Music History

Hardcover. San Diego, Thunder Bay Press , 1st, 2018, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 224 pages. From singer-songwriters like Billy Joel and the Bee Gees to folk artists like John Denver and James Taylor to the rock legends Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin, you won't find a more complete list of albums that defines the '70s music scene. Each listing features the full-color, original sleeve artwork, and is packed with information about the musician lineup, track listings, and number-one singles that resulted. A celebration of this funky era. Clean, bright copy.

Softcover. New York , Princeton Architectural Press, 2nd printing, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Illustrated throughout in color. Light edgewear to wrappers, else a clean, tight copy. 45 RPM: A Visual History of the Seven-Inch Record celebrates a often overlooked, yet vital form of art, that of the seven inch sleeve. Not only are there more than 200 pictures display in this book, but an excellent history detailing the rise and fall of this format. There are basically five main chapters starting with the 50's all the way to the 90's. Each chapter is preceded by a written piece authored by different individuals, ranging from a record collector, renown sleeve artists, a music journalist and a music critic. Each provides thoughful, authorative, and interesting insights into the period of time they are introducing. The real meat is the pictures, and there are a lot of them.

Softcover. London, Black Dog Publishing, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 190 pages, pictorial wrappers. Now the world's foremost blues, rockabilly, soul and rock 'n' roll reissue label, Ace Records has been responsible for unearthing lost classics and neglected pioneers for over three decades, and provided some of the finest and most influential records of the post-war era. Illustrated with many unseen archive photographs dating back to the 1920s, rare artwork and newspaper clippings. Written by established music journalist and author David Stubbs.

Hardcover. Privately Printed, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 283 pages. INSCRIBED By AUTHOR on title page. Illustrated throughout in b&w. Dust jacket spine slightly faded, else a clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. CD inside rear cover. Covers the 40 year production span of the mechanical organs that provided music in the last pert of the 19th century and first 30 years of the 20th.

Hardcover. Bloomington, IN, Indiana University Press, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 272 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. A very clean, unmarked copy with only minor edgewear. A tight copy. Christopher Felver has collected over 240 photographs from tours and encounters with musicians over the past 25 years. From Doc Watson to John Cage and Mavis Staples to Sonny Rollins, this collection celebrates the tapestry and diversity of musical styles that make up the American sonic landscape.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR on the front fly leaf. "During its first two centuries, opera was dominated by sopranos. There were male sopranos, or castrati, whose supercharged voices (female vocal cords powered by male lungs) were capable of feats of vocalism that are hard to imagine today. And there were female sopranos, or prime donne, whose long battle for social acceptance and top billing was crowned in the early nineteenth century when the castrati disappeared from the opera stage and left them supreme.", "Whether they were male or female, these singers wre amazing vertuosi, perhaps the greatest singers there have ever been - "angels." Unfortunately, some of them (and often the most famous) were also capable of behaving extremely badly, both on and off stage - "monsters." This book tells their colorful stories." Clean copy.

Hardcover. Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, A fully illustrated, stylish look back at the story behind a Canadian design icon. With 250 illustrations, including previously unpublished drawings, rare film stills, confidential memorandums, and original photography,The Art of Clairtone is a candid and in-depth look at the company's skyrocketing success and sensational collapse.

Softcover. Santa Fe Springs CA, Hathaway and Bowers, 1st, 1970-71, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Nine softcover catalogs from the foremost dealer in antique music makers: Organs, pianinos, automatic harps, music boxes, etc. Catalogues No. 9 through 17, 1969-1971. All with b&w illustrations. Pages vary, 60-100. From a museum library with light stamping, small stickers on covers. Otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, Canongate , 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dustjacket, 694 pages. Destined to become a classic on the subject alongside Legs McNeil's Please Kill Me , Babylon's Burning is a groundbreaking, definitive account of punk rock, one of the most influential and lasting music movements in history--a movement that ironically was built on self-annihilation. Acclaimed critic Clinton Heylin seamlessly weaves together the lives of disparate artists who had in common not the music (there was no distribution) but the pictures, words, and fashions depicted in magazines like Creem and NME . It was a sound that eschewed conventional lyrics, promoted a gutteral musicality but yet contained a keen pop sensibility. Whether exploring the work of early progenitors like Suicide, The New York Dolls, and Patti Smith or charting the progress of the bands who legitimately took up the mantle in the eighties and nineties, Clinton Heylin brings to life the strands of a global artform. From the Sex Pistols's clarion call of a record, "Never Mind the Bollocks," to Kurt Cobain's songs of an alienated youth, Babylon's Burning is the brilliant, exhaustively researched story that once and for all defines what Punk is and is not.

Softcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 128 pages, softcover. This striking collection of photographs features nearly every important figure in the world of rock & roll, from Elvis to Eric Clapton, the Beatles to Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix to John Coltrane. The more than fifty photographers who contribute to the volume are among the most talented in their field, including Lee Friedlander, Lynn Goldsmith, Bob Gruen, Mick Rock, and many more. Like new in publishers shrink-wrap.

Hardcover. New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 1st, 1960, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, 177 pages. Hardcover. Illustrated with black & white photographs. Price clipped dust jacket with wear along edges - now protected with clear plastic cover. Clean, tight copy. Report on the men and women who lived in the South and created work songs, spirituals, blues, and jazz.

Softcover. Berkeley CA, University of California Press, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 232 pages. "Professor DeNora's achievement in placing Beethoven, and the reception of Beethoven's music, in social context is all the more impressive because it goes so much against the grain of conventional habits of thought. In illuminating how changing social institutions created opportunities for Beethoven to gain contemporary and posthumous recognition, and, in so doing, created new forms for thinking and talking about musical achievement-the author at once provides fresh insights into the institutional origins of 'classical' music and offers an exemplary contribution to the sociological study of the arts." Clean copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Bulfinch Press, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 470 pages, illustrated with over 500 color and b&w images including posters, programs, maps and other archival material. Like new in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Softcover. San Francisco, Backbeat Books, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 271 pages, b&w illustrations. Chasin' That Devil Music has the feel of a documentary about the making of a thrilling motion picture. The main focus is on the Delta blues singers of the early 20th century--artists such as Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, Son House, and Blind Lemon Jefferson who've achieved near-mythic status in blues circles. In addition, many of the articles gathered in this splendidly illustrated volume capture the process and people involved in tracking long-lost recordings nearly as elusive as the performers who made them. Here, for example, is the story of author/blues scholar Gayle Dean Wardlow's three-year hunt for the death certificate of Robert Johnson, the celebrated Mississippi bluesman and a figure whose legend has grown greater with each year since his much-debated death in 1938. The text here is nearly as raw in spots as the music that sparked it, but, as with those sounds (which can be heard on a terrific CD sampler included with the book), enthusiasts will find Chasin' That Devil Music riveting. Clean, bright copy.

Softcover. Lanham MD, Scarecrow Press, reprint, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 203 pages. Using over 90 original interviews, as well as his extensive research in a variety of New Orleans' archives, Dr. Kennedy deftly explores the role public school teachers had in the formative years of jazz, as well as the influence they continue to have on the musical life of one of America's foremost musical cities. As jazz and music mentors, these teachers employed creativity, innovation, and dedication in propelling some of the world's finest musicians forward into brilliant careers. Chord Changes on the Chalkboard includes a foreword by jazz legend Ellis Marsalis, Jr. and is a must for jazz fans and historians, music libraries, and for collections supporting the study of popular culture and African-American history. Bright, clean copy.

Softcover. Chicago's Books Press, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 200 pages, b&w illustrations. CD included. An interesting behind-the-scenes look at the golden age of Midwest radio. This book is a must read if you grew up in the late 1950's and 1960's listening to WLS radio in Chicago. Clark Weber takes us along with him as he starts his radio career in a little daytime station and then progresses to the "Big 89". He chronicles the rise of WLS into a 38 state "Blowtorch" during the 25+ years that the station ruled the midwest airways as THE 'Top 40' radio station. You will hear stories of the 'jocks' that worked with him, how fun it was working the big 'hops' around Chicago and the midwest, his understanding wife, and his lone solo airplane flight that almost ended the fun for him. Clean copy.

Softcover. New York, Metro Books, 1st, 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 272 page, illustrated throughout in color and b&w. Light shelf-wear to wrappers, else a clean, tight copy.

Softcover. Advance Music, 1st, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 534 pages. The understanding of the musical techniques of composition cannot be reduced to a handbook of simplified rules. Music is complex and ever changing. It is the purpose of this book to trace the path of musical growth from the late Romantic period to the serial techniques of the contemporary composer. Through the detailed analysis of the musical characteristics that dominate a specific style of writing, a graduated plan is organized and presented here in the form of explanations and exercises. A new analytical method substitutes for the diatonic figured bass and makes exercises and the analysis of non-diatonic literature more manageable. The explanations describing each technique are thorough. They are designed to help the teacher and the student see the many extenuating circumstances that affect a particular analytical decision. More important than a dogmatic decision on a particular key center or a root tone, for example, is the understanding of why such an underdeterminate condition may exist. Minor wear to covers, clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Rodale Books , 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Robert Hilburn's storied career as a rock critic has allowed him a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of some of the most iconic figures of our time. He was the only music critic to visit Folsom Prison with Johnny Cash. He met John Lennon during his lost weekend period in Los Angeles and they became friends. Bob Dylan granted him his only interviews during his "born-again" period and the occasion of his 50th birthday. Michael Jackson invited Hilburn to watch cartoons with him in his bedroom. When Springsteen took to playing only old hits, Hilburn scolded him for turning his legendary concerts into oldies revues, and Springsteen changed his set list. In this totally unique account of the symbiotic relationship between critic and musical artist, Hilburn reflects on the ways in which he has changed and been changed by the subjects he's covered; Bono weighs in with an introduction about how Hilburn's criticism influenced and altered his own development as a musician.

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. London/NY, Collins Living, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 271 pages, fully illustrated with color reproductions of photographs. Features articles and cover art from October 1969 through December 1987 issues. Fine in original pictorial paper-covered boards and fine pictorial dust jacket.

Hardcover. Columbia MO, University of Missouri, 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 216 pages. This unique reference book is a compendium of makers and manufacturers of every variety of musical instrument made in the United States circa 1981. It provides names and addresses of instrument makers indexed alphabetically. Each entry gives all known information on the total and annual number of instruments the maker has produced, the number of workers in the shop, the year the individual or firm began manufacturing instruments, whether the instruments are available on demand or made to order, and whether a brochure is available from the maker. Complete cross-references are provided for companies known by more than one name, for partnerships, and for parent and subsidiary firms. Instruments are also indexed, and makers are listed by state for the convenience of the reader. Lists of schools of instrument making and relevant organizations and publications are included as appendixes. An invaluable source of information for historians and for the rapidly growing number of collectors of musical instruments, who will be able to use the data gathered here in appraising instruments and tracing their history.

Hardcover. NY, Wynwood Press, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 256 pages, b&w photos. In a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Rozsa was both a classical composer and extremely successful Hollywood film composer. Hence the title. He scored such films as Ben Hur, El Cid and Lust for Life and many others.

Hardcover. NY, Oxford University Press, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 308 pages, b&w illustrations. Burt Korall is widely recognized as the most authoritative writer on jazz drumming. His first book Drummin' Men--The Heartbeat of Jazz: The Swing Era is considered a classic. It was praised by Nat Hentoff as "a book that illuminates not only the pantheon of jazz drummers in classic jazz, but makes clear the very essence of the jazz spirit." Now, in this exciting sequel, Korall offers a richly informative history of drumming in the Bebop era.Bebop--hard driving, discordant, melodically unconventional--introduced new sounds and innovative rhythms that changed the face of jazz. Korall looks at this music through the eyes of the musicians themselves, covering a whole range of important jazz drummers, but focusing upon the most original and significant--principally Kenny Clarke, Max Roach, and Art Blakey. Korall provides a knowledgeable background about the history of bebop--and the unfortunate and almost universal heroin addiction that swept through the jazz world in the wake of Charlie Parker's habit. The book contains Korall's own memoir of nearly 50 years in the jazz world, linked by his narrative of the careers of these drummers and their place in the bebop jazz scene. But the most remarkable aspect of the book is the oral history that weaves together the stories of the drummers themselves as well as their friends and contemporaries. Clean copy.