such greats as Johnny Mercer, George and Ira Gershwin, E. Y. Harburg, Bert Lahr, and Judy Garland, the book also captures the spirit of Arlen's times and conveys a sense of the inner workings of the music business.

Hardcover. NY, STEWART TABORI CHANG, 1ST, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 378 pages. Here is a musical history told in legends, facts, and rumors every bit as colorful as the images that illustrate the book. The story is filled with characters such as O.V. Wright, a singer deemed "too ugly to tour"; Frnakie Lymon, who received a hot dog as full payment for some of the greatest R&B songs of all time; LaVern Baker, a.k.a. "Little Miss Sharecropper"; Bille Holiday shooting dice with the boys on the bus; Solomon Burke, R&B immortal and Doctor of Mortuary Sciences; soul ghoul Screamin' Jay Hawkins locked in his coffin by the Drifters; and many otehr talented and unique entertainers. Illustrated with more than 400 original photographs, publicity shots, posters, programs, advertisements, program covers, magazine covers, album covers and sleeves, sheet music, and record labels in full color, this is a story of hot music and high style, of people who made history by being themselves and made the world a richer, wilder and definitely cooler place for the rest of us.

Hardcover. NY, Harper & Brothers, 2nd Ed., 1945, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, black cloth covers with red and gilt stamping, 231 pages. Adolf Hitler was a great fan of Wagner's music and became very close to Winifred Wagner, Richard Wagner's granddaughter (there were even rumors that they would marry). Hitler also befriended her children and treated them as his own. In 1940, Verena Wagner (Winifred's youngest daughter) and Hitler were also rumored to be romantically linked. Rumors the author debunks in her book. Clean copy.

Softcover. New York, Pocket Books, First Edition, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 413 pages. Softcover with black, white & red graphic illustrations throughout. Full color illustrations to covers. Clean, bright copy, unmarked.

Hardcover. Germany, Steidl, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 262 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. Very clean, unmarked copy still in publishers shrink-wrap. Photographs throughout. Tight copy. The High and Lonesome Sound combines Cohen's vintage photos, film and musical recordings as well as an anecdotal text into a multimedia tribute to this underappreciated legend of American music whose every performance was, in Cohen's words, "not just a rendition of music, but a test of something to be overcome."

Hardcover. Germany, Steidl, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 262 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. Very clean, unmarked copy still in publishers shrink-wrap. Photographs throughout. Tight copy. The High and Lonesome Sound combines Cohen's vintage photos, film and musical recordings as well as an anecdotal text into a multimedia tribute to this underappreciated legend of American music whose every performance was, in Cohen's words, "not just a rendition of music, but a test of something to be overcome."

Hardcover. Rochester, Goodenough, 1st, 1931, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 506 pages. INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR ON TITLE PAGE. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. New York, HarperCollins, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. SIGNED by RASCHKA. Raschka's and Radunsky's simpatico styles are at long last paired in this "doggy allegory" told in a hip-hop beat. Born into a litter of 16, the scruffy protagonist is the pup not chosen--the "saddest and the baddest." His solitude, however, facilitates his sensitivity to the sounds that permeate his urban environment, and while the "clatter makes him gladder," ultimately it's the strains of opera that motivate him to "bark it like Brunhilda." Raschka's musicality undergirds his street-savvy lingo, making the narrative fresh and lyrical. The font becomes bigger and bolder to indicate emphasis, a technique that is particularly helpful when the text spirals around the pages. "I'm the zoom-est and the boom-est, spread no gloom-est, say no doom-est. I'm the top-est, never stop-est, Boston Pop-est, be be bop-est. I jazzle dazzle like it as the Hip Hop Dog." Radunsky's caricatures of the moves of a canine version of Snoop Dogg manage to be convincing, poignant, and funny--no small feat. Loose lines, brushwork that allows the textured background to show through, and occasional bits of collage combine to create a gritty cityscape peopled with quirky personalities. This story of a neglected orphan who sings and struts his way to happiness will gladden the hearts of readers young and old.

Hardcover. New York, Thames and Hudson, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 288 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Minor soiling to front dust jacket cover. A very clean, unmarked copy with only minor edgewear to dust jacket. Hipgnosis created some of the most innovative and surreal cover art of the 1960s, 70s, and early 80s for the biggest names of the era-Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Wings, Yes, Genesis, 10cc, Peter Gabriel, Bad Company, Syd Barrett, and Black Sabbath, to name just a few. The sublime prism cover for Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon continues to be one of the most pervasive images in all popular culture. Hipgnosis's highly conceptual approach and graphic appeal earned them five Grammy nominations for cover design, and they profoundly influenced not only the history of music, but also all other creative fields from advertising to fashion.

Hardcover. London, Thames & Hudson, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. The complete catalogue of design collective Hipgnosis, showcasing groundbreaking cover art created for iconic rock "n" roll giants, including the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd. 320 pages, 500 color illustrations. Hardcover.

Hardcover. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1st, 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards. The 1960s saw a revolution in fashion that was born, like most things new and hip in that era, of youth rebellion in the streets. For the first time, designers didn't dictate the trends. Instead, the latest looks trickled up into the top fashion houses (Halston and Yves Saint Laurent among them), by way of bohemian boutiques and avant-garde labels with names like Granny Takes a Trip and Cosmic Couture, and musicians like the Beatles, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Defying easy definition but becoming an international phenomenon all the same, hippie fashion twisted and turned from trippy to retro and crafty to ethnic. The accompanying idea that one can express a personal style with clothing went against everything about the previous generation's notion of matching suits or ladylike ensembles dictated by social class or profession. Sumptuous photography, dynamic design, and far-out images from the era make Hippie Chic a must-have book that goes past peace signs and patchouli to unearth how hippies forever changed the way fashion functions. Still in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Softcover. NY, Abrams, 1st, 2025, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, This handsome volume presents 25 favorite Al Hirschfeld portraits drawn from Stephen Sondheim's musicals. The art prints in this oversize poster book can be easily removed and framed, making it an ideal gift for Sondheim fans. This first volume in a series of deluxe Hirschfeld poster books contains art drawn from life before the opening night of each of Sondheim's productions. On the reverse side are rare, ancillary images from the archives, as well as an introduction by Bernadette Peters, an essay by Ben Brantley, and text by David Leopold, Hirschfeld's archivist and creative director of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation. Hirschfeld's images capture the essence of the performances even better than the photographs of the shows. All of Sondheim's best-known plays are included--West Side Story, Follies, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, and Sunday in the Park with George. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Charles S. Nutter, 1st, 1892, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 208 pages. Black & white illustrations. Cloth covers show light rubbing at corners and edges. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Cambridge, W. Heffer & Sons, Revised, 1928, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 94 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. A few minor margin marks in pencil. Dark blue cover boards.

Softcover. New York, Ballentine Books, 1st, 1985, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 235 pages. Top right corner edge wear with small page corner curling. Small chip missing from colored paper on top spine. Clean, tight copy featuring the 50's to the 80's of the TV show, American Bandstand. Includes photos.

Hardcover. Berkeley, Calif., Ten Speed Press, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, 192 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Extensive b&w photographs throughout. Light soiling to dust jacket interior. Otherwise clean, tight copy. As a young photographer working in Los Angeles in the 1970s and 1980s, George Rose had his shutter finger on the pulse of the Hollywood scene, documenting film premieres and award ceremonies, arena concerts and Sunset Strip nightclubs. From Oscar-winning actors and filmmakers to punk rockers and porn stars, this stylish book presents visual highlights from the New Hollywood renaissance, a golden era in movies, music, and scene-making. Reflecting the excess, drama, or humor in each subject, Rose's rich black-and-white photos capture famous faces and personalities of the day, whether Jack Nicholson or Debbie Harry, Truman Capote or Little Richard. "Blessed with an uncanny instinct for being in the right place at the right time, Rose was always where the action was, as if you'd transplanted Weegee from the 1940s-era Bowery to the 1980s-era Sunset Strip. As this gallery of photos attests, whether Rose was in a tiny room at the Chateau Marmont or at the edge of the stage at a sold-out show at the Forum, he could always capture a revealing or unguarded moment." --Patrick Goldstein, from the foreword

Hardcover. NY, Harper, 1st, 2022, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 741 pages. From the archives of the American Film Institute comes a unique picture of what it was like to work in Hollywood from its beginnings to its present day. Gleaned from nearly three thousand interviews, involving four hundred voices from the industry, Hollywood: The Oral History, lets a reader listen in on candid remarks from the biggest names in front of the camera-Bette Davis, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Harold Lloyd-to the biggest behind it-Frank Capra, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Jordan Peele, as well as the lesser known individuals that shaped what was heard and seen on screen: musicians, costumers, art directors, cinematographers, writers, sound men, editors, make-up artists, and even script timers, messengers, and publicists. The result is like a conversation among the gods and goddesses of film: lively, funny, insightful, historically accurate and, for the first time, authentically honest in its portrait of Hollywood. Its the insiders story.Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Vergennes, VT, Jeptha Shedd & Co., unk, 1813, Book: Fair, Dust Jacket: None, 216 pages. Hardcover. All leather with areas worn to wood board. Heavy foxing throughout. Wright & Sibley, Printers. Heavy soiling to edges.

Softcover. London, National Portrait Gallery, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 5 1/4 X 6 1/4", 170 photos, 20 in color.This work celebrates the extraordinary portraits created by one of the great master photographers of the 20th century. In a style that personifies glamour and high fashion, Horst P. Horst's photographs conduct the viewer into a world of painters, writers, musicians, designers and royalty. In his 60-year career, much of it working for American, British and French "Vogue" and its sister publication "House and Garden", Horst's distinguished portfolio of luminaries included Noel Coward, Coco Chanel, Marlene Dietrich, Steve McQueen, Salvador Dali and Katharine Hepburn. This book showcases Horst's talents as a portrait photographer and provides a resource for those studying his work.

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.

Hardcover. London, Harvill Press, 1st, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a translucent dust jacket, 165 pages. Illustrated with Steve Pyke's b&w photographs. SIGNED BY BOTH O'GRADY AND PYKE on the title page. Stranded in a dismal flat in England, the protagonist remembers his happy childhood in Ireland, the rough living and working conditions in England, and his only love. The language is quite simple and often Hiberno Irish, but deeply imaginative and so lyrical, that the line between prose and poetry gets blurred. The beautiful black/white pictures added to this book, and the author's ability to portray Irish music help to give an insight into Irish culture. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Guilford CT, Lyons Press, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. Burned out by working the baseball beat for years, in the summer of 1922 Damon Runyon was looking for a new sport to cover for The New York American as a change of pace. Having pilloried golf just a few years before, he went to Saratoga that August to sample horse racing and found that "There, right in front of him, were so many of the characters he so loved from his time covering the comings and goings of the Manhattan night crowd." This was just the tonic Runyon needed to emerge from his malaise. Runyon didn't just cover the great races and which horse won: he would get to the track days before and roam along the backstretch, speaking with the trainers, the gamblers, the rich owners, and the wise guys, many of which became model characters in his fiction and in the musical Guys and Dolls. This book collects the best of Runyon's horse racing columns to 1936, when he moved on to other beats. 391 pages, b&w illustrations. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Gallery Books, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 400 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. A very clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket edges. Iconic music and film legend Grace Jones gives an in-depth account of her stellar career, professional and personal life, and the signature look that catapulted her into the stardom stratosphere.