This Jazz Man

Book Description

In this toe-tapping jazz tribute, the traditional "This Old Man" gets a swinging makeover, and some of the era's best musicians take center stage. The tuneful text and vibrant illustrations bop, slide, and shimmy across the page as Satchmo plays one, Bojangles plays two . . . right on down the line to Charles Mingus, who plays nine, plucking strings that sound "divine."

Easy on the ear and the eye, this playful introduction to nine jazz giants will teach children to count--and will give them every reason to get up and dance!

Includes a brief biography of each musician.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Just Needs A Musical CD !!!!.......2007-04-23

I love this book! My son is 20 months and loves this book the rhythm of the words, the numbers, the clapping the sounds of the instruments. What would be excellent if there was an auditory accompaniment to the book. A taping of someone reading the book who can demonstrate the sounds or even better a taping that included musical instruments playing.
I know a lot of people would LOVE to hear it as well and it would be an excellent teaching tool. Please forward this to the appropriate individuals and if possible keep me updated on the release date of the cd. Thank YOU for writing such an awesome, entertaining and needed book!

Encore! We want more!.......2007-03-22

Oooh, this book made me what to rap and tap and beedle-di-bop! Which is quite somethin', since I don't have a musical bone in my body!
This is a great book-the text jives off the page and the illustrations thimp dumple thump right along. What a great way to teach kids about jazz legends!
Hats off to Ehrdhardt and Roth for a beautiful book!
Encore!

A great read aloud for kids!.......2007-03-07

I am an elementary school media specialist for grades 1 - 5. I read this book to my first and second graders. By the third jazz man they were chanting along with me. By the fifth man we were all singing along with the familiar song tune. They loved the scat phrases and repeated them over and over. What a bonus that these men are actual jazz legends. I highly recommend this book for a great musical read.

Jude's Review of Jazz Man.......2007-01-21

I'm 3 and my Grandmother Helene reads this book to me. She said that my Doctor Beth gave it to me and my sister Scarlett and the author signed it. That made me smile.

I really like this book. My grandmother sings me it and i like music and instruments and can name the saxophone and trumpet and drums.I like the pictures of the conga drums.

I usually say, " read it again" when she's done and I can almost pick out all the numbers now too. Jude Stulb, Pueblo Colorado

This Great Book! (More and More Honors!) .......2006-10-05

Note: Since writing the review below, I've discovered that "This Jazz Man" has received three (and counting) prestigious honors in the last month or so: A Nick Jr. Book of the Year for Children, one of the N.Y. Public Libraries Top 100 books to Read to Kids, and one of a very few named by National Public Radio as a best children's book of the year!

February 2007 Update: This Jazz Man is on the cover of the February "Crickets" magazine! In addition, it was shortlisted as a top book by the Cooperative Children's Book Center, and is being used as a teaching tool for a Smithsonian Museum (yes, that Smithsonian!) exhibit.

If you've bought this book, you and I share a certain nose for kids' books; if you haven't, you'll discover a book that's snappy and swinging, fun and informative. My original review follows.

"Doodly-doodly-Doot-doot! Toot-Toot!"

That's Karen Ehrhardt's delightful take on a Dizzy Gillespie trumpet line, and like the rest of this sparkling first book, every note rings joyous and true. In a somewhat daring move, Ms. Ehrhardt airs out the musty English poem, "This Old Man," with jazz-infused lyrics, and distills the essence of nine jazz giants: Louis Armstrong, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Chano Pozo, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charles Mingus.

The improvisations in "This Jazz Man" are authentic and fun--the text is made for reading out loud! Listen to this evocation of Charlie Parker, for example:

This jazz man, he plays five,
He plays bebop, he plays jive,
With a Deedle-di-bop! Bebop!
Give the man a hand,
This jazz man blows with the band.

Within the 5-line format of the original song, the author conveys the sound and spirit of these artists, while keeping the tone light and understandable for her young, perhaps jazz-naive audience (about 3 to 7 years-old). Along with each Jazz Man's stanza are the sounds and rhythms of his performance -- depicted in text incorporated with each illustration. When drummer Art Blakey "plays solos with his sticks" and "beats with the band," the percussive sounds "Chikka-chee! Chikka-chee! Bubbuda-bubbuda-bubbuda-BOMP!" pulse over his vibrating cymbals. Following the `performance,' older readers (and adults) can learn more about Blakey -- his innovation of the "press roll" and his role in nurturing new talent -- in the book's afterward. Riffing on the customary introductions of band members at jazz gigs ("Playing 4, form Washington, D.C... Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington"), the book briefly spotlights the life of each Jazz Man.

Illustrator R. G. Roth complements Ehrhardt's narrative pictures with multi-media illustrations that are playfully retro yet fresh and child-friendly. Airy compositions help children see the relaxed, expansive pose of the smiling Louis Armstrong, the verve and rhythmic creativity of "Chano" Pozo (how many times have you seen him in a jazz book for kids?), the playful attack of Fats Waller, and the stature and majesty of Charles Mingus. Roth displays a repertoire of textures and soft, engaging colors, and makes subtle references to Birdland, the Newport Jazz Festival, and other venues along the edges of book's `stage. For the small fry, a cute and playfully elusive mouse plays hide and seek throughout the book. "This Jazz Man" has an exhilarating finale -- after each man plays (1 through 9), all of the jazz icons appear on stage together:

This jazz band, they play ten,
We beg them to play again,
With an "Encore, we want more!"
Give them all a hand"
These jazz men make one great band!

"This Jazz Man" gets it right, rhymes it tight, and entertains without misrepresenting. (To put this achievement in context, too many kids' "jazz" books really focus on the blues--usually the rural blues, seen through an awkward sentimentalism--or solely on dance. Sometimes they confuse eras, portraying any jazz singer as a combination of Bessie Smith, post-WWII hep cats, and 1950's beats, with a dash of oddly misplaced 1970's styles.)

"This Jazz Man" is a natural for school or library audiences, rambunctious group singing, the first efforts of beginning readers, or as a bedtime treat for toddlers. One doesn't need to know one lick about jazz to enjoy the musicality of the rhymes and the understated but compelling jazz portraits: They stand on their own. In addition, teachers can easily adapt "This Jazz Man" to language units, numbers and counting, music appreciation, art, solo and group singing. Older students may delve further into the lives and times of the musicians through Ehrhardt's rich yet compact biographical sketches in the afterward. (Offhand, I can't think of any book--for kids or adults--that so succinctly and eloquently describes each musician's significance.) For readers who'd like to sample the actual music, Ehrhardt recommends recorded works for each Jazz Man: a couple tracks for each musician, and even two feature films (available on video) that display Bojangles' tapping talents. (Perhaps in future editions of this book, the publishers could include a companion CD/DVD.)

With apologies to the author--though inspired by her:

This jazz fan, I count one,
"This Jazz Man" is lots of fun!
With a smile and a nod and an "ain't that grand!"
Let's give Ehrhardt a great big hand!

Blues People: Negro Music in White America

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An American Treasure
gone where the Southern cross the yella dog
Blues People
The Best Starting Point
Very honest&breaks all chains

Blues People: Negro Music in White America
Leroi Jones
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 068818474X

Book Description

"The path the slave took to 'citizenship' is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen's music -- through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel development, jazz... [If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music."

So says Amiri Baraka in the Introduction to Blues People, his classic work on the place of jazz and blues in American social, musical, economic, and cultural history. From the music of African slaves in the United States through the music scene of the 1960's, Baraka traces the influence of what he calls "negro music" on white America -- not only in the context of music and pop culture but also in terms of the values and perspectives passed on through the music. In tracing the music, he brilliantly illuminates the influence of African Americans on American culture and history.

Customer Reviews:

An American Treasure.......2007-06-29

This is one of the most important books on America and American history, culture and citizenship. It would benefit the world if it were incorporated into public education. Someone said that nations are judged by their art and this book examines that subject superlatively. This study of the blues examines the evolving cosmology of the Africans and their journey and creation: the blues, one of the singular most powerful beauties of America. He shows how from the blues came all and embraced all other peoples and cultures. Baraka's ability to live the thoughts of the originators enables us to understand the profoundity of their sorrow and sublimity of their joy.

gone where the Southern cross the yella dog.......2007-02-22

The other day a friend rashly claimed that art and music were equally hard to describe in words. I asked him to tell me about a certain painting of Picasso's. He did, but claimed it wasn't accurate. "OK," I said, "you're right, but now tell me about Mozart's Jupiter Symphony." He opened his mouth, closed it, looked at me, and said, "Yeah, I see what you mean." Writing a book about the blues would be equally hard, it seems to me. So, LeRoi Jones did what he could, back in 1963, to tie the indescribable to the more concrete. He wrote a social history of African-Americans in the USA through the prism of music or---maybe on the principle of red and yellow tile floors (are they red with yellow designs or yellow with red designs ?)---he wrote a book on African-American music through the prism of social history. It is one of the most important books on American music (and American society) that you can find. It has stood the test of time. He begins from the Africans who came to North America as slaves bearing very different cultures, confronted by an absolutely different view of the world emanating from their new masters. Here he tries to show how African music became transformed into African-AMERICAN music and then American. He continues then up through the generations of slavery, to Emancipation, migration to the cities, World War I, the Depression, World War II and the bebop age of the Fifties. The book is pre-Civil Rights movement, pre-Martin Luther King. Jones may have looked down on the NAACP and its allies as "white liberal supported organizations", I'm not sure, but they don't appear. The times are symbolized by the use of "Negro" throughout. I agree, the tome is dated, but don't reject it, don't pooh-pooh the man. This is a very intelligent, very worthwhile book. Anyone, particularly from outside the USA, who wants to know the history of African-American music within its social environment ought still to read BLUES PEOPLE. He writes, "If Negro music can be seen to be the result of certain attitudes, certain specific ways of thinking about the world (and only ultimately about the ways in which music can be made), then the basic hypothesis of this book is understood." [p.153] Jones goes to great lengths to get to the bottom of those attitudes and thoughts.

My main criticism, apart from the fact that history dictates that we must be left a half century behind contemporary realities, is that though Jones obviously knew and loved the blues and jazz and all the various styles ( if not swing), his approach is coldly academic, highly dispassionate. He may criticize people who tried to make money, he may downplay all those who "abandoned" their roots, but my disappointment is that there is nothing of himself in the work barring a few mentions of his family. He does not share his enthusiasm. Music is beauty after all. I am sure he wanted the book to be taken as a serious essay, which it is. But in keeping himself removed from the discussion, being so analytic and professional in the style of the day, he has robbed us "readers of the future" of many insights.

African-American experience in the USA expressed itself most particularly in the blues, only later did that musical mode become part of the general American culture, often watered down, sometimes imitated by those who didn't wish to fit in or who wished to cash in. When conditions have changed, when the black middle class has entered mainstream America, and the urban underclass is wrapped up in hip-hop, gangsta rap culture, which is relentlessly commercialized by the powerful media, talking about the blues may seem a matter for historians or ethnomusicologists. Still, BLUES PEOPLE resonates strongly if we try to understand where we have been. As for where we are going---that old line sums it up---we're goin where the Southern cross the yella dog.

Blues People.......2005-09-22

This is a really interesting look at the evolution of black culture through the lense of music. Some of the author's opinions about later music (50's-60's) may seem out of touch to today's readers, but overall it is well worth reading.

The Best Starting Point.......2005-08-24

I actually purchased the first paperback edition this book a long time ago, and I learned that it had been out of print for quite some time. It was a time when I was a casual listener of blues and jazz, and didn't think about the roots of the music I was listening to. The book was interesting enough, but it didn't have information about more contemporary stuff, as it was printed in 1963.

Recently, I found this book in the upper shelves of my library, having completely forgotten about it in spite of my infatuation with the blues for the better part of the last two decades. It was a most welcome surprise for me, as it contained a compact but comprehensive introduction to the time period from the first Africans came to America to the 1920s when their music was first recorded, and laid the groundwork to how this music evolved in a sociological context. The rural lifestyle, the reflections of the exodus from the south on the music and subsequent refined, urban sound are discussed in this framework.

Although it would not really appeal to the casual reader and listener, "Blues People" is invaluable for the serious blues and jazz fan for setting the music into the general context of social life and external effects that made this music what it is today.

Very honest&breaks all chains.......2003-01-16

this book not only puts the music into perspective but also the struggle that still goes on too this day.very upfront&honest about problems that still linger.it traces the journey&challenges it's reader too better understand the reason for the whys??one of the best Books that I have ever read from start too finish.

Average customer rating:

Amazing reading
This book is amazing
My brother loved it.
gritty, raw inside look at the soul of a rare artist..
A lot of motherfuckers

Miles
Miles Davis
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0671725823

Book Description

For more than forty years Miles Davis has been in the front rank of American music. Universally acclaimed as a musical genius, Miles is one of the most important and influential musicians in the world. The subject of several biographies, now Miles speaks out himself about his extraordinary life.

Miles: The Autobiography, like Miles himself, holds nothing back. For the first time Miles talks about his five-year silence. He speaks frankly and openly about his drug problem and how he overcame it. He condemns the racism he has encountered in the music business and in American society generally. And he discusses the women in his life. But above all, Miles talks about music and musicians, including the legends he has played with over the years: Bird, Dizzy, Monk, Trane, Mingus, and many others.

The man who has given us some of the most exciting music of the past few decades has now given us a compelling and fascinating autobiography, featuring a concise discography and thirty-two pages of photographs.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing reading.......2007-07-30

Written with much candor and some bitterness, this book gives incredible insight into one of the greatest musical minds of modern jazz, but also gives valuable perspective on the lives and music of other giants, such as Parker, Gillespie, Coltrane, etc., with amusing anecdotes about older players - Coleman Hawkins, Duke Ellington, etc.

Naturally, one might argue that there is a certain amount of pose in Miles- using of fowl language; see for example Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs) generated on this site (this is pasted from amazon, but I omitted letters in order not to offend the amazon policies...):

# modal thing, hip s--t, s--t off nobody, stupid bu----it, great trumpet player, bad m---------ker, working band, silly s--t, real hip, shooting heroin #

See how much music is there?

But, seriously, this sort of attitude goes with his lifestyle - he even mocks himself for being too much fashion conscious...

The problem is that the book is not edited well enough < not only that certain tales are retold too many times (or in bad prose), the cuss words are boring because they are unimaginative. Add "he played his a.. off" and you covered nearly everything Miles said about some players who are very important not only for the history of jazz, but also for Miles- personal history.

Still, fascinating book, very useful for understanding significant aspects of American culture
(f. i. I get how he didn-t like Satchmo-s, Dizzy-s or Bird-s goofy monkying around and grinning, but I don-t for the life of me understand how can he put Prince and other figures of modern or contemporary popular music on the same level as Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and other giants of jazz he discusses).

Well, the controversial aspects never hurt a book...

Not a perfect piece of work (therefore only 4 stars), but compelling and therefore obligatory reading for all jazz fans.

This book is amazing.......2007-03-27

I use the present tense when I describe this book as a classic, because I could read this multiple times and never get bored, while gaining large amounts of knowledge. This book is brilliant because it is honest. It is a first hand account of his life that really cannot be explained by anyone else but himself, Miles Davis. Miles starts from his earliest memories all the way to the end in this book without holding anything back. He does not limit his speech to selective words that would hinder the actual situation. He tells everything truthfully with no fluff. This is definitely one of the most treasured jazz read in the history of literature. If you are a serious musician or an active listener of this music, I highly suggest you read it. Besides learning everything from Miles perspective and how his life was, you will also gain knowledge on the music himself and how the other players of his time were like. Buy this now, you will not regret!

My brother loved it........2007-03-14

I got this for my brother for Christmas and he really liked it.

gritty, raw inside look at the soul of a rare artist.. .......2007-02-27

Miles in his words, with all the raw emotion, anger, bitterness, of a man who changed the course of jazz at least 3 times in his life..this is one of my favorite bio's of all-time because I never felt pandered to or appeased..this is the way Miles viewed his life and art and if you don't like it, tough...but if you want to try to understand the grist of an artist's soul this is a book you do not want to miss.

A lot of motherfuckers.......2007-02-24

Miles tells it like it is in this book . You can tell its his voice and not his co-writer as he descibes in detail all of the people in his life, good and bad. The heroin addiction and the trumpet playing. The naems of the men around him present you with a history of jazz players that are iconic today. good book.

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The Deaf Musicians
Pete Seeger , and Paul Dubois Jacobs
Manufacturer: Putnam Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 039924316X
Release Date: 2006-10-05

Book Description

Poor Lee! He used to be a jazzman who could make the piano go yimbatimba- TANG—zang-zang. But now he's lost his hearing, and the bandleader had to let him go.

So Lee goes to a school for the deaf to learn sign language. There, he meets Max, who used to play the sax. Riding the subway to class, they start signing about all the songs they love. A bass player named Rose joins in and soon they've got a little sign language band. And in no time they're performing for audiences in the subway, night after night.

Amazon.com

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, "King of the Keys," was born on April 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C. "He was a smooth-talkin', slick-steppin', piano-playin' kid," writes master wordsmith Andrea Pinkney in the rhythmic, fluid, swinging prose of this excellent biography for early readers. It was ragtime music that first "set Duke's fingers to wiggling." He got back to work and taught himself to "press on the pearlies." Soon 19-year-old Duke was playing compositions "smoother than a hairdo sleeked with pomade" at parties, pool halls, country clubs, and cabarets. Skipping from D.C. to 1920s Harlem, "the place where jazz music ruled," Duke and his small band called the Washingtonians began performing in New York City clubs, including the Cotton Club, where Duke Ellington and his Orchestra was officially born. By 1943, Duke Ellington--writer of more than 1000 compositions, including ballet and film scores, orchestral suites, musicals, and choral works--had made it all the way to Carnegie Hall.

We applaud this talented husband-and-wife team--award-winning illustrator Brian Pinkney and writer Andrea Pinkney--for making music fly in this fantastic tribute to a jazz legend. Andrea does an extraordinary job of translating music into words, with blues "deeper than the deep blue sea" and "hot-buttered bob, with lots of sassy-cool tones," while her husband visually interprets the movement of music as spirals, waves, and swirls of color, prepared as scratchboard renderings with luma dyes, gouache, and oil paint. Andrea writes, "Toby let loose on his sleek brass sax, curling his notes like a kite tail in the wind. A musical loop-de-loop, with a serious twist," while Brian paints those curling notes, the loop-de-loops, and the kite sailing up to the New York City skyline. Young readers will enjoy the rhythm and beauty of the story itself, and may even be inspired to give Raffi a rest and swing with the Duke! (Great read-aloud, ages 4 to 8) --Karin Snelson, Amazon.com Kids editor

Customer Reviews:

"Duke Ellington" continues to jazz it up.......2007-02-20

If the brilliant colors and impressive images don't catch your attention, then the amazingly written story of Edward Kennedy Ellington will.

"Duke Ellington" throws the reader into the early 1900's with its slang talk and direct narrative. The reader becomes a part of the story as the narrator tells about how Duke started out being bored by the piano, and then grew to love it when he heard ragtime being played. Andrea Davis Pinkney makes this a fun book for readers by describing the sounds of all the instruments with such detail that one could imagine they are actually hearing Duke's music being played just for them. I became enthralled with the vivid pictures depicting jazz as one might sense it if they had been there. "Duke Ellington" has won both the Caldecott Honor award, and the Coretta Scott King Award. This book is a good, fun, imaginative read for all ages.

Excellent read aloud.......2006-02-02

As an elementary school library specialist, this is my all time favorite read aloud. I utilized music/sound files on the web to have the King of the Keys himself accompany his biography. The text itself is a story to be read out loud. A teacher commented that this was his favorite read aloud and I believe a student favorite of all the grades I read this to (grades 3-6). Students were swaying, snapping their fingers, and just tapping away. The older kids didn't do that, but when the music ended, they asked for a repeat and I obliged. Hats off to you Ms. Pinkney!

Put it this way. Jazz is a good barometer of freedom. - D.E........2005-07-04

Being a relatively new reader of children's books, I tend to go about my systematic reading of all good picture books out there in a backwards manner. Case in point, Andrea Davis Pinkney. I first came across this writer, and her talented hubby Brian, through their lovely, "Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuoso". It was through that book that I discovered that the art of scratchboard (remember having to do those in elementary school?) can produce some truly fabulous picture book art. After reading "Ella" I doubled back and found her 1999 Caldecott Honor winning baby, "Duck Ellington". The book that started it all. Also using scratchboard (and without relying on fictional talking felines ala "Ella") the book is a whirlwind biography of one of the world's jazzy greats. There are tons of picture books about jazz musicians out there today. Only one, however, has garnered both the Coretta Scott King Award and the Caldecott Honor.

In this tale we meet Duke from his baseball playing days in Washington, D.C. Children everywhere will sympathize when Duke decides that learning to play the piano is a waste of his time and that he'd much rather be out and about with his friends. Fast forward a couple years and an older pool shooting Duke hears the sweet sounds of ragtime for the very first time. Suddenly the piano doesn't sound so lame, and Duke teaches himself the rudiments of it immediately. Over time, his particular style and talents get him jobs in clubs and cabarets and at last he forms his own band. From here on in the book's a whirlwind series of visits to places like the Cotton Club (which I think illustrator Brian Pinkney probably failed to base after the real club itself) and, at long last, New York's Carnegie Hall in 1943. A matter-of-fact bio at the back as well as a complete bibliography of sources (well done there) round out this lively encapsulation of a life.

Kids are often assigned biographies in school, and "Duke Ellington" has the advantage of being both interesting and filled to the brim with sources and facts. The story is as lively as Ms. Pinkney could make it, often going into deep descriptions of individual players' talents in the Duke's band. The art is lovely as well. Using luma dyes, gouache, and oil paint and then rendering it in a scratchboard style, there's a real throbbing beauty to some of these paintings. In a final picture Duke conducts his band in a purple suit and the notes of the players curl out as almost iridescent swirls and waves. Altogether lovely.

In many ways, the book's going to be a bore to those kinds who've never heard a jazz note in their lives and don't understand the importance. If at all possible, try finding a copy of that incredibly amazing film "Cabin In the Sky" and showing it to the kids and THEN give them this book. The movie's worth checking out and Duke (with his orchestra) is wonderful in it.

Though this is perhaps not my favorite jazz picture book out there (I've still some very fond feelings for "Charlie Parker Played Be Bop") it's still quite a wonder and worth checking out. A necessary addition to any well-rounded children's biography section of their local library.

Singin' and Swingin'.......2004-09-03

Edward Kennedy Ellington, who preferred being called Duke, didn't like playing the piano at first. As the book made out, he considered piano lessons a chore, although it doesn't directly say this in the text. The boring "umpy-dumpy" noises that the piano made when he hit the keys made him soon quit lessons so he could pursue the interests of a regular boy. It would be a couple of years later until Duke would start practicing piano once more.

In what looks like a pool hall, Duke discovers a new way of playing piano. His discovery is ragtime. The ragtime music isn't boring and repetitve as the type of music he had practiced as a boy. This music gives of a rythmical sensation throughout the body. Duke is soon in love with the piano. And he starts practicing with the little knowledge of the piano he has. He is soon good enough to have his own band and becomes a frequent performer at the Cotton Club. Duke records many hit songs in his life and becomes known as "The King of the Keys".

Pinkney's unusually good painting are very enjoyable and I really like the way that the musical chords showed up to let the reader know that music was being played.

An outstanding picture book biography!.......2001-09-04

This beautiful picture book biography recounts the life and career of jazz musician, Edward Kennedy Ellington -- better known to all as the Duke.

When the Duke's parents enrolled him in piano lessons for the very first time, he flat out did not want to go. At that time he had visions of playing baseball; but his parents insisted that he learn to play the piano. The music lessons were slow and not a lot of fun. It wasn't long before he quit taking lessons altogether and kissed the piano goodbye. Little did he know then that the melodious rhythms of Ragtime would draw him back to this instrument again and lead to his success as a great musician, composer, and orchestra leader!

Andrea Davis Pinkney does an outstanding job sharing the Duke's story with young readers. Her husband, Brian Pinkney, matches her wonderful text with vibrate illustrations, which translate the Duke's music into a series of bold colored spirals, waves, curls, and swirls that literally leap off of the pages of the book! Without a doubt, this husband and wife collaboration will guide readers in appreciating the rhythm and beat of the Duke's life and music. This book is truly a musician's delight!

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The Best History of Clifford Available

Clifford Brown-Maybe The Ultimate 'Tough Sell' Book'

Brownie

Sensitive portrait of the trumpet's most tragic talent

Dull Account of Life of Super Trumpeter.

Clifford Brown: The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter
Nick Catalano
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195100832

Amazon.com

In the early '50s, Clifford Brown was one of the most dominant trumpeters of the Hard Bop period. Nick Catalano, professor of literature and music at Pace University, has written the first book on this important artist, and it's a winner. "In addition to his artistic achievements, Brown exuded virtue and magnanimity," Catalano writes. "He wasn't just a 'nice guy'; he was much more than that." At a time when jazzmen where generally portrayed as drug addicted hustlers, Brown was the exception. He was college educated, rarely smoked or drank, and was a positive role model to other musicians. Had he not been killed in a tragic car accident at the tender age of 25, he may have altered the future of jazz. As it is, he has left a lasting impression on the art form.

Beginning with his nurturing childhood in Wilmington, Delaware, Catalano chronicles Brown's extraordinary rise as a Dizzy Gillespie-inspired upstart, to a seasoned professional who continued to practice and play R&B dates despite terrible pain from a near-fatal car accident. Catalano highlights Brown's work with heavyweights like Lionel Hampton, Quincy Jones, John Lewis, and Art Blakey, and his analyses of Brown's crisp trumpet style and compositions, including "Joy Spring" and "Dahooud," are detailed and entertaining. At the summit of his career, while co-leading a trailblazing combo that featured Max Roach and Sonny Rollins, Brown perished on the rain-soaked Pennsylvania Turnpike on the way to a gig in Chicago. Catalano shows that, even in death, his influence lives on in trumpeters like Freddie Hubbard and Wynton Marsalis, and in the Tony Award-winning Broadway play, Sideman. If there is such a thing as a jazz saint, Clifford Brown was it. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Book Description

Although he died in a tragic car accident at twenty-five, Clifford Brown is widely considered one of the most important figures in the history of jazz, a trumpet player who ranks with Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis, and a leading influence on contemporary jazz musicians. Now, in Clifford Brown: The Life and Art of the Legendary Jazz Trumpeter, Nick Catalano gives us the first major biography of this musical giant. Based on extensive interviews with Clifford Brown's family, friends, and fellow jazz musicians, here is a fascinating portrait of a remarkable musician. Catalano depicts Brown's early life, showing how he developed a facility and dazzling technique that few jazz players have ever equaled. We read of his meteoric rise in Philadelphia, where he played with many of the leading jazz players of the 1950s, including Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker; his tour of Europe with Lionel Hampton, which made him famous; and his formation of the Brown-Roach Quintet with prominent drummer Max Roach--one of the most popular hard bop combos of the day. Catalano also shows that Brown was a remarkable individual--he grew up in a middle-class African-American home in Wilmington, Delaware, attended college, was a skilled mathematician, and had wide cultural interests. Moreover, in an era when most jazz players were either alcoholics or addicts, Brown was clean-living and drug free. Indeed, he became a role model for musicians who were struggling with drugs and had great influence in this area with one prominent colleague, tenor sax player Sonny Rollins. Clifford Brown not only provides a colorful account of Brown's life, but also features an informed analysis of his major recorded solos, highlighting Brown's originality and revealing why he remains a great influence on trumpet players today. It is a book that anyone with a serious interest in jazz will want to own.

Customer Reviews:

The Best History of Clifford Available.......2006-11-29

To my knowledge, this is the only full biography of Clifford Brown ever written. It covers his entire life, from his birth, through his Blue Flame days, all the way to his historical work with Max Roach. The book also includes 8 or so pages of pictures in the middle, which is great for those of you whom haven't seen brownie, and a nearly complete discography in the back of the book. Simply put, Clifford Brown is one of the best jazz trumpeters of all time (my favorite, personally), and quite possibly the most tragic loss in jazz history. Any jazz musicians, Clifford fans, or general jazz aficionados should check this book out if they are looking to learn about one of the greats.

Clifford Brown-Maybe The Ultimate 'Tough Sell' Book'.......2006-01-05

Clifford Brown really was 'too good to be true'...didn't drink,do drugs...incredible jazz musician.Nick Catalano really
does an "impossible job" in telling the story of the great trumpeter who died tragically way before his time-and Catalano's anaysis of Brown's recordings makes the case that Brown is a man who "coulda been king"(even though he sorta was anyway).
.

Brownie.......2005-10-22

Clifford Brown had one of the most beautiful trumpet tones in all of modern jazz, and technique that other players would die for. He was not your "typical" (as portrayed to the masses) jazz musician - he didn't drink, smoke, or use drugs; he had a family and a good marriage; he worked hard at his craft. The tragedy is that he was killed in a car crash at the age of 25 at the height of his powers. Even by then though, he had recorded a number of albums establishing himself as one of the greats in the business.

Catalano's book competently traces Brownie's life, from the beginnings in Wilmington, Delaware, to his days with the Lionel Hampton band, early sideman dates in NYC, gigs in LA and Chicago, and finally the formation of the Brown-Max Roach Quintet with Harold Land and then Sonny Rollins on tenor. Catalano is a musician so is able to analyze Brownie's performances and recordings, which he does well, but the life history of the man is told somewhat blandly. We finish the book with a good skeletal outline of Brown's life and career, but much of the meat seems missing.

Sensitive portrait of the trumpet's most tragic talent.......2002-02-17

I read this modest little work last summer in a cottage in the lakeland region of central Finland. The silence around me allowed me to think about Brownie's playing -its purity and clarity- uncontaminated by other music or noise. Of course the first thing I wanted to do when I got back to my records was listen to Brownie over and over again. Catalano paints a sensitive portrait in an approachable, occasionally shoddy style. Clifford Brown's music doesn't quite come alive, perhaps, but Catalano expresses the lucidity of the trumpeter's musical vision and astonishing melodic gift with some agility. It's not a penetrating insight, but there is no other book around (as far as I know) that tells the poignant story of the great trumpeter's short life, so this is an essential purchase.

Dull Account of Life of Super Trumpeter........2000-09-13

Catalano's book about Clifford Brown fails to convey much more than lame summary. The reader receives a readable account of the trumpeter's short life, but the writing itself leaves much to be desired in that it's unpolished, redundant, chatty, and rarely profound. (And it's got typos to boot!) How about this telling detail of Brown's stint in an R&B band? "Clifford Brown and Vance Wilson were quite close and got the kind of education that only comes from being on the road. One time, recalled Wilson, 'We were in Wildwood [New Jersey]. Clifford had never eaten raw clams and neither had I. So we dared each other. We went over to this counter where they were serving them, but we didn't know how to eat them.' They proceeded to put sauce on the clams and started to chew them, failing to notice other eaters who were 'slurping' them. Their exaggerated chewing made everyone laugh" (Catalano 62). Catalano's choice of quotations, in my opinion, is very suspect throughout the entire book. It's as though he's a high-school-essay-writing-novice trying to round out a paper and show that's he read a thing or two or interviewed someone or another, as the case may be. Ok, the book does contain some analysis of Brown's music, and provided that not much else has been written of the trumpeter, I suppose the book merits a cursory glance. But be prepared for some dull, over-accessible, easy-reading.

Music Is My Mistress (Da Capo Paperback)

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The Man tells it all in this flashing memoir
The man in his own words
Class.
Straight from the master's mouth
Utterly Fascinating Life

Music Is My Mistress (Da Capo Paperback)
Duke Ellington
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0306800330

Customer Reviews:

The Man tells it all in this flashing memoir.......2004-12-30

This is most recommended who loves Jazz and/or ever been a fan to Duke from the past and the future. I always been a long-time supporter to him since I was 9 or 10. This is definitely going into my book collection alongside Autobiography of Malcolm X, Miles: The Autobiography, Revelations: There's a Light After the Lime, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, Hip-Hop America, As Though I Have Wings: The Lost Chet Baker Memoir, and mos definitely the Bible.

I'm a huge fan to the memoir/biography section than I do most books I read about life and stuff. This would go on forever in a lifetime.

The man in his own words.......2004-12-11

Sometimes self-serving, somewhat pretentious, but indispensable. Edward Kennedy Ellington, the greatest composer this country has ever produced, in his own words.

Class........2004-11-18

Classic. If you consider the classic elegance of Edward Kennedy Ellington, it should come as no surprise that his prose is as lyrical and poetic as his music. This is a wonderful collection of writings. It is in effect an arrangement of essays and short pieces written with what I suspect is love about the love of his life-jazz, or music itself, if you will. The book contains many short pieces-impressionistic sketches and characters of persons that Duke Ellington knew-musicians, friends, acquaintances, public figures. But it also has a variety of essays-longer subjects interwoven with themes and counterpoint. Ellington's is exquisitely musical prose-again, not to be surprised. The organization is chronological, narrative, more or less. Duke organizes with autobiographical passages followed by short portraits-Dramatis Felidae-that demonstrate the concreteness through brief descriptions of the persons that he knew with anecdotes that define them. The book covers a life filled with friends and experience. The variety is tremendous, and the life and the career are masterpieces. The themes and subjects are multifaceted. This is Duke Ellington's poetic literary suite posing as prose, and it should not be missed. Really-it's great poetry and a terrific compendium of jazz history and experience.

Straight from the master's mouth.......2000-07-27

I'm a great fan of autobiography. Granted, often it is sanitized and self-serving, but there's nothing like hearing a person tell their own life, especially if the life is as important as this one. Without a doubt, Duke Ellington was the century's greatest American composer and bandleader; the only ones who even come close to him (Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Cole Porter) had neither his longevity nor his variety. And none of them also maintained a working band through six decades! I own almost every recording ever released by Duke Ellington; his music has become indelibly printed on my brain. This book may not be the most accurate account of his life (if you can handle a little armchair psychology, the Collier biography is the best choice for that), but this is like sitting in a room hearing Duke talk -- and play!

Utterly Fascinating Life.......2000-01-13

Wow what a book. The best part about this book is that Duke wrote it. You get it straight from him. I recommend this book to anyone into the music.

His accounts of his younger days were what most appealed to me. He pays so much respect to the people he was surrounded by, both his family and the community of musicians. Sometimes the many names dropped can be a bit much, but that was just his style--always letting people know who helped him, who mentored him, who taught him, who he admired. There's scarcely a mean-spirited word in the whole book!

There is a lot of variety to the way he tells his stories. Sometimes its through the name dropping profiles; sometimes its through interviews reprinted for this book; sometimes its through out-and-out philosophical dissertations about music and life; sometimes it's in the midst of his endless travelling of the globe with his band.

For the musician looking for tips and advice, there's plenty of Duke wisdom provided throughout. His overall love for music and musicians is just SOOO apparent. My favorite piece of advice is that he said he learned music exclusively through oral instruction, from people in the scene who would share techniques and secrets seemingly as freely as idle conversation (how different the musical climate is these days!)

The last third or so of the book get a bit tedious for this reader. There just wasn't a lot of variety to his accounts of globetrotting and meeting all the important people in all the countries. What kept me going through these sections were the occasional gems of advice or insight, but there's more of that in the first half of the book. Thank god for the end of the book, a funny interview where the interviewer is REALLY condescending to Duke, but Duke gets through is with all the grace, wit, intelligence, and humor that makes him such a compelling person, composer, and most of all, a genius and musical mystic.

Book Description

JAZZ FOR YOUNG PEOPLE CURRICULUM - 10-CD SET, VIDEO TEACHING GUIDE AND 30 STUDENT GUIDES

This multimedia jazz appreciation kit is based on Jazz at Lincoln Center's popular Jazz for Young People[TM] concert series. Designed primarily for up per elementary and middle school students, it is also well-suited for high school and college music appreciation, introduction to jazz, and music educ ation courses. The curriculum explores core concepts -- including improvisa tion, form, style, and swing -- and major figures in jazz through accessibl e, interactive lessons. Because it was written for both musicians and non-m usicians, the Jazz for Young People Curriculum is perfect for any teacher w ho wants an entertaining and structured way to bring jazz into the classroom

Customer Reviews:

A Great Teaching Resource for grade 6 - 9 students.......2007-01-15

This is truly one of the best kits available to teach jazz to young students. It offers an interactive approach, and creator Wynton Marsalis speaks to the students in a language that they can understand. If you are looking to expose your students to a different style of music....other than the music of Beethoven, Mozart etc. then this is the program for you. The student workbooks are set up in a magazine type format and the video segements just enhance the CD's. A great resource for upper elementary music teachers.

I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone

Average customer rating:

A case study in mental illness/ stupidity/ pure insanity
Nina Simone
I LOVE this book
Nina Simone writes about lovers, not music or her life
In Memoriam

I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone
Nina Simone , and Stephen Cleary
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0306813270
Release Date: 2003-08-14

Book Description

"Ms. Simone's vocal and piano style make her a culture unto herself." --New York Times

A gorgeous, inimitable singer and songwriter, Nina Simone (1933-2003) changed the face of both music and race relations in America. She struck a chord with bluesy jazz ballads like "Put a Little Sugar in My Bowl" and powerful protest songs such as "Mississippi Goddam" and "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," the anthem of the American Civil Rights movement. Coinciding with the re-release of her famous Philips Recordings, here are the reflections of the "High Priestess of Soul" on her own life.

The mesmerizing autobiography of one of the most revered soul, jazz, and blues divas of our time-the late Nina Simone.

Customer Reviews:

A case study in mental illness/ stupidity/ pure insanity.......2007-07-06

This book was good in that it was concise and to the point (unlike the bloated, rambling autobiography of Miles Davis)-- and that's a good thing, because 176 pages is about all of Simone that I could handle.

The book was written for an American audience, but a lot of the usages/ spellings were British English, and that became annoying.

The quality of the photos was very poor-- One comes away from this book with the impression that it was done in a very seat-of-the-pants way.

1. She seems to think that every thing that went wrong in her life is the fault of America. So, she did not pay attention to where her money was going during the time that she was performing and duly got ripped off. But that has something to do with America and the establishment.

2. Ego! She's been known to call herself "Dr." Simone-- on the basis of having been granted an honorary degree. She also talks of being able to play "hundreds of songs" and reviews herself in glowing terms-- but her songs are distinctly not even as technical as, say, something done by Ray Charles.

3. Not the sharpest pencil in the box! Can you imagine someone that marries a man AFTER he beats her to a pulp and then has no memory of doing it? Can you imagine someone that talks about socialism as something that was a good idea-- in a book that was published AFTER the collapse of the Soviet Union?

4. Very needy/ emotionally unstable. Someone dancing naked at a club? Passing over many other men to find a married man that she thought was going to leave his wife for his piece on the side? Huh? Huh?

Not worth more than $5 (I bought it second hand) and one afternoon of reading time.

Nina Simone .......2005-07-28

I found this book to be a very insightful look in the personal life and perofessional life of Nina Simone. I particularly enjoyed learning about how her musical talents were shaped by her family and her upbringing in the South. This book provides a very facinating look into the life of a gifted artist.

I LOVE this book.......2004-01-04

This is a most fabulous book! I could not put it down! It's a fascinating account of Nina's life.....which is never a dull moment. Lots of incredible insight into what it's like to be a performer. Beautifully written, as though she's in the room with you, telling you her own story. Nina was such an amazing person, and there is so much depth in this book. I highly recommend this book....I can't say enough. If you love Nina, if you love autobiographies.....this is THE book!

Nina Simone writes about lovers, not music or her life.......2003-09-09

It's a sad commentary that Nina Simone wrote such a meaningless book in 1991. I couldn't wait to purchase it after it was released, yet I kept asking myself why she wrote it and who this woman really was. Besides being an interesting interpretor of jazz classics and folk songs, and well known for her ascerbic manner onstage and off, it would have been more thrilling to read about Simone as an artist, instead of finding out about her litany of lovers. I felt a bit short changed by her writing...although most of it was no doubt ghostwritten, Nina Simone seemed to show no real interest in music, instead considering jazz an afterthought in her career. She never goes into any details about her life except to blame her husband Andy Stroud for mismanaging her career, America for not giving her a chance, Curtis Institute of music for not accepting her application to study there, and the list goes on...if it were well-written, perhaps it would have been interesting reading, but most of this book is not well written at all...it is quite amateurish, and often boring...even the discography included at the back is lack luster..Nina Simone was so well associated with the Civil Rights Movement, yet you get no real feeling or emotion from her words, After reading the book, I continued to buy and listen to her music, but my respect for her is lacking. It's a shame that Nina Simone didn't realize her potential, but there were many artists worse off than Nina Simone, and I for one think she owes a great debt to the US for giving her success and the opportunity to succeed.

In Memoriam.......2003-04-25

In Memoriam of Nina Simone, the great singer, pianist, composer, arranger, songwriter, feminist, activist, mother and woman.

Nina was born in North Carolina, USA, February 21, 1933.

Although Nina was called the "High Priestess of Soul" by her fans and was regarded by them as an almost religious figure, she was often misunderstood as well. The High Priestess would walk different paths to find the adequate songs to spread her message.

A protest singer; a jazz singer; a pianist; an arranger and a composer, Nina Simone is a great artist who defies easy classification. She is all of these: a jazz-rock-pop-folk-black musician. In fact, we can find her biography in jazz, rock, pop, black and soul literature. Her style and her hits provided many singers and groups with material for hits of their own.

Nina Simone passed away on April 21, 2003 in Carry-le-Rouet, France. She was Aged 70.

She is survived by her daughter and will be forever missed - yet forever treasured.

Amazon.com

The composer, pianist, and headgear eccentric Thelonious Monk is one of the few musicians whose touch can be recognized from almost any three-second sample of his work. Who else could have dreamed up the majestic oddity of "Round Midnight" or "Well, You Needn't" or "Ruby, My Dear" or "Pannonica"? Who else could have duplicated Monk's distinctive attack at the keyboard, with its clenched harmonies and rock-skipping runs? At least one major biography has been in the works for the last 20 years, but now Leslie Gourse--who has also written books about Sarah Vaughan and Nat King Cole--has put together a graceful, intelligent narrative. Straight, No Chaser is notably light on musicological analysis, and the author never quite delivers on her promised revelations about Monk's final decade (during which he withdrew into both musical and verbal silence). But Gourse has done some excellent spadework, interviewing Monk's family, musical associates, and longtime manager Harry Colomby; her preliminary portrait is a fine one.

Book Description

Music/Jazz BiographyFirst English-language biography of a legendary and compelling jazz artist.Thelonious Monk was one of jazz's legendary figures, whose life story has yet to be told. Pianist and bandleader, he led the legendary jam sessions at Harlem's Minton's Playhouse where, along with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, he helped mold the nascent style of bebop. Monk's composition 'Round Midnight; Straight, No Chaser; Blue Monk; Misterioso; Rhythm-a-ning; and countless others have become classics in the jazz repertoire. Monk's piano playing was so unique that it has been widely emulated and praised, but never equaled. His personal life was also unique, including a long battle with depression and mental illness that finally led to his total withdrawal from recording and music making years before his tragic death. This book tells Monk's story based on first-hand interviews with the musicians who worked with him, along with the participation of his son, T.S., and other family members. It discusses both his musical and personal lives in frank detail, and illuminates one of the most important jazz player's of our time. Leslie Gourse is a well-known authority and writer on jazz. Her books have been widely praised, including Sassy: The Biography of Sarah Vaughan; Unforgettable: The Life and Mystique of Nat King Cole; and Madame Jazz. She has been awarded an ASCAP award for her journalism. Additionally, she writes regularly on jazz for both specialty journals and popular newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Village Voice, Boston Globe, Jazz Times, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, New York, Cosmopolitan, and many others. She has written liner notes for many jazz labels.

Customer Reviews:

Drum Son.......2006-03-18

This was an excellent and detailed account of Monk's life. It helped me to understand the man and his music.

Attention Thelonius Monk Fans!.......2000-08-15

Attention T.Monk fans! This book has lots of info on Monk. It is written in a very interesting way. Much of the info is from personal interviews, which means that there are many interesting and funny facts and stories. There are some great photographs of Monk with other jazz pioneers such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie etc. It also has a sessionography, index, list of compositions, and videography. A must read.

An excellent book.......1999-04-20

This book has gotten unjustified bad press. The author accurately captures the "real" T. Monk. She traces Monk's development and commitment to jazz over his career. The author had access to Monk's family (e.g., Toot his drummer son), friends, supporters, and the musicians that knew him. What I particularly like about the book was her treatment of Monk's mysterious pathology. Monk was a very strange guy. Various psychiatrists discounted him being schizophrenic and bipolar. The concensus was that he chemically ruined his brain over the years. He also cultivated an image of eccentricity. During the last six years of his life, he got up, put on a suit and tie (he was always sartorially snappy) and then laid in bed all day. This is a very good book and provided an insightful picture of this eccentric musical genius.

A too profesional job on an imposible subjet.......1998-06-19

Leslie Gourse and her team have done a book of merit, an investigation of true achievements, but one that lacks passion, and previous knowledge about the central theme: the life and music of Thelonious Monk. Nevertheless, this book is as close as one can get to the personal life of the high priest of bebop, but not to his musical perspectives. The author misses her point absolutly in avoiding a serious treatment of the music of one of the true geniuses of american music.

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