Miles: The Autobiography
Do you want to really understand one of the truly great jazz musicians of all time, or is he a hero for you and do you want to preserve that status? If the latter is true, don’t read this book. Miles is himself all through it and you will find here, expressed in his own...
Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker
Here again we get a view of the connection between musical brilliance (or any artistic brilliance, really) and personal dysfunction, drug addiction, and questionable moral character. And if you want to get a look at all the darker corners of a man’s mind and personality ask his ex-wife. Charlie Parker was not an easy man...
From Jazz Funk & Fusion to Acid Jazz: The History of the UK Jazz Dance Scene
Afro Cuban jazz drummer, bandleader who has produced 11 albums and 17 singles, concert player the world over, DJ, music promoter, and journalist Mark Cotgrove (better known as Snowboy) gives us a history of jazz in the United Kingdom and its impact on the UK club scene. Well positioned to do that because he was...
Billie Holiday: Wishing On the Moon
Music critic John Bush once wrote that Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever. It was not an achievement that came easily. Born in 1915 a black woman in a society whose blatant racism is almost unthinkable today, she was abandoned by her father and again by her stepfather. Her mother gave...
Downbeat: The Great Jazz Interviews
Does anything really need to be said about this book other than the title? It’s the great jazz magazine DownBeat, and interviews of – well, everyone! Established in 1934 in Chicago, DownBeat came to be called the “Bible of Jazz.” This collection of interview is in honor of the magazine’s 75th anniversary (2009) and contains...