Musicians, singers, bands and groups Books

2248 products


  • Duke Ellingtons America

    The University of Chicago Press Duke Ellingtons America

    Book SynopsisFew American artists in any medium have enjoyed the international and lasting cultural impact of Duke Ellington. This title paints a portrait of the life and times of this towering figure, taking him from his youth in the black middle-class enclave of Washington, DC, to the heights of worldwide acclaim.Trade Review"Harvey G. Cohen's new book illuminates Ellington's career as never before, and also helps to deepen our understanding of larger trends and issues in American politics and culture. No previous book on Ellington has followed the money so rigorously, laying bare the interworkings of art and capital." (Times Literary Supplement) "The book makes nuanced sense of the hard choices at every turn, in years when it often fell to Ellington to pioneer new audiences and new venues, and to insist on a level of dignity rarely accorded to African-American artists." (Geoffrey O'Brien, New York Review of Books) "Cohen's volume... is substantial, richly sourced, intelligent.... Unlike many other writers on Ellington, Cohen gives proper attention to all phases of Ellington's career, and in so doing unveils information that is new or has been overlooked.... This is an important work and one that Ellington scholarship will benefit from and draw on for new debates." (Times Higher Education) "Duke Ellington's America attempts to get under the skin of this apparently most imperturbable of men, and the results... are fascinating.... An extremely intelligent and formidably documented book - a welcome change from much that has been published about Ellington." (Claudia Roth Pierpont, New Yorker)"

    £23.56

  • Youll Know When You Get There

    The University of Chicago Press Youll Know When You Get There

    Book SynopsisAs the 1960s ended, Herbie Hancock embarked on a grand creative experiment. Having just left the celebrated Miles Davis Quintet, he set out on the road, playing with his first touring group as a leader until he eventually formed what would become a revolutionary band. This book offers a comprehensive study of this seminal group.Trade Review"Gluck takes a fascinating look at the development of a musical identity. The book is ostensibly about pianist Herbie Hancock and his sextet's Mwandishi period-a free-jazz, electronics-heavy evolution of the hard-bop group he formed in 1968-but it really uses Hancock's story to show how musicians adapt to changing technology, new musical ideas, and greater cultural identities." (DownBeat)"

    £25.00

  • The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other

    The University of Chicago Press The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisMiles Davis's Bitches Brew is one of the most iconic albums in American music, the preeminent landmark and fertile seedbed of jazz-fusion. Fans have been fortunate in the past few years to gain access to Davis's live recordings from this time, when he was working with an ensemble that has come to be known as the Lost Quintet. In this book, jazz historian and musician Bob Gluck explores the performances of this revolutionary group-Davis's first electric band-to illuminate the thinking of one of our rarest geniuses and, by extension, the extraordinary transition in American music that he and his fellow players ushered in. Gluck listens deeply to the uneasy tension between this group's driving rhythmic groove and the sonic and structural openness, surprise, and experimentation they were always pushing toward. There he hears-and outlines-a fascinating web of musical interconnection that brings Davis's funk-inflected sensibilities into conversation with the avant-garde worlds that players like Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane were developing. Going on to analyze the little-known experimental groups Circle and the Revolutionary Ensemble, Gluck traces deep resonances across a commercial gap between the celebrity Miles Davis and his less famous but profoundly innovative peers. The result is a deeply attuned look at a pivotal moment when once-disparate worlds of American music came together in explosively creative combinations.

    1 in stock

    £76.00

  • The Political Orchestra

    The University of Chicago Press The Political Orchestra

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    15 in stock

    £41.80

  • Message to Our Folks  The Art Ensemble of Chicago

    The University of Chicago Press Message to Our Folks The Art Ensemble of Chicago

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis year marks the golden anniversary of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the flagship band of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. Formed in 1966 and flourishing until 2010, the Art Ensemble distinguished itself by its unique performance practices members played hundreds of instruments on stage, recited poetry, performed theatrical sketches, and wore face paint, masks, lab coats, and traditional African and Asian dress. The group, which built a global audience and toured across six continents, presented their work as experimental performance art, in opposition to the jazz industry's traditionalist aesthetics. In Message to Our Folks, Paul Steinbeck combines musical analysis and historical inquiry to give us the definitive study of the Art Ensemble. In the book, he proposes a new theory of group improvisation that explains how the band members were able to improvise together in so many different styles while also drawing on an extensive repertoire of notated composit

    1 in stock

    £76.00

  • The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other

    The University of Chicago Press The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other

    Book Synopsis

    £24.00

  • Puccini and The Girl  History and Reception of

    The University of Chicago Press Puccini and The Girl History and Reception of

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisSet in the American West during the California Gold Rush, La fanciulla del West marked a significant departure from Giacomo Puccini's previous and best- known works. Puccini and the Girl is the first book to explore this important but often misunderstood opera that became the earliest work by a major European composer to receive an American premiere when it opened at New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1910. Adapted from American playwright David Belasco's Broadway production, The Girl of the Golden West, Fanciulla was Puccini's most consciously modern work, and its Met debut received mixed reviews. Annie J. Randall and Rosalind Gray Davis base their account of its creation on previously unknown letters from Puccini to his main librettist, Carlo Zangarini. They mine musical materials, newspaper accounts, and rare photographs and illustrations to tell the full story of this controversial opera. Puccini and the Girl considers the production and reception of Puccini's cowboy opera in

    2 in stock

    £30.00

  • Hearing Beethoven

    The University of Chicago Press Hearing Beethoven

    Book SynopsisWallace demystifies the narratives of Beethoven’s approach to his hearing loss and instead explores how Beethoven did not "conquer" his deafness; he adapted to life with it.Trade Review"In this pathbreaking book, Wallace demystifies the longstanding romance of Beethoven's deafness by bridging memoir and musicology in an exciting new way that speaks to a broad audience of readers. Of notable significance is his detailed attention to the innovative means by which Beethoven used his instrument--the piano--to discover and harness the multisensory acuities of his body in the face of his progressive hearing loss, accommodations that afforded a new, experimental orientation towards his musical craft that ultimately led to some of his most celebrated aesthetic breakthroughs."--Jessica Holmes, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music "This is a special book. Readers interested in Beethoven's biography will learn many new things, thanks to Robin Wallace's knowledge and scholarship. But just as valuable is his personal account of his wife Barbara's deafness, which deeply engages our sympathy and gives us insight into the human condition."--Lewis Lockwood, Harvard University "Wallace offers a probing examination of Beethoven's creative process and how he turned his hearing loss to his advantage. [He] interweaves the personal experiences of his late wife, Barbara, who also became deaf. . . . [The book] deepens readers' knowledge of Beethoven's artistic life while broadening their understanding of hearing and loss. Highly recommended."-- "Library Journal" "Wallace's striking volume is a detailed, erudite study of the effect of deafness on Beethoven's music and character, but it is also a deeply personal account of Wallace's late wife's experience of deafness. This unlikely combination works beautifully and provides a convincing and moving probe into Beethoven's essence. Throughout the entire book, one senses the author's profound love and admiration for his lost wife and for Beethoven himself."--Harvey Sachs, author of The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824 "Wallace provides a new and unique perspective on Beethoven's deafness. He combines a gripping and poignant personal narrative with the knowledge and skill of a seasoned researcher and musician. The book both reads like a novel and provides vivid insight into how Beethoven confronted the loss of a composer's most important asset. In weaving the personal and the scholarly, Wallace has created an intimate account of how Beethoven's deafness can be found in his music as well as how it shaped him as a person. In fact, in this book we see the human side of Beethoven in a way that has never before been portrayed." --Michael Broyles, author of Beethoven in AmericaTable of ContentsPreface Introduction: A Road Trip to Texas 1 · Beethoven’s Deafness: What We Know, What We Can Only Guess 2 · 2003: A Sudden Case of Deafness 3 · The Deaf Composer 4 · Deafness, Vocation, Vision 5 · The Artifacts of Deafness 6 · Ears, Eyes, and Mind 7 · Hearing through the Eyes Epilogue: Embracing Wholeness Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

    £18.00

  • Vaughan Williams and His World

    The University of Chicago Press Vaughan Williams and His World

    Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPermissions and Credits Acknowledgments Ralph Vaughan Williams: Man and Music—An IntroductionByron Adams and Daniel M. Grimley Vaughan Williams and CambridgeJulian Rushton Vaughan Williams and the Royal College of MusicErica Siegel Vaughan Williams’s “The Letter and the Spirit” (1920)Introduced and Annotated by Ceri Owen Modernist Image in Vaughan Williams’s JobPhilip Rupprecht “Finest of the Fine Arts”: Vaughan Williams and FilmAnnika Forkert Pilgrim in a New-Found-Land: Vaughan Williams in AmericaByron Adams Vaughan Williams’s Lecture on the St. Matthew Passion (1938)Introduced and Annotated by Eric Saylor Vaughan Williams’s Common GroundSarah Collins and Daniel M. Grimley Tracing a Biography: Michael Kennedy’s Correspondence Concerning The Works of Ralph Vaughan WilliamsIntroduced and Annotated by Daniel M. Grimley and Byron Adams “His own idiom”: Vaughan Williams’s Violin Sonata and the Development of His Melodic StyleO. W. Neighbour Critical Reception: Early Performances of the Symphony No. 9 in E MinorIntroduced and Annotated by Alain Frogley Goodness and Beauty: Philosophy, History, and Ralph Vaughan WilliamsLeon Botstein Index Notes on the Contributors

    £85.00

  • La Traviata  Melodrama in Three Acts by Francesco

    The University of Chicago Press La Traviata Melodrama in Three Acts by Francesco

    7 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis critical edition presents the 1854 version as the main score, and also makes available the full score and the original 1853 settings of the revised pieces. For this text Fabrizio della Seta used the composer's autograph and many secondary sources, but also Verdi's previously unknown sketches.

    7 in stock

    £456.00

  • An Orchestra at My Fingertips

    McGill-Queen's University Press An Orchestra at My Fingertips

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisAn Orchestra at My Fingertips is the first study of the history, activities, and legacy of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble. Covering the ensemble’s first fifty years, Alexa Woloshyn features musician biographies as well as analyses of the CEE’s compositions, improvisations, commissions, and performance practice.Trade Review“An Orchestra at My Fingertips is the definitive biography of this important ensemble. Well-researched and written with great care, the book offers readers a wealth of information that has never before been available to anyone outside of the CEE’s circle of collaborators and close associates. And Woloshyn’s insights and techniques of listening can easily (and usefully) be applied to the CEE’s repertoire and electronic music – indeed any music – in general.” Paul Sanden, University of Lethbridge and author of Liveness in Modern Music: Musicians, Technology, and the Perception of Performance

    1 in stock

    £91.80

  • Statesman of the Piano  Jazz Race and History in

    McGill-Queen's University Press Statesman of the Piano Jazz Race and History in

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisJazz pianist Lou Hooper (1894–1977), Paul Robeson’s first accompanist and teacher to Oscar Peterson, came to prominence near the end of his life for his exceptional career. Statesman of the Piano makes his unpublished autobiography widely available for the first time, with commentary from historians, archivists, musicians, and cultural critics.Trade Review“Statesman of the Piano provides a fascinating lens, one that corroborates current research and adds new detail and insights. Hooper’s story shows how a Canadian-born Black man was able to thrive in Jim Crow America. Moreover, the breakdown of black nightclubs/venues in the forties and fifties in southwest Montreal brings a new punctuation to the city’s jazz history.” Dorothy W. Williams, author of Blacks in Montreal, 1628–1986: An Urban Demography“Primary sources for the history of jazz, particularly in Canada, are few and far between and Statesman of the Piano is a welcome and meaningful contribution. Hooper’s autobiography contains much to savour, and the editors are to be commended for presenting his work to a wider audience. Their introduction – thoughtful, illuminating, and comprehensive – provides an inviting basis from which to follow Hooper’s story.” Rob van der Bliek, editor of The Thelonious Monk Reader

    2 in stock

    £26.99

  • Copyright Law Symposium 39 ASCAP Copyright Law

    Columbia University Press Copyright Law Symposium 39 ASCAP Copyright Law

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £90.40

  • Record Makers and Breakers

    University of Illinois Press Record Makers and Breakers

    Book SynopsisThis volume is an engaging and exceptional history of the independent rock ''n'' roll record industry from its raw regional beginnings in the 1940s with R & B and hillbilly music through its peak in the 1950s and decline in the 1960s. John Broven combines narrative history with extensive oral history material from numerous recording pioneers including Joe Bihari of Modern Records; Marshall Chess of Chess Records; Jerry Wexler, Ahmet Ertegun, and Miriam Bienstock of Atlantic Records; Sam Phillips of Sun Records; Art Rupe of Specialty Records; and many more.Trade ReviewAwarded a Certificate of Merit by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) for Best Research in Recorded Rock and Popular Music, 2010. "Broven ... keeps the text moving right along, his fill-in facts and explanations welcome, his segues from interviewees' words to his own smooth and easy. The author clearly loves the music and holds the achievements of the record people in high regard, but he stays level-headed and avoids overpraising his heroes."--Downbeat"A fascinating new book about the early independent labels of rock 'n' roll underscores again the central role that radio played in turning rock 'n' roll into the musical language of modern American popular culture. Record Makers and Breakers ... is a rich and engaging history of those early years, largely told through the words of the smart guys, hustlers and Runyonesque characters who shaped them". --New York Daily News"Broven has put together a detailed and engrossing study of the independent record labels of the 1940s-70s. . . . An outstanding and important study that goes well beyond comparable predecessors; highly recommended."--Library Journal (starred review)"4 stars. Welcome to a world filled with payola, the mob and jukebox sounds."--MOJO"Covering the convoluted history of the recording industry from the 1940s to the 1960s, [Broven] combines in-depth archival research with fascinating anecdotes about chart-toppers, shady characters and label owners. . . . The impact of conniving entrepreneurs on the musicians and the layering of rich details and digressive detours as Broven traces the transition from R&B to rock make this equal to Roger D. Kinkle’s massive, four-volume Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz.--Publishers Weekly"The depth of factual details is incredible, but it's presented in the style of a rich oral history . . . so as not to lose any of the flavour of their anecdotes. . . . It's a chronicle of the entrepreneurial American spirit, liberally punctuated by the creation of some of the most exciting and innovative music of all time."--Record Collector“Broven is masterful, making Record Makers an essential book for anyone interested in not only American musical culture but American culture, period."--American Songwriter"This is by far the most complete picture painted to date of the independent recording industry and it has the added advantage of illuminating many of the personalities who helped make that tick."--Blue Suede News "A remarkable, carefully documented oral history written as an approachable narrative. . . . Recommended."--Choice "An invaluable addition to understanding American music and indispensable for those into pop music history."--Jazz & Blues Report "Record Makers and Breakers is a big train of a book that follows the rise of blues, R&B, soul and early rock 'n' roll through the lives behind the independent labels. Long though it is, the ride is rich for anyone curious about the business dynamics of popular culture."--New Orleans Magazine "A treasure. John Broven has given the academic world a good dose of old-fashioned shoe leather journalism. This book will be invaluable to scholars studying the music industry and particularly the rock 'n' roll era."--Don Cusic, author of Johnny Cash: The Songs "Record Makers and Breakers is replete with groundbreaking research that more than any other single book explains how the popular music industry worked. A must read about the record industry."--Robert Pruter, author of Doowop: The Chicago Scene and Chicago Soul

    £87.55

  • Hildegard of Bingen

    University of Illinois Press Hildegard of Bingen

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"A fine introduction to anyone interested in Hildegard's music and a solid foundation for further reading, performing, and research." --Yale Journal of Music & Religion​"With her friendly, calm voice and measured pace, the author takes the reader on an interesting journey through the highlights of Hildegard's life and work. Meconi constructs a vividly imagined persona and life story that brings the medieval figure close to the modern reader."--Marianne Pfau, co-author of Hildegard von Bingen: Der Klang des Himmels"Meconi does an excellent job of showing that Hildegard's chants are linked to late medieval repertory but are also distinctive and idiosyncratic. Highly recommended." --Choice"Hildegard of Bingen is an excellent addition to English-language literature on Hildegard. . . will recommend it as a solid introduction to Hildegard as a composer to students, colleagues, friends, and early music enthusiasts alike." --Revue de musicologie"Meconi offers fresh insight into one of the most creative composers of her time." --WXXI"The inspiring account offered in this book indeed sweeps the reader along into a skillfully told, fascinating life story." --Early Music"If you think you already knew Hildegard, prepare to be enlightened. Honey Meconi’s extensive scholarship puts Hildegard’s life, music, and writings into clear historical context, concisely and blessedly free of academic jargon. Meconi doesn’t just repeat what we know about the twelfth-century wonder woman. She describes how we know it, separates truth from fiction, and makes us understand why the music of Hildegard sounds like nothing and nobody else. With a detailed list of works, bibliography, notes and selected discography, this is the perfect go-to volume for a music director, teacher, student, singer, music lover, or Hildegard fan."--Susan Hellauer, Anonymous 4

    £77.35

  • About Bach

    University of Illinois Press About Bach

    Book SynopsisExploring Bach's enduring importanceTrade Review"Thanks to the extent, scope, and universality of his work, Bach will always be a subject for new studies. . . . An interesting collection."--Choice “If you’re looking for an example of current state-of-the-art Bach scholarship which will also guide you through some of the most significant issues in study of the composer, enjoy the open and at the same time scholarly styles of leading experts, performers and analysts, and wish to come away feeling well and truly connected with informed thinking about Bach’s place in the wider musical pantheon, About Bach is a must. Thoroughly recommended.”--Classical Net Review "This is a really significant collection of essays, first-rate in terms of scholarship and the new perspectives they bring to known issues, as well as in their introduction of new facets of study. Anyone interested in Bach, his music, and the contexts of the period, will want to secure a copy of this exemplary volume."--Robin A. Leaver, author of Luther's Liturgical Music: Principles and ImplicationsTable of ContentsPreface ix Abbreviations xi BEFORE BACH A Master Teacher Revealed: Johann Pachelbel's Deutliche Anweisung 3 BY KATHRYN WELTER From the House of Aaron to the House of Johann Sebastian: Old Testament Roots for the Bach Family Tree 15 BY MARY DALTON GREER BACH'S VOCAL MUSIC Combinatorial Modeling in the Chorus Movement of Cantata 24, Ein ungefarbt Gemute 35 BY ALEXANDER J. FISHER Choral Unison in J. S. Bach's Vocal Music 53 BY DANIEL R. MELAMED You Say Sabachthani and I Say Asabthani: A St. Matthew Passion Puzzle 61 BY MICHAEL OCHS Sein Segen fliesst daher wie ein Strom, BWV Anh. I 14: A Source for Parodied Arias in the B-Minor Mass? 69 BY WILLIAM H. SCHEIDE BACH CIRCLE Johann Friedrich Schweinitz, "A Disciple of the Famous Herr Bach in Leipzig" 81 BY HANS-JOACHIM SCHULZE Johann Christian Bach and the Church Symphony 89 BY JEN-YEN CHEN BACH'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC Scribes, Engravers, and Notational Styles: The Final Disposition of Bach's Art of Fugue 111 BY GREGORY G. BUTLER Notes on J. S. Bach and Basso Continuo Realization 125 BY TON KOOPMAN Music for "Cavaliers et Dames": Bach and the Repertoire of His Collegium Musicum 135 BY GEORGE B. STAUFFER A Print of Clavieriibung 1 from J. S. Bach's Personal Library 157 BY ANDREW TALLE AFTER BACH Carl Reinecke's Performance of Mozart's Larghetto and the Nineteenth-Century Practice of Quantitative Accentuation 171 BY ROBERT HILL "Grand Miscellaneous Acts": Observations on Oratorio Performance in London after Haydn 181 BY MARK RISINGER Back from B-A-C-H: Schumann's Symphony No. 2 in C Major 191 BY DOUGLASS SEATON Contributors 207 Index 211

    £28.80

  • George Gershwin  An Intimate Portrait

    University of Illinois Press George Gershwin An Intimate Portrait

    Book SynopsisThe dramatic story of a legendary American composerTrade Review"More thorough biographies than Mr. Rimler's slender volume exist ... but for those of us interested less in the technical details of Gershwin's music and its performance than in the comet called George Gershwin that blazed briefly across American skies, Mr. Rimler is the astronomer of choice."The Wall Street Journal"Compact in length and voluminous in its details, Walter Rimler's study of Gershwin is freighted with melancholy—an appropriate parallel with Gershwin's own life."--TLS "An engrossing, well-written look at Gershwin, the composer and the man, with emphasis on the man."--Choice"For those of us interested less in the technical details of Gershwin's music and its performance than in the comet called George Gershwin that blazed briefly across American skies, Mr. Rimler is the astronomer of choice."--Wall Street Journal"Rimler shines in weaving together anecdotes, correspondence and a wealth of interviews with the composer and his contemporaries to create a vibrant, flesh-and-blood picture of the man and his music in a readable and enjoyable book."--Jerusalem Post"Engagingly written, lavishly illustrated. . . . With this volume, we get a focused portrait of George Gershwin, a genius plagued by self-doubt and a wandering eye."--Opera News"A dynamic, fast-paced biography of George Gershwin that has the verve and staccato drive of a book the composer himself might have written. Rimler gives us a fuller, more complex, more humorous, and more vulnerable picture of Gershwin than has yet appeared in print."--Philip Furia, coauthor of The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A History of America's Great Lyricists"A hugely enjoyable read, this neat, polished package is a skillful condensation of the vast literature on Gershwin but also offers a new critical angle on the composer's achievement."--Stephen Banfield, author of Jerome KernTable of Contents1.From Street Kid to Wunderkind; 2.Falling in Love With Kay; 3.A Piano Concerto; 4.Ira Takes a Wife; 5.Porgy; 6.Paris; 7."That Long Drip of Human Tears"; 8.The Losing Streak Begins; 9."Something Big"; 10."Don't Make It Too Good, George!"; 11.Kay

    £22.79

  • I Feel a Song Coming On

    University of Illinois Press I Feel a Song Coming On

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis first biography of Jimmy McHugh captures a lively and significant contributor to American songwriting. Creator of favorite tunes such as 'I''m in the Mood for Love' and 'On the Sunny Side of the Street,' McHugh was a one-man history of twentieth-century popular music: in his prolific composing career, he wrote songs for Duke Ellington, Shirley Temple, Bobby Breen, Carmen Miranda, Deanna Durbin, Frank Sinatra, Ethel Waters, Adelaide Hall, and scores of other entertainers, and his last works were turned into smash hits by Pat Boone and Fats Domino. Following McHugh from humble Irish-American beginnings in Boston to eventual success in New York, Europe, and Los Angeles, Alyn Shipton deftly evokes the lively milieus of Tin Pan Alley, the Cotton Club, Broadway, and Hollywood. McHugh crossed the color line frequently, writing revues for both black and white entertainers, and he and his songwriting partner Dorothy Fields were also among the first to create Hollywood musical films. InTrade Review"A brilliantly researched biography that ... details the activities of Tin Pan Alley in its golden age of song-plugging glory. . . . You will be fascinated by this 280-page amalgamation of musical education and entertainment."--MOJO"Highly recommended ."--Choice "An overdue recognition of his tireless song plugger who fashioned enduring hits for Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood.--The Miami Herald"[Shipton] effortlessly weaves in lots of background and research to illustrate McHugh’s gradual rise from a humble Boston-Irish milieu to considerable wealth, which he lost in the Wall Street crash. His mainstream success from then on and eventual emergence as a ‘personality’ in his own right clearly involved a lot of hard graft, but the great songs kept coming on.”--Jazzwize"From Tin Pan Alley to Beverly Hills, this book has vintage dish and vibrant back-stories about one of the giants of the American songbook."--David Friend, editor of creative development, Vanity Fair"It's a great joy to read and learn about the life of marvelous Jimmy McHugh. This book is meticulously researched and spills over with fascinating and important information about a rich and seminal era, much of which has not been previously documented. If you care about the Great American Songbook, you'll love this book!"--Michael Feinstein"A treasure trove of material on Jimmy McHugh and an important contribution to the scholarship on American popular song. Alyn Shipton's book is a well documented portrait of a songwriter very much at the center of the music business, Broadway theater, and Hollywood."--Philip Furia, coauthor of The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: A History of America's Great Lyricists"This valuable work includes numerous insights into the slightly mysterious process of pop song-writing and the music business in general. It will appeal to Tin Pan Alley music aficionados, American studies specialists, Hollywood historians, and music fans in general."--Thomas L. Riis, author of Frank Loesser "Jimmy McHugh has written many of the most memorable and enduring melodies in the Great American Songbook. To paraphrase the song: I can't give you anything but love, Jimmy!"--Vic Damone "Jimmy McHugh is the pure, unadulterated hit songman--I am always in awe at the genius of Jimmy McHugh."--Bob Crewe, composer, producer, and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee "Jimmy McHugh's collection of songs resonated with an entire generation, and his contribution to Broadway, Hollywood, and popular music as a whole continues to this day. This book is a fascinating study of a prolific hit-maker and a revealing glimpse into the priceless art of songwriting."--Roger Faxon, chairman and CEO, EMI Music PublishingTable of ContentsIntroduction; Acknowledgements; List of illustrations 1 "Home Before Dark" A Boston Childhood 2 "When My Sugar Walks Down The Street" Arriving in New York 3 "Everything Is Hotsy Totsy Now" A sequence of hit songs 4 "I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Baby)" Meeting Dorothy Fields 5: "Livin' In A Great Big Way" Fields and McHugh on Broadway and in Hollywood 6: "Goodbye Blues" The Split from Dorothy Fields 7 "Dimples" A sequence of child stars 8 "My Kind of Country" Movies, Romance and World War Two 9 "A Lovely Way to Spend An Evening" The great years in Beverly Hills 10 "Reach For Tomorrow" Final years in Los Angeles, and a growing legacy Notes and abbreviations; Bibliography; Index

    1 in stock

    £26.09

  • George Szell

    University of Illinois Press George Szell

    Book SynopsisA comprehensive biography of one of the twentieth century's greatest conductorsTrade ReviewReceived the Best Historical Research in Recorded Classical Music Award from the Association for Recorded Sound Collection (ARSC), 2012. "Reading this book would serve as a manual of music appreciation. Charry's tribute reflects the scope and brilliance of Szell's career, in the careful detailing of his performances and music critics' opinions of them."--Ohioana Quarterly"A discerning and highly informed new biography. Charry makes a convincing case for admiring his subject's skill in musical matters without concealing Szell's many personality flaws."--Forward"Charry not only gives us invaluable insights into his leadership style and musical tastes ... but details some of the financial and political issues facing the orchestra during that era. . . . Perhaps the book’s greatest value lies in humanizing a man whom many have come to see as a humorless (or perhaps joyless) martinet."SymphonyNow"A magnificent achievement. I was especially impressed by Mr. Charry's skill in conveying a deep admiration for his subject without falling into the trap of fawning or idol-worshipping--a quality seldom encountered in biographies of great conductors."--Stephen C. Hillyer, past president of the Fritz Reiner Society"A fine biography of one of the 20th century's greatest classical conductors. This thorough biography of one of the most important figures on the American classical scene in the post-World War II era is a valuable contribution to the literature on classical music."--Library Journal"Charry’s achievement is unlikely to be surpassed for a long time, if ever, and the reader will come away with a real depth of insight into this towering, complex figure, which can only enhance our appreciation of his extraordinary accomplishment and artistic legacy."--Fanfare"Charry examines Szell's personal life in greater detail than has been afforded before, with a trove of previously unpublished letters. . . . Straightforward and erudite."--The Wall Street Journal"Musicians, concertgoers, and general readers will be captivated by the author's behind-the-scenes look at what goes into shaping a world-class orchestra."--The Washington Times "An excellent job of chronicling the everyday life of professional musicians."--HuffingtonPost.com "Given the conductor's close identification with a symphonic orchestra, the extent of Szell's operatic experience may come as a surprise to some readers. Charry has done excellent work in illuminating this overshadowed facet of Szell's career."--Opera News "A lively and balanced portrait of Szell's life and work."--Opera America "Very well written and will surely appeal to anyone with an interest in George Szell."--American Record Guide "There is surely no one more qualified than Michael Charry to write Szell's biography."--Musical OpinionTable of ContentsPreface ix Acknowledgments xv Abbreviations xix Chronology xxi Introduction 1 1. The New Mozart (1897-1929) 3 2. The Conductor Spreads His Wings (1930-38) 23 3. Musical Pioneering in Australia (1938, 1939) 42 4. New World, New Beginnings (1939-46) 56 5. Cleveland: Contest and Commitment (1942-47) 78 6. Szell, the Orchestra Builder (1947-54) 105 7. George Szell and Rudolf Bing (1953-54) 141 8. Keeping the Promise: "Second to None" (1954-57) 149 9. The Golden Years (1957-65) 172 10. The Cleveland Orchestra in the World (1965-68) 223 11. Summers at Home 254 12. Finale: Cleveland, Japan, Korea, Anchorage, Cleveland (1968-70) 270 Epilogue 289 In Szell's Words 291 Appendix A. "On the 150th Anniversary of Schumann's Birth," by George Szell 295 Appendix B. Staff and Kulas Foundation Conductors under George Szell 299 Appendix C. Apprentice Conductor Qualifications 301 Appendix D. 1957 European Tour Repertoire 303 Appendix E. 1965 European Tour Repertoire 305 Appendix F. Szell's Repertoire 307 Discography 331 Notes 355 Bibliography 397 Index 399Illustrations follow page 104

    £87.55

  • Henry Mancini

    University of Illinois Press Henry Mancini

    Book Synopsis Through film composer Henry Mancini, mere background music in movies became part of pop culture--an expression of sophistication and wit with a modern sense of cool and a lasting lyricism that has not dated. The first comprehensive study of Mancini''s music, Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music describes how the composer served as a bridge between the Big Band period of World War II and the impatient eclecticism of the Baby Boomer generation, between the grand formal orchestral film scores of the past and a modern American minimalist approach. Mancini''s sound seemed to capture the bright, confident, welcoming voice of the middle class''s new efficient life: interested in pop songs and jazz, in movie and television, in outreach politics but also conventional stay-at-home comforts. As John Caps shows, Mancini easily combined it all in his music. Mancini wielded influence in Hollywood and around the world with his iconic scores: dynamic jazz for theTrade Review"Accessible and engaging, this fresh view of Mancini's oeuvre and influence will delight and inform fans of film and popular music."--Turner Classic Movies"Caps' assiduously research study of Mancini's life and career ... is detailed and insightful. . . . It will be enjoyed both by film buffs and music lovers."--Allaboutjazz.com "Will satisfy musically experienced readers as well as laypeople. It deserves a place in every film and popular music collection."--Library Journal "A stimulating chronicle of the life and works of film and television composer Henry Mancini. Consistently thorough and detailed, this book contains a considerable wealth of information and insight into this extremely popular composer."--James Wierzbicki, author of Film Music: A History and Elliott Carter "A well-researched study of a musical career. . . Film by film, the book reveals how Mancini negotiated and compromised to become the computer of many a moviemaker's dreams."--Booklist "An important book, and, in many ways, a crucial one, too, it's chief value resting in Caps' articulate championing of one of the most singular compositional talents to emerge from Hollywood's film factory."--Classical Music"In this lively, syncopated survey of Mancini's movie music, Caps offers a comprehensive critique of the composer's film/TV scores and hit albums."--Publishers Weekly

    £22.79

  • Women Singers in Global Contexts  Music Biography

    University of Illinois Press Women Singers in Global Contexts Music Biography

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisVoices of women heard worldwideTrade Review"An ambitious collection of essays on women singers by leading scholars in ethnomusicology and related fields. The volume will be welcomed by students of a variety of disciplines including ethnomusicology and women's studies."--Anne K. Rasmussen, author of Women, the Recited Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia "An intellectually stimulating overview of how such musicians manage dynamically to present themselves with their own cultures. Highly recommended."--Choice "Each chapter engages with multiple contexts, demonstrating the ways in which women from various backgrounds mediate performance and gendered expectations inside and outside their home communities... Impactful intersections of different identity categories--gender, class, profession, or avocation ("singer"), location, age, sexuality, education, race, and marital and familial status--emerge as central to the work"--Ethnomusicology "The first ethnographic collection to focus on individual female singers. . . . The range of the essays is impressive, featuring women of different generations from five continents. . . . this volume will be valuable to scholars interested in a variety of aspects related to biography and performance."--Journal of SingingTable of ContentsContributors are Shino Arisawa, Katelyn Barney, Gay Breyley, Nicoletta Demetriou, Veronica Doubleday, Ruth Hellier, Ellen Koskoff, Carol Muller, Thomas Solomon, Amanda Villepastour, and Louise Wrazen.

    2 in stock

    £77.35

  • The Great Orchestrator

    University of Illinois Press The Great Orchestrator

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA valuable portrait of one of the most powerful managers in American musical history.Trade ReviewCertificate of Merit for Best Historical Research in Classical Music, Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), 2014. "This informative, interesting biography sheds new light on one of the most powerful eminences in the history of American concert music, presenting Arthur Judson's progress from teaching in a small Ohio college to managing simultaneously two of the greatest American orchestras, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, as well as being a founder of Columbia Arts Management, Inc. (CAMI) and a pioneer in radio broadcasting."--Michael Charry, author of George Szell: A Life of Music"A work of exemplary scholarship covering a significant and too little-known figure in music history: Arthur Judson, the classical instrumental music impresario, musician, teacher, orchestral administrator, artist manager, promoter, and media mogul. Doering admirably places Judson's life and career in the context of the changing orchestral industry from 1900 to the 1970s, showing how Judson was a catalyst for these developments."--Mark Clague, director, American Music Institute, University of Michigan "Doering's insightful depiction of 'the great orchestrator' should serve as a model for scholars who wish to expand their coverage of music history and explore what goes on behind the scenes of the performing arts."--Notes"A much needed contribution to our knowledge of this history and should become required reading for aspiring classical music manager."--American Journal of Arts Management "No doubt will become a classic in the literature of arts management. Highly recommended."--Choice

    1 in stock

    £42.30

  • Charles Ives in the Mirror

    MO - University of Illinois Press Charles Ives in the Mirror

    Book SynopsisLocating representations of Ives within American cultural historyTrade ReviewA Choice Outstanding Title, 2013. "An engaging and comprehensive account of the reception history of Charles Edward Ives. . . .The book will undoubtedly become an essential tool for the study of Ives."-- Choice"David Paul's interest lies with how Ives's reflection is colored by the viewpoints of other Americans. He has written the first book-length reception history of the composer since his relatively recent passing in 1954… He asks his readers to embrace and even celebrate subjectivity, both in their understanding of Ives as a historical figure and universally in history at large."--Notes "The depth of Paul's historical perspective speaks for itself."--Gramophone“Paul has crafted an ambitious intellectual history, putting Ives at the centre of diverse forces, including the history of twentieth-century composition, the legacy of transcendentalism, the cultural marketing of the Cold War and the rise of American Studies and American Musicology. This is not a book about Ives’s music or his life, but rather a meta history that focuses on the composer’s advocates, critics and chroniclers. Essentially, it probes the complex ways in which a gifted creative artist achieves broad-based fame, and then, in a sense, becomes public property—a figure to be reviled or adored or forgotten as time marches on.”—Times Literary Supplement"By virtue of its depth of insight, its wide remit, and its succinct yet highly detailed presentation, this remarkable book is a considerable addition to the existing scholarship on this most fascinating of musical figures."--David Nicholls, author of John Cage"An outstanding work. Until now no one has created, in a single narrative, the story of how Charles Ives' music moved from the far outer fringes to the central core of American musical culture, and David Paul has done this in an exemplary manner. It is a tour-de-force in both its breadth and its insights."--Michael Broyles, author of Beethoven in America

    £33.30

  • Making the March King

    University of Illinois Press Making the March King

    Book SynopsisJohn Philip Sousa''s mature career as the indomitable leader of his own touring band is well known, but the years leading up to his emergence as a celebrity have escaped serious attention. In this revealing biography, Patrick Warfield explains how the March King came to be by documenting Sousa''s early life and career. Covering the period 1854 to 1893, this study focuses on the community and training that created Sousa, exploring the musical life of late nineteenth-century Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia as a context for Sousa''s development. Warfield examines Sousa''s wide-ranging experience composing, conducting, and performing in the theater, opera house, concert hall, and salons, as well as his leadership of the United States Marine Band and the later Sousa Band, early twentieth-century America''s most famous and successful ensemble. Sousa composed not only marches during this period but also parlor, minstrel, and art songs; parade, concert, and medley marches; schottisches, Trade Review"Making the March King is chock full of fresh and previously unpublished details about John Philip Sousa's early years, his influences, his formative experiences, and his strategies for promoting his career and reputation. Recommended for anyone interested in music history and the full story of one of the giants of early American popular culture."--Thomas L. Riis, author of Frank Loesser"Thorough, engaging and fun. Musicians interested in the evolution of music in the US will be riveted by this study of one of America's most beloved musical icons. Highly recommended."--Choice"An engaging book, easy to read, full of facts and footnotes."--American Record Guide"Warfield has brilliantly illuminated how Sousa managed his nascent career to become the March King, providing readers with a remarkable look at how an artist can shape his or her career."--American Music"Like Sousa's musical programs, the book is both educational and entertaining."--Washington History"A terrific new book on the early life and times of a composer who has long been as enigmatic as he is familiar."--Kenneth R. Kreitner, author of Discoursing Sweet Music: Brass Bands and Community Life in Turn-of-the-Century Pennsylvania

    £33.30

  • The Magic of Beverly Sills

    University of Illinois Press The Magic of Beverly Sills

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"Beverly Sills came along at the perfect moment, quenching the public's thirst for a bona fide STAR. Now this book comes along at the perfect moment to quench this generation's thirst for insight into what made her shine so radiantly."--Joyce DiDonato"Guy's study goes well beyond the operatic stage or record studio to consider her subject's broad appeal and popularity."--ARSC Journal "Guy's refreshing book offers a timely contrast between the cultural backdrop of the 20th century and that of the present… This is a captivating work on Sill's unique, spellbinding artistry. Highly recommended."--Choice "An exhaustively researched, thoughtful, well-written treatment of one of the most important and beloved musicians the U.S. has ever produced."--Timothy D. Taylor, author of The Sounds of Capitalism: Advertising, Music, and the Conquest of Culture"What stays with one most about Guy's study is the passion behind it, and the way it evokes a time in which an opera could be that relevant to so many."--Opera News“Nancy Guy’s The Magic of Beverly Sills couldn’t be more timely. In an era when opera needs stars, the author has given us a fascinating, comprehensive look at the elusive magic of an artist who enchanted not only opera devotees, but the entire nation."--Renée Fleming"Frequently, biographies of opera singers are basically gushing with enthusiasm and overstated personal opinions. This book avoids those pitfalls and adds important scholarly information about how to think about an opera singer, her roles, and her fans."--Naomi André, coeditor of Blackness in Opera"Guy's elegant biography gets to the heart of Sills's magnetic stage presence and parses the performer's power to mesmerize audiences with ineffable and poignant cultural magic."--Jill Dolan, author of The Feminist Spectator in Action: Feminist Criticism for the Stage and Screen

    1 in stock

    £22.79

  • A Cole Porter Companion

    University of Illinois Press A Cole Porter Companion

    Book SynopsisBalancing sophisticated melodies and irresistible rhythms with lyrics by turns cynical and passionate, Cole Porter sent American song soaring on gossamer wings. Timeless works like 'I Get a Kick Out of You' and 'At Long Last Love' made him an essential figure in the soundtrack of a century and earned him adoration from generations of music lovers. In A Cole Porter Companion, a parade of performers and scholars offers essays on little-known aspects of the master tunesmith''s life and art. Here are Porter''s days as a Yale wunderkind and his nights as the exemplar of louche living; the triumph of Kiss Me Kate and shocking failure of You Never Know; and his spinning rhythmic genius and a turkey dinner into 'You''re the Top' while cultural and economic forces take 'Ev''ry Time We Say Goodbye' in unforeseen directions. Other entries explore notes on ongoing Porter scholarship and delve into his formative works, performing career, and long-overlooked contributions to Trade ReviewCertificate of Merit for Best Discography, Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), 2017 "Recommended."--Choice"As part of the 'Music in American Life' series, this book is an essential introduction and study of the music of one of the greatest American composers of the twentieth century." --The Journal of American Culture"Is there a need for a book like this, a compendium of essays by scholars and experts in musicology, music history and sundry ancillary specialties? The answer is an emphatic yes… To return to Irving Berlin, 'ya don’t need any larning' to appreciate this most sophisticated and well educated of American songwriters, but the huge amount of detail and analysis packed into this book enhances that appreciation."--The Washington Times"A Cole Porter Companion is an important addition to scholarship on American musical theatre and popular music. . . . This is a good introduction to scholarly examinations of the work of one of the most beloved American composers."--Indiana Magazine if History"Though centered on one person and his undeniable talents, the compilation explores many different avenues and subtopics, keeping the subject fresh and enjoyable throughout."--Notes"A Cole Porter Companion is simply an indispensable, unadulterated joy of a book--required reading for anyone who loves music, lyrics, the theater, and of course the inimitable Cole Porter--from the non-music-reading fan to the most sophisticated and scholarly musicologist. A landmark volume, bridging the gap between academe and the general listener with a bubbly élan worthy of the master himself."--Maury Yeston"Anything goes?--not in the ruthless world of Tin Pan Alley. Of all the great American Songbook composers, Cole Porter is perhaps the hardest to fit into Broadway's 'Golden Age.' This fine guide suggests how best to do it."--Tim Carter, author of Oklahoma! The Making of an American Musical

    £87.55

  • Foggy Mountain Troubadour

    University of Illinois Press Foggy Mountain Troubadour

    Book SynopsisWith his trademark mandolin style and unequaled tenor harmonies, Curly Seckler has carved out a seventy-seven-year career in bluegrass and country music. His foundational work in Flatt and Scruggs''s Foggy Mountain Boys secured him a place in bluegrass history, while his role in The Nashville Grass made him an essential part of the music''s triumphant 1970s revival. Written in close collaboration with Mr. Seckler and those who know him, Foggy Mountain Troubadour is the first full-length biography of an American original. Penny Parsons follows a journey from North Carolina schoolhouses to the Grand Ole Opry stage and the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, from boarding houses to radio studios and traveling five to a car on two-lane roads to make the next show. Throughout, she captures the warm humor, hard choices, and vivid details of a brilliant artist''s life as he criss-crosses a nation and a century making music.Trade ReviewCertificate of Merit for Best Historical Research in Recorded Country Music, Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards (ARSC), 2017 Named Bluegrass Print/Media Person of the Year from the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), 2016 "A front row seat to bluegrass history."--Charlotte News & Observer "What emerges from Parsons' narrative is a fascinating life of a performer who deserves to be well known to all scholars and fans of bluegrass music."--ARSC Journal"Those who are interested in the history of bluegrass and old country music must by and read this wonderful book."--Bluegrass Today"Let us shower Penny Parsons and Curly Seckler with roses for their wonderful collaboration on Foggy Mountain Troubadour . Curly Seckler is one of the most beloved and revered of all the first generation country and bluegrass music pioneers. Ms. Parsons not only illuminates Mr. Seckler's storied life but also reports rarified accounts that offer us insight into the humanity that underscored the people, songs, live performances, recordings, and travels surrounding what is now considered to be one of the most mythical bands ever to play: Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and the Foggy Mountain Boys. Penny Parsons is not only an authentic biographer, she is also a first-rate musical detective."--Marty Stuart"Anyone who has followed the life and career of Curly Seckler will have a hard time putting this book down. . . . [Penny Parsons] has done an amazing and masterful job in documenting the life of one of the great sidemen in Bluegrass."--Country Sales Newsletter"A must read for anyone who would like a window into the world of the American South, the rise of our country music and its early stars, and especially to gain an appreciation for an American musical treasure--Curly Seckler."--Randall Franks, Southern Style"Foggy Mountain Troubadour offers a fascinating look at a long and storied life in music. Bluegrass is one of America's defining art forms, and Parsons uses spirited prose and anecdotes drawn from her adept research to illustrate how Seckler witnessed and helped shape it from the beginning."--Greensboro News & Record"Penny Parsons's well-mined research and articulate journalistic style reveal never-before-documented history that should be of interest to all fans of country and bluegrass music's golden era. Written with Mr. Seckler's full cooperation, this educational and entertaining biography explores the compelling journey of a legendary musical statesman. Along the way, he endured both triumph and tragedy with determination, unshakable faith, kindness, generosity, and humor. This book truly does justice to his amazing legacy."--Eddie Stubbs, WSM Grand Ole Opry announcer "This carefully researched and richly detailed account of Seckler's life and career provides a new perspective on the work of his primary employers--Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Parsons's labor of love has produced a good read and an invaluable reference."--Jay Orr, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

    £81.90

  • Exploring the World of J. S. Bach

    University of Illinois Press Exploring the World of J. S. Bach

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA singular resource, Exploring the World of J. S. Bach puts Bach aficionados and classical music lovers in the shoes of the master composer. Bach scholar Robert L. Marshall and veteran writer-translator Traute M. Marshall lead readers on a Baroque Era odyssey through fifty towns where Bach resided, visited, and of course created his works. Drawing on established sources as well as newly available East German archives, the authors describe each site in Bach's time and the present, linking the sites to the biographical information, artistic and historic landmarks, and musical activities associated with each. A wealth of historical illustrations, color photographs, and maps supplement the text, whetting the appetite of the visitor and the armchair traveler alike.Trade Review"Beautifully written and lavishly illustrated, with both modern photographs and 18th-century images, Exploring the World of Bach is an invaluable guidebook for any traveler wishing to explore Bach's Germany and Germany's Bach… A sophisticated and original piece of scholarship (including a superb bibliography and valuable appendix) which will be of great value to both Bach experts and novices for years to come."--Early Music America "An extraordinary accomplishment and an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the life and works of J. S. Bach. The authors combine in a single volume the results of the latest research and biographical studies in the form of an illustrated guide of the towns in which Bach lived and which he visited." --Don O. Franklin, The American Bach Society"For the academic, student, or aficionado who might not be able to travel to Germany, this resource provides an excellent gateway into the geopolitical world where Bach lived, produced music as performer and director, and composed."--Notes "It is equal parts social history, travelogue, memoir, and biography, making for a surprisingly engaging look at one of the most iconic musicians of all time." --RoguesPortal"The book is clear, intelligent, authoritative, and readable. Also, it is stocked with photos. . . . You may wonder whether Robert and Traute Marshall themselves have followed Back through Bach Country. They have. Every step. I wish I had done it with them. But you can do it, in a sense, through this book. . . . I esteem what the Marshalls have done."--Jay Nordlinger, The New Criterion"This book deserves a wide audience of both specialists and general readers." --BACH: Journal of the Reiemenschneider Bach Institute"This highly informative, practical, beautifully illustrated, and altogether inviting travel guide to Bach country has no equivalent. Robert and Traute Marshall describe both the principal stations and the lesser known places where Johann Sebastian Bach and members of this distinguished family of musicians lived and worked in a wonderful way. History is truly brought to life for the traveling music lover. Small as it is in terms of geographic extent, Bach's world becomes truly monumental and memorable in this extremely useful book."--Christoph Wolff, author of Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician"The vivid descriptions and images of the places where Bach visited or lived, and the latest in musicological research, make this book essential reading for everyone who wants to know more about his music, life, and world."--Mark Kroll, harpsichordist and author of Johann Nepomuk Hummel: A Musician's Life and World

    1 in stock

    £77.35

  • Peggy Seeger

    University of Illinois Press Peggy Seeger

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade Review”Peggy Seeger has lived her life at the sharp end of folk music. Jean Freedman tells the story of this free-spirited artist and agitator.”—Billy Bragg”Freedman, a professional folklorist, is the perfect biographer for the incomparable Peggy Seeger. She skillfully weaves together insights from the many interviews she conducted with family, friends, and Peggy herself, with her own expert observations about the musical gifts and accomplishments of the folk music icon. Those of us for whom Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl were living legends will especially savor this book, but everyone will be fascinated and moved by the life of a uniquely talented musician who bridged so many divides: classical and folk music, the British and American folk scenes, and her roots in one of America’s great musical families to the several lives she created in the UK and the US.”—Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand and You're Wearing THAT?”O, how I love this book! It gives me everything I wanted to know about my friend, the salty and sweet Peggy Seeger and her unique and prolific family. All the pain is there, but so are the achievements and the joys. This book goes on my shelf next to The Mayor of MacDougal Street, and I can offer no higher praise than that.”—Tom Paxton”Freedman illuminates Seeger's life and career, creating a powerful, in-depth portrait of the woman, artist, activist, and champion of the folk music genre. . . . A must.”—Library Journal”An elaborately detailed investigation of Seeger's enduring musical legacy.”—Booklist"Jean R. Freedman's thoroughly researched book is the definitive biography--a masterpiece."--FolkWorks"This biography is at its best in evoking what it must have felt like to be Peggy Seeger, developing a political, feminist, consciousness while realizing her own loving and artistic self within a formidable family and political community. Recommended."--Choice"Her account will be welcomed by Seeger's perennial fan base while providing a fair, thoughtful introduction to new admirers."--Bookreporter

    1 in stock

    £22.79

  • Charles Ivess Concord

    University of Illinois Press Charles Ivess Concord

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn 1921, insurance executive Charles Ives sent out copies of a piano sonata to two hundred strangers. Laden with dissonant chords, complex rhythm, and a seemingly chaotic structure, the so-called Concord Sonata confounded the recipients, as did the accompanying book, Essays before a Sonata. Kyle Gann merges exhaustive research with his own experience as a composer to reveal the Concord Sonata and the essays in full. Diffracting the twinned works into their essential aspects, Gann lays out the historical context that produced Ives''s masterpiece and illuminates the arguments Ives himself explored in the Essays. Gann also provides a movement-by-movement analysis of the work''s harmonic structure and compositional technique; connects the sonata to Ives works that share parts of its material; and compares the 1921 version of the Concord with its 1947 revision to reveal important aspects of Ives''s creative process.A tour de force of critical, thTrade Review"Goes far beyond any existing literature in this domain. It's possibly the best analytical writing about a major Ives composition that I've seen."--William Brooks, University of York"It is refreshing to read such a passionate description of a major work of art which is so profoundly meaningful to the author. Practically every page is informative, or contains new insight into the work. By far the best work ever done on the subject."--Neely Bruce, Wesleyan University"Not only an important addition to the thinking about Ives, but a moving companion to the artist and the Concord." * Wire *"This is a book which no Ives scholar or enthusiast can be without. It is quite indispensable, a glowing and lasting monument to the forty years which Gann has spent loving and working on his subject." * Journal of Experimental Music Studies *"This is an interesting and important book. . . . Highly recommended." * Choice *"In Charles Ives's Concord: Essays After a Sonata Gann's analysis takes the form of a kind of biblical exegesis, where canonical texts are pored over by ever-new generations. He achieves a balance between writing for Ives specialists and delivering a text that is compulsively readable. . . . This is a book to savor with headphones." * Times Literary Supplement *"A major work gets a major analysis: a masterpiece gets a masterpiece." * Do the M@th *"A treatise on past and future performance practice for the 'Concord' Sonata. This is an absolutely essential reading for performers interested in this work." * Notes *"Gann's passionate survey of the Concord Sonata and its various offshoots and progeny is and should remain an indispensable contribution to Ives studies and twentieth-century keyboard literature." * American Music *

    2 in stock

    £87.55

  • Libby Larsen

    University of Illinois Press Libby Larsen

    Book SynopsisLibby Larsen has composed award-winning music performed around the world. Her works range from chamber pieces and song cycles to operas to large-scale works for orchestra and chorus. At the same time, she has advocated for living composers and new music since cofounding the American Composers Forum in 1973. Denise Von Glahn's in-depth examination of Larsen merges traditional biography with a daring scholarly foray: an ethnography of one active artist. Drawing on musical analysis, the composer's personal archive, and seven years of interviews with Larsen and those in her orbit, Von Glahn illuminates the polyphony of achievements that make up Larsen's public and private lives. In considering Larsen's musical impact, Von Glahn delves into how elements of the personala 1950s childhood, spiritual seeking, love of nature, and status as an important woman artistinform her work. The result is a portrait of a musical pathfinder who continues to defy expectations and reject labels.Trade Review“Excellently researched, beautifully organized, and entertainingly written. Presents a sensitive, wonderfully collaborative portrait of an ‘exuberant,’ highly productive, and driven woman who dealt with all the turbulence, social change, and musical vicissitudes of her social and musical worlds.”--Ellen Koskoff, author of A Feminist Ethnomusicology: Writings on Music and Gender“A scholarly contribution of great importance. Fills in some of the gaps of a leading female composer of our time. Von Glahn’s ‘collaboration’ with Libby Larsen is surely a positive factor in ensuring an unprecedented level of detail.”--Kay Kaufman Shelemay, author of Soundscapes: Exploring Music in a Changing World"Undoubtedly, Von Glahn's scholarship and the insight with which she has framed her research are immensely valuable, and as a first biography of the master composer, her book holds even more significance. Anyone, musical or not, who wants to learn about Libby Larsen should read Von Glahn's well-researched and thorough portrayal of her subject." --Women and Music"Recommended for anyone who wishes to study the fascinating life of Larsen, her compositions, and her presence in American compositional life." --Choral Journal"Libby Larsen: Composing an American Life is a welcome addition to the growing number of biographies about women composers." --NOTES

    £87.55

  • Los Romeros

    University of Illinois Press Los Romeros

    Book SynopsisSpanish émigré guitarist Celedonio Romero gave his American debut performance on a June evening in 1958. In the sixty years since, the Romero FamilyCeledonio, his wife Angelita, sons Celín, Pepe, and Angel, as well as grandsons Celino and Litohave become preeminent in the world of Spanish flamenco and classical guitar in the United States. Walter Aaron Clark''s in-depth research and unprecedented access to his subjects have produced the consummate biography of the Romero family. Clark examines the full story of their genius for making music, from their outsider''s struggle to gain respect for the Spanish guitar to the ins and outs of making a living as musicians. As he shows, their concerts and recordings, behind-the-scenes musical careers, and teaching have reshaped their instrument''s very history. At the same time, the Romeros have organized festivals and encouraged leading composers to write works for guitar as part of a tireless, lifelong effort to promote the guitar and expaTrade Review"For the protraction of my musical education and the great pleasure of their company, I am truly grateful to the family Romero."--Sir Neville Marriner, from the foreword"We are taken on a beautiful journey starting in the hills of southern Spain and traveling across the world in an exquisite poetic narrative that evokes the magic of the musical life of the Romero family. Their amazing guitar playing is central to this adventure, as they shared their passion with their audiences. The author gives us a wonderful insight into their lives and the enormous contribution they have made to the world of music."--David Russell, classical guitarist"It is impossible to overestimate the impact that the Romeros have had on the world of the classical guitar. They’ve enthralled millions of listeners and inspired generations of players with their brilliant technique, phenomenal musicianship, and joyous stage artistry. The LAGQ feels blessed to be part of their grand legacy, and we applaud the poetry and beauty that the author brings to this fascinating subject."--The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (John Dearman, Matthew Greif, William Kanengiser and Scott Tennant) "To see Los Romeros play is to witness them making love to an instrument that, in their hands, is transformed into the most beautiful human voice."--Jesús López Cobos, from the foreword"All the Romeros form a very close family that has bestowed on our guitar honors, nobility, and the best music. This book tells their story in a fashion worthy of them."--Manolo Sanlúcar, flamenco guitarist

    £87.55

  • Leonard Bernstein and the Language of Jazz

    University of Illinois Press Leonard Bernstein and the Language of Jazz

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"Katherine Baber is to be commended for her careful research and deep analysis in Leonard Bernstein and the Language of Jazz . . . the patient and careful reader will discover that the challenge is a satisfying and rewarding one." --Jazz and Culture"Remarkable . . . Baber's work is a unique and important contribution to Bernstein scholarship, and can serve as a model for how to approach musical signification through style in a nuanced and thorough manner that considers wider cultural phenomena." --Music Reference Services Quarterly​"While jazz has been discussed as a component in Bernstein's musical style before, Baber's focus is more on the potential meanings of Bernstein's use of that jazz, both in what it might have meant for Bernstein and for the audiences listening to the music. A strong contribution to the field."--Paul Laird, author of Leonard Bernstein: A Guide to Research​"Baber offers compelling evidence of the composer's integration of jazz and blues into his wide-ranging work." --Library Journal"Recommended." --Choice"Greatly impressive." --Booklist"Baber's discussions of Bernstein's music are well-researched, cogent, and thoughtful. . . . A firm foundaton on which to further investigate Bernstein's music and from a variety of angles." --Arts Fuse

    £77.35

  • Peggy GlanvilleHicks

    University of Illinois Press Peggy GlanvilleHicks

    Book SynopsisAs both composer and critic, Peggy Glanville-Hicks contributed to the astonishing cultural ferment of the mid-twentieth century. Her forceful voice as a writer and commentator helped shape professional and public opinion on the state of American composing. The seventy musical works she composed ranged from celebrated operas like Nausicaa to intimate, jewel-like compositions created for friends. Her circle included figures like Virgil Thomson, Paul Bowles, John Cage, and Yehudi Menuhin. Drawing on interviews, archival research, and fifty-four years of extraordinary pocket diaries, Suzanne Robinson places Glanville-Hicks within the history of American music and composers. P.G.H. forged alliances with power brokers and artists that gained her entrance to core American cultural entities such as the League of Composers, New York Herald Tribune, and the Harkness Ballet. Yet her impeccably cultivated public image concealed a private life marked by unhappy love affairs, stubborn poverty, and tTrade Review"The book proves to be well worth the wait. Thoroughly documented and beautifully written, it tells the fascinating story of a woman who survived--and thrived--in the professional music world of New York City in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s." --Notes"Peggy Glanville-Hicks: Composer and Critic is strongly recommended for all collections, academic and public. It is accessible to all." --Fontes Artis Musicae"Engaging and exceptionally well-written . . . Recommended." --Choice"Filling a huge canvas with immersive detail and impressive new research, Suzanne Robinson places an Australian-born woman in New York City at the very center of American music and modernism in the 1950s–60s. As Peggy Glanville-Hicks scrambled to earn a living as a composer through hard work, raw talent, persistence and wit, she became a discerning critic and indispensable colleague of Virgil Thomson at the New York Herald Tribune. Receptive both to the new experimental music and to ancient folk idioms of India and Greece, she delighted in creating music of textural simplicity, stylistic diversity, melodic elegance and charm, especially in songs and operas (notably Nausicaa, The Transposed Heads, and Sappho). Robinson tells the story of a musical maverick and feminist pioneer: shrewd and snarly, secretive and demanding, yet loyal in love and friendship with fellow artists like Paul Bowles, John Butler, Anais Nin, and Yehudi Menuhin. No one interested in American and Australian music and feminism will be without this fascinating book."--Elizabeth Wood, coeditor of Queering the Pitch: The New Gay and Lesbian Musicology"Robinson’s warm and authoritative prose is elegant, clear and engaging, and her scholarly rigour unpacking the multiple narratives Glanville-Hicks constructed around herself makes for absolutely fascinating reading." --Limelight"Robinson is especially good at making period and place come alive for the reader. The book should richly reward any reader who wants to explore American musical and literary history in this period—and the people who made it and lived it." --American Record Guide"The book proves to be well worth the wait. Thoroughly documented and beautifully written, it tells the fascinating story of a woman who survived--and thrived--in the professional music world of New York City in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s." --Notes

    £77.35

  • Blues Legacy

    University of Illinois Press Blues Legacy

    Book SynopsisChicago blues musicians parlayed a genius for innovation and emotional honesty into a music revered around the world. As the blues evolves, it continues to provide a soundtrack to, and a dynamic commentary on, the African American experience: the legacy of slavery; historic promises and betrayals; opportunity and disenfranchisement; the ongoing struggle for freedom. Through it all, the blues remains steeped in survivorship and triumph, a music that dares to stare down life in all its injustice and iniquity and still laugh--and dance--in its face. David Whiteis delves into how the current and upcoming Chicago blues generations carry on this legacy. Drawing on in-person interviews, Whiteis places the artists within the ongoing social and cultural reality their work reflects and helps create. Beginning with James Cotton, Eddie Shaw, and other bequeathers, he moves through an all-star council of elders like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy and on to inheritors and today''s heirs apparent like RoTrade Review"[Whiteis's] spot-on assessments of the social and economic forces . . . are as essential as his encyclopedic knowledge of the artists’ backgrounds and discographies."--DownBeat"Whiteis's book offers a lively tour of the music that grew out of the streets and churches and clubs of Chicago and that continues to evolve and shape roots music around the world." --No Depression"Whiteis’ knowledge of and love for his subject is strong and unquestionable and the reader is sure to feel and share the author’s hope that the legacy continues." --Living Blues"Appealing to serious jazz fans, Whiteis’s history serves as a handy reference to Chicago blues." --Publishers Weekly"Whiteis understands the art of keeping readers engaged while he adds to their understanding of the current Chicago blues community. . . . A book well-worth reading." --Blues Blast Magazine"David Whiteis’ writing pulls you in exactly as sounds spilling out of a blues club on a summer night would pull you off the sidewalk to listen. He doesn’t divorce himself from the narrative, which gives this work an intimacy, never letting it dissolve into an academic assignment." --NewCity Lit"Even if you’ve previously read articles or heard interviews with the blues musicians profiled in Blues Legacy before, you are guaranteed to learn something new and interesting about them while reading this well-written and fastidiously researched book by Mr. Whiteis." --Chicago Blues Guide"It captures the changes that have confronted the Chicago blues community but also shows the continuity and affirmation of a viable, dynamic blues tradition. Whiteis remains one of the premier documentarians of the Chicago scene."--Barry Lee Pearson, author of Jook Right On: Blues Stories and Blues Storytellers "In his latest history on Chicago blues, Whiteis is as usual informative and stimulating, while addressing some considerably contentious issues. The author has long demonstrated that he is one of the best writers on blues. He has a way with words that can paint a vivid portrait of his subject or scene."--Robert Pruter, author of Chicago Soul "Whiteis' tale mirrors what fans and blues musicians alike have experienced. That hypnotic calling of the blues. These profiles are essential for all fans to understand the universal calling that these musicians felt." --Blues Music Magazine

    £77.35

  • The Heart of a Woman

    University of Illinois Press The Heart of a Woman

    Book SynopsisBook Prize Winner ofthe International Alliance for Women in Music of the 2022 Pauline Alderman Awards for Outstanding Scholarship on Women in MusicThe Heart of a Woman offers the first-ever biography of Florence B. Price, a composer whose career spanned both the Harlem and Chicago Renaissances, and the first African American woman to gain national recognition for her works. Price's twenty-five years in Chicago formed the core of a working life that saw her create three hundred works in diverse genres, including symphonies and orchestral suites, art songs, vocal and choral music, and arrangements of spirituals. Through interviews and a wealth of material from public and private archives, Rae Linda Brown illuminates Price's major works while exploring the considerable depth of her achievement. Brown also traces the life of the extremely private individual from her childhood in Little Rock through her time at the New England Conservatory, her extensive teaching, and her struggles with raTrade Review"A rich contribution to Arkansas cultural history." --Arkansas Historical Quarterly "The Heart of a Woman thus conveys the tenacity and resilience of two groundbreaking practitioners: it is the culmination of a lifetime's scholarship and the first monograph to tell Price's story in such depth and breadth. . . . A call to take Brown's work forward, to make audible the fullness of Price's compositional voice, and to render this resurgence into permanent visibility." --Journal of American Musicological Society "The Heart of a Woman is more than a biography. It is an interdisciplinary work whose analytical explorations of race, gender, and class in American classical music is anchored by extensive musicological, archival, and oral history research on one of America's most prolific twentieth-century composers." --Journal of African American History"Brown's work has reached wider audiences and inspired new research that is expanding the narratives of music scholarship to explore how marginalized people have shaped history in the US and beyond." --Notes"Brown's commentary on Price's life flows seamlessly with information on African Americans involved in and around Price's lifetime and African American experience. . . . Groundbreaking." --ARSC Journal "This is a real biography, not a data dump of a writer's note cards. . . . Her analyses of Price's major works are technically well done with useful musical examples that don't bog down in theoretical chloroform. . . . Like any good musical writer, she makes you want to hear the music itself." --American Record Guide "Highly recommended." --Choice "The Heart of a Woman is a book that educates in the best way: by bringing to life in bold strokes Price, her contemporaries, and her times. As such, it stands as a fitting capstone to Brown's decades-long devotion to her subject and, more broadly, of giving voice to the rich complexity of the African American cultural experience." --The Arts Fuse "Rae Linda Brown offers an in-depth and meticulously researched portrait of Florence B. Price. Brown expertly weaves the details of Price’s life with examinations of race, poverty and sexism in the musical and social history of her time. " --Ms. Magazine "Brown recovers the legacy of a cultural hero while providing a fascinating glimpse of African American cultural life in the early twentieth century." --Booklist "In The Heart of a Woman: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price, Rae Linda Brown exceeds the expectations of a typical biographer. . . . If we view her life and compositional output in the way Brown suggests, Price disrupts and challenges the gatekeepers and Eurocentric framing of the classical canon altogether." --Current Musicology "A fascinating study of an overlooked Chicagoan, the first African American woman to have a musical composition played by a major orchestra, and the early stages of black feminism."--Chicago Magazine "The Heart of a Woman is a complex and engaging read of the life and music of Florence B. Price that illuminates how the cultural and intellectual lives of African Americans are deeply embedded in the tapestry of America’s social and musical history. Rae Linda Brown’s work extends beyond the conventional biography as it offers an analytical narrative that interrogates Price’s negotiation of the politics of race and gender, her role in advancing the black symphonic aesthetic, and her dedication to social change and racial equality on and off of the concert stage. The timeliness of this book and the revival of Price’s music are reflective of how the world’s consciousness has finally caught up with intellectual labor offered by both Florence Price and Rae Linda Brown.”—Tammy L. Kernodle, author of Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams"The Heart of a Woman is a much needed and long awaited biography of Florence Price by the leading scholar—Dr. Rae Linda Brown—who devoted her career to carefully constructing the life history of this pathbreaking composer. Not only do we now have the go-to reference for the important dates and events in Price’s life along with the most comprehensive list and analyses of her works. Brown also places Price within the larger context of her times. Starting with the Civil War era and carefully excavating the history of life for African Americans during Reconstruction, the formation of the Jim Crow environment, the Harlem Renaissance and through the first half of the twentieth century, we learn the details of Price’s upbringing and formation of her career. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, one of the early principal centers for black achievement in the south, Price trained in the leading music conservatories in Boston, and moved on to a cosmopolitan life in Chicago—one of the primary destinations of the Great Migration. In this beautifully constructed narrative, Brown takes the pieces we know about Price and embroiders them within a richly textured tapestry that reveals Price in her well known roles as groundbreaking composer, performer, and mentor as well as a fully fleshed out woman who experienced a difficult marriage, was a loving mother, and modeled a path of uplift that brought together respectability and excellence. Especially helpful is the way Brown diligently integrates Price into the network of well-known people around her, including William Grant Still (they both grew up in Little Rock), George Chadwick, Margaret Bonds, Marian Anderson, Emma Azalia Hackley, Clarence Cameron White, and so many others. Brown reveals how the philosophies of W. E. B. Dubois and Booker T. Washington shaped the environment of achievement that nurtured Price as she was coming of age. Her education was shaped both by historically black colleges and universities as well as predominantly white institutions, and we see Price as a woman of her times and a pioneer showing the way forward.”—Naomi André, author of Black Opera: History, Power, Engagement "A major achievement." --Classical Voice North America

    £92.70

  • Starring Women

    University of Illinois Press Starring Women

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"Starring Women: Celebrity, Patriarchy, and American Theater, 1790-1850 engagingly straddles celebrity theory and theater history research." --Journal of American Culture"As Sara A. Lampert ably shows, the most prominent female actors often outmatched their male peers in fame, reputation, and--most importantly--income. . . . Starring Women takes a deeply researched look at the lives and careers of the major actresses of the first half of the nineteenth century, most forgotten, even by theater historians. . . . This is a fascinating book." --Journal of American History"Highly recommended." --Choice​"Sara E. Lampert offers a valuable new study of women performers on the early American stage that brings the concerns of women's history to bear on histories of theater and drama in the early United States. . . . The insights of this fine work of scholarship open exciting new avenues in nineteenth-century theater history." --American Nineteenth Century History "Starring Women builds on much-needed expansion of the role women played in the development of North American theatre. These works all call for further examination of women and their role in early American theatre." --Theatre Survey​​"An excellent intervention in women's history and theater history, with significant new insights into the precarious gender politics that accompanied star female actors' appearance and the ways the economic underpinnings of the business of theater colored those politics. This is an important book."--Carolyn Eastman, author of A Nation of Speechifiers: Making an American Public after the Revolution"Starring Women illuminates how female celebrity culture bloomed within the newly forming middle-class structures of patriarchal America. With vivid prose and a keen sense of theory, Lampert establishes how early female stars employed 'public intimacy' to assert domestic femininity in the midst of what was an undeniably male world of entertainment. Lampert's book should be required reading for anyone interested in gender, early American history, celebrity, and the nineteenth-century stage."--Renée M. Sentilles, author of American Tomboys, 1850–1915Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. Between Stock and Star: Theater and Touring in the United States, 1790-1830 Chapter 2. Dis/Obedient Daughters and Devoted Wives: The Family Politics of Stock and Star Chapter 3. The Promise and Limits of Female Stage Celebrity: Fanny Kemble in America, 1832-1835 Chapter 4. Bringing Female Spectacle to the “Western Country,” 1835-1840 Chapter 5. Danger, Desire, and the Celebrity “Mania”: Fanny Elssler in America, 1840-1842 Chapter 6. The American Actress’ Starring Playbook, 1831-1857 Conclusion Notes Index

    £77.35

  • George Frederick Bristow

    University of Illinois Press George Frederick Bristow

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"Katherine Preston, accomplished and admired historian of the musical institutions of nineteenth-century America, has impeccable credentials to serve as Bristow's biographer. . . . Her story is compelling and authoritative." --Music & Letters"Katherine K. Preston's book on George Frederick Bristow, the thirteenth in the series, is an important expansion of the coverage and a welcome addition to the literature on American musical culture before 1900. . . . This book should serve as essential reading for scholars of nineteenth-century European music -- I can think of no book that gives such a broad introduction to the musical culture of nineteenth-century America in a similarly compact and focused way." --Nineteenth-Century Music Review"A critical edition of Bristow's Second Symphony introduced by an outstanding monograph-length essay by Katherine Preston, vigorously challenges us to reassess our collective opinion of Bristow by offering a new interpretive perspective on his life, his music, and the roles played by each within the broader development of orchestral music in the United States. Preston's introductory essay alone is worthy of extended commentary." --Notes"Preston does a wonderful job bringing to light this early composer of American music and describing the musical culture of the time. . . . Recommended." --Choice"This remarkable book makes an essential contribution not only to our understanding of Bristow's life, but to the landscape of nineteenth-century American music in all its multi-dimensionality. It is the definitive biography for years to come."--Douglas Shadle, author of Orchestrating the Nation: The Nineteenth-Century American Symphonic Enterprise"Katherine Preston’s biography of George Frederick Bristow gives the most thorough and authoritative study to date of this important composer’s life and works. On a broader level, it opens new windows of insight into a vibrant era in American musical history through the experiences of one of its most active participants."--E. Douglas Bomberger, author of MacDowellTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1 "The Life of a Musician: Troubles & Trials & Emergence as a Composer Interlude A Pedagogy I: Private Teaching Chapter 2 Fry and Willis: Bristow Becomes an Americanist Chapter 3 The 1850s: During Which Young Apollo Becomes a Jack-of-All-Trades and a Renowned Musician Interlude B Sacred Music: Church Music Director and Sacred Composer Chapter 4 The 1860s: Personal and National Agony and Triumph Interlude C Pedagogy II: Teaching in Schools Chapter 5 The 1870s: “A Manly and Patriotic” Composer of “Native Independence and Originality” Interlude D George Bristow as Businessman and Musical Authority Chapter 6 The Stalwart Educator and Composer Conclusion Notes Discography Works Cited Index

    £77.35

  • Unlikely Angel

    University of Illinois Press Unlikely Angel

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"Lydia Hamessley's book Unlikely Angel: The Songs of Dolly Parton offers a welcome addition to the scholarly discussion of Parton's oeuvre." --Journal of American Folklore"Dolly Parton herself has said numerous times that she wants to be taken seriously for her music, and this book, well written by a musical expert with academic credentials provides convincing proof that she deserves to be. . . . Not one of those puff pieces." --Visual Parables"Hamessley focuses on Dolly Parton's songwriting, paying specific attention to the music. . . . Unlikely Angel is a unique look at a globally iconic figure. . . . An in-depth discussion of songwriting and thematic analysis." --Journal of Appalachian Studies​"Recommended." --Choice​"Parton's world-class skills as a songwriter have never been the subject of such a precise and unique analysis as this. . . . Hats off to Hamessley for shining a light on the less familiar but perhaps most important aspects of the timeless artistry of Dolly Parton." --The Nashville Musician"I’m so excited about the book Unlikely Angel: The Songs of Dolly Parton spotlighting Dolly's unmatched gift as a songwriter. Always honoring and forgiving, Dolly shines only the best light on circumstances that would've taken the rest of us out. She's the hero who continues to encourage those who wanted change or wished to go back, bringing to life a part of the country and an existence most of us didn't know or understand, all while making hard living seem like heaven on earth. Her magical combination of heart and genius is a most awe inspiring thing to witness, having a beauty and delivery like no other. Dolly's tales of family, faith, and romance have created an American treasure who has continued to enrapture the world for decades. What a gift for us to see life through hers." --Alison Krauss​​​​"A dazzling close reading of Parton's songs and identity as a songwriter." --No Depression​​"Hamessley is especially attuned to the subtle ways in which Ms. Parton interweaves old and new musical strands—for instance, by ornamenting her verses with archaic flourishes and stock phrases from centuries-old ballads." –Wall Street Journal "A persuasive argument for taking Dolly Parton seriously as an artist. For folk and country music scholars, musicians, and fans." --Library Journal ​"Serious Dolly Parton fans and country music aficionados will be delighted by this in-depth gander into an icon's creative process. " --Booklist "By examining [Dolly] thoroughly through her musical creations, author and music professor Lydia R. Hamessley gives a dynamic view of this remarkable star." --Bookreporter.com "Meticulously researched . . . The fine, affectionate attention Hamessley pays to Parton's music offers all sorts of revelations: the old-world strangeness of Parton's lyrical diction, the Appalachian roots of the stirringly beautiful chest voice she employs on her 2002 song 'These Old Bones,' or how much more eerie her critically maligned tearjerker 'Me and Little Andy' becomes when you consider it within the tradition of the ghost story." --Lindsay Zoladz, Bookforum "Detailed and savvy analysis of Parton's songwriting." --KCTV5 "What Hamessley adds to the current Dolly Parton cultural boom is a page-turning deep dive into Parton’s artistry, borne out in her choices as a composer and performer. Unlikely Angel insists on her complexity and seriousness as a songwriter, celebrating an indelible body of work." --Chapter 16 “Lydia Hamessley invites us on a deep dive into the world of Dolly Parton as songwriter. The book weaves together insightful analyses of the musical forms, cultural roots, and meanings found in Parton’s vast catalog, with Parton’s own accounts of her music. Hamessley unveils these songs as the heart and substance of Parton’s contributions to popular culture, and will inspire every reader to take yet another listen.”--Jocelyn R. Neal, author of Country Music: A Cultural and Stylistic HistoryTable of ContentsForeword by Steve Buckingham Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction: Hello, I’m Dolly 1. “In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)”--Dolly’s Musical Life 2. “Coat of Many Colors”--Dolly’s Songwriting Workshop 3. “My Tennessee Mountain Home”--Dolly’s Appalachian Musical Heritage 4. “These Old Bones”--Dolly’s Mountain Identity and Voice 5. “I Will Always Love You”--Songs about Love 6. “Just Because I’m a Woman”--Songs about Women’s Lives 7. “Me and Little Andy”--Songs of Tragedy 8. “Light of a Clear Blue Morning”--Songs of Inspiration 9. “There’ll Always Be Music”--Final Thoughts Appendix A: Song List Appendix B: Timeline Appendix C: On Modes Appendix D: “Wayfaring Stranger” and Dolly’s Compositional Voice: A Case Study Notes Further Reading Index

    £87.55

  • Chen Yi

    University of Illinois Press Chen Yi

    Book SynopsisWinner of the Leila Webster Memorial Music Awardfor the International Alliance for Women in Music of the 2022 Pauline Alderman Awards for Outstanding Scholarship on Women in Music Chen Yi is the most prominent woman among the renowned group of new wave composers who came to the US from mainland China in the early 1980s. Known for her creative output and a distinctive merging of Chinese and Western influences, Chen built a musical language that references a breathtaking range of sources and crisscrosses geographical and musical borders without eradicating them. Leta E. Miller and J. Michele Edwards provide an accessible guide to the composer's background and her more than 150 works. Extensive interviews with Chen complement in-depth analyses of selected pieces from Chen's solos for Western or Chinese instruments, chamber works, choral and vocal pieces, and compositions scored for wind ensemble, chamber orchestra, or full orchestra. The authors highlight Chen's compositional strategies,Trade Review"Chen Yi is a remarkable addition to biographies of living women composers essential for any library's collection. The book's appeal to a variety of readers and its uses from score study to music appreciation present a wealth of musical, cultural, and personal context about the composer's life and artistic voice." --Music Reference Services Quarterly"The publication of Chen Yi, an illuminating book by American scholars Leta E. Miller and J. Michele Edwards, is by no means a small accomplishment. . . . Chen Yi presents a captivating narrative of the composer's career and highlights her unique musical identity through concise and insightful readings of nearly thirty selected works. . . . Miller and Edward's examination of Chen Yi's life journey and compositional strategies is quite informative and revealing, drawing on current scholarship, the authors' own research and analysis, and their own extensive interviews with Chen Yi conducted in 2015 and 2016." --Notes"Leta E. Miller and J. Michele Edwards's book Chen Yi is a much-needed study of the composer's music and provides an excellent guide for those interested in programming and engaging in further research on her work." --Bulletin of the Society for American Music"To say that Chen Yi is the definitive guide to the life and works of Chen Yi is to say something true but not nearly enough. Not only is it a fascinating and insightful account of the journey of one extraordinary woman composer and her music, but it is also a primer on the history of twentieth-century China, a resource on Chinese music, and a volume to which readers will return again and again for both its utility as a reference book and the pleasure of a good read." --International Alliance of Women in Music"Chen Yi is a remarkable addition to biographies of living women composers and is essential to any library's collection. The book's appeal to a variety of readers and its uses from score study to music appreciation present a wealth of musical, cultural, and personal context about the composer's life and artistic voice." --Music Reference Service Quarterly"An intimate picture of Chen’s life and music. The incredible details, nuanced discussion, and dynamic analyses have made Chen Yi an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and enthusiasts of contemporary music." --Kapralova Society Journal“This welcome contribution to UIP’s landmark series chronicles Chen Yi’s inspiring journey from her childhood in Guangzhou and Shimen to her musical studies in Beijing and New York to her position as an internationally renowned composer and educator. A touching portrait of a remarkable person and a worthy guide to her incomparable music.”--Ellie M. Hisama, author of Gendering Musical Modernism: The Music of Ruth Crawford, Marion Bauer, and Miriam GideonTable of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Biography and Framework Chapter 3. Compositional Processes Chapter 4. Solo and Chamber Music Works Chapter 5. Works for Large Instrumental Ensembles Chapter 6. Choral and Solo Vocal Works Chapter 7. Issues Glossary List of Works Notes References Index

    £77.35

  • The Lady Swings

    University of Illinois Press The Lady Swings

    Book SynopsisTrade ReviewDottie Dodgion was honored during the "In Memoriam" segment of the Grammy Awards 2022 "Dodgion had a fascinating story to relate. She and Enstice produced a book that flows naturally and always maintains the reader's interest." --Jersey Jazz"This highly readable history says much about the demands upon someone determined to be a performer. . . . This book also contains an audio companion illustrating Dodgion's insufficiently celebrated playing, and she certainly knows how to tell a story, musically and verbally. " --Jazzwise"The Lady Swings undulates as much with dynamic rhythm as it does with delicious drama and laugh-out-loud storylines." --JazzTimes"Written in a breathtaking, breezy narrative that takes the reader on a musical journey that is reflected as if in the mirror of Ms Dodgion’s life itself. . . . This is what makes the book so exciting: the mere fact that you will discover a musician who gave – and continues to give – her life to the music she fell in love with as a child and one who remains its guardian, keeping the flame aglow even in the sunset of her life." --JazzdaGama"A pioneering woman in jazz and swinging drummer, Dottie Dodgion played with some of the great musicians of her time. She has a unique story to tell."--Quincy Jones​​"When I first caught Dottie Dodgion in action I was bowled over. I didn’t hear a great female drummer but a truly great jazz drummer, period, able, as you’ll be happy to learn from the story she tells with such insight, humor and complete honesty, to please both Charles Mingus and Wild Bill Davison. The lady's words swing as hard as her ride cymbal, and will keep your foot tapping all the way through."--Dan Morgenstern, Director Emeritus, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University​​​"Dottie Dodgion not only takes you on a dizzying ride through her incredible life, she teaches you some of the great secrets of jazz and unmasks the archaic attitudes toward female musicians that have marginalized great talents like hers. What a wonderful journey she’s had. What a wonderful book this is!"--Judy Chaikin, director and cowriter of The Girls in the Band“A unique and important contribution to the history of jazz."--Dee Spencer, composer, performer, educator ​​"An interesting book about an eventful life in music." --New York City Jazz Record "The Lady Swings belongs on the short list of essential jazz autobiographies." --All About Jazz "The Lady Swings is an entertaining and informative book, one that is easily recommended." --Syncopated Times "A full portrait of the obstacles American women faced in the 20th century jazz scene . . . Dodgion's pull-no-punches style and determination in the face of daunting situations bring an obscure figure to vivid life." --Library Journal "A compelling tale of a groundbreaking person from a memorable time in American cultural history." --FraNoi "A swinging tale that is more than a fascinating footnote in the annals of jazz." --Kirkus Finalist, Book of the Year About Jazz: Biography and Autobiography, Jazz Journalists Association (JJA), 2022 Table of ContentsForeword Acknowledgments Prefatory Notes Introduction Part I. The California Years Scene One: On the Road Scene Two: Spot Behind The Scenes One: The Giaimos Scene Three: Eleanor Powell’s Shoes Behind The Scenes Two: The Tiptons Scene Four: The Eight-Day Clock Scene Five: Polio Scene Six: Jail Bait Scene Seven: TD&L Scene Eight: Mingus Scene Nine: Apple Pie, Apple Pie, Apple Pie Scene Ten: A Little Help from My Friends Scene Eleven: The Drummer Was Always Late Scene Twelve: Monty Scene Thirteen: Jerry Scene Fourteen: 176 Steps Behind The Scenes Three: Eugene’s Lessons Scene Fifteen: First Time in Vegas Scene Sixteen: Followed by Myself in the Moonlight Scene Seventeen: The IT Club Scene Eighteen: Thunderbird Part II. The New York and East Coast Years Scene Nineteen: 14 Drummers Scene Twenty: Mount Airy Lodge Scene Twenty-One: Strollers Scene Twenty-Two: The Village Stompers Scene Twenty-Three: Eddie Condon’s Behind The Scenes Four: Pearls to Swine Scene Twenty-Four: Park Ridge Scene Twenty-Five: Piano Party Behind The Scenes Five: Ruby Scene Twenty-Six: Suburban Housewife Scene Twenty-Seven: In the Middle of the Brook Scene Twenty-Eight: Harold’s Rogue and Jar Scene Twenty-Nine: Melba Liston And Company Scene Thirty: Fazee Cakes Part III. California Redux Scene Thirty-One: The Best Kept Secret in Town Scene Thirty-Two: A Leader at Sixty-Five Scene Thirty-Three: Pacific Grove Scene Thirty-Four: Octogenarian Postscript Notes Discography Inde

    £77.35

  • Soul on Soul

    University of Illinois Press Soul on Soul

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisFirst time in paperback and e-book! The jazz musician-composer-arranger Mary Lou Williams spent her sixty-year career working in—and stretching beyond—a dizzying range of musical styles. Her integration of classical music into her works helped expand jazz''s compositional language. Her generosity made her a valued friend and mentor to the likes of Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. Her late-in-life flowering of faith saw her embrace a spiritual jazz oriented toward advancing the civil rights struggle and helping wounded souls. Tammy L. Kernodle details Williams''s life in music against the backdrop of controversies over women''s place in jazz and bitter arguments over the music''s evolution. Williams repeatedly asserted her artistic and personal independence to carve out a place despite widespread bafflement that a woman exhibited such genius. Embracing Williams''s contradictions and complexities, Kernodle also explores a personal liTrade Review"Recommended." --Choice"Diligently chronicles the life and times of the extraordinary innovator."--Jazz Times"Kernodle’s Soul on Soul serves as an essential text, working to set the record straight on one of the genre’s most significant—and conspicuously ignored—composers." --DownBeat"The music and life of Mary Lou Williams and [this] admirable biographie ought to be required material in American history, music, and women’s studies courses. Maybe then the jazz Williams created will receive the universal embrace it deserves." --Women's Review of Books

    1 in stock

    £87.55

  • The Music of James Tenney

    University of Illinois Press The Music of James Tenney

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"A welcome contribution to the literature of modern music. . . . Highly recommended." --Choice"An astonishing book, a virtual encyclopedia of James Tenney that threatens to leave no remaining scope for further scholarly work on his music. It answered many questions I've long had about Tenney's music, and has already acted as a spur to my own work. The amount of information one could currently find on Tenney's work would comprise only a small fraction of what is included here."--Kyle Gann, author of The Arithmetic of Listening: Tuning Theory and History for the Impractical Musician"Wannamaker's essential, extraordinary work on the music of James Tenney is a brilliantly detailed and exhaustively researched addition to our comprehensive understanding of Tenney's music and compositional ideas, and to our conception of music of the second half of the twentieth century."--Larry Polansky, Emeritus Strauss Professor of Music, Dartmouth CollegeTable of ContentsPreface xiConventions and Abbreviations xv1. Introduction 11.1. A Summary Chronology 31.2. Aesthetic and Methodological Bases: Music in Sound 102. Early Works and Influences (1934–59) 182.1. Stan Brakhage and Interim (1952) 192.2. Manhattan and Meeting Carolee Schneemann 212.3. Lionel Nowak, Carl Ruggles, and Charles Ives’s Concord Sonata 232.4. Seeds (1956/1961) 253. Tape Music and “Meta/-Hodos” (1959–61) 313.1. Lejaren Hiller and Harry Partch 313.2. The University of Illinois Electronic Music Studio 323.3. Collage #1 (“Blue Suede”) (1961) 343.4. “Meta/-Hodos” (1961) 414. Computer Music and Ergodicity (1961–64) 484.1. Edgard Var se, D’Arcy Thompson, and “Growth to Form” 514.2. John Cage, Variety, and Ergodicity 544.3. Max Mathews and MUSIC 594.4. The Acoustic Correlates of Timbre 624.5. Algorithmic Composition 634.6. Analog #1 (Noise Study) (1961) 684.7. Phases (1963) 765. Performance and the Social (1964–68) 835.1. Downtown in the 1960s 835.2. Tone Roads and an American Experimental Tradition 865.3. Fluxus and Friends 895.4. Carolee Schneemann, Antonin Artaud, Wilhelm Reich 935.5. Choreogram (1964) 975.6. Fabric for Che (1967) 1016. Process and Continuity (1969–71) 1106.1. Gradual Processes 1126.2. For Ann (rising) (1969) 1186.3. Postal Pieces (1965–71) 1247. Interlude: Harmonic Theory 1357.1. The Meaning of Harmony 1377.2. The Harmonic Series 1407.3. Interval Tolerance and “The Language of Ratios” 1447.4. A History of Consonance and Dissonance 1477.5. Roughness and Beating (CDC-5) 1487.6. Toneness and Harmonicity (CDC-2) 1497.7. Harmonic Space (CDC-1) 1557.8. Harmonic Measures and Their Applications 1658. Canons and the Harmonic Series (1972–79) 1698.1. The Harmonic-Series Music 1708.2. Clang (1972) 1728.3. Spectral CANON for CONLON Nancarrow (1974) 1768.4. Harmonium #1 (1976) 1838.5. Three Indigenous Songs (1979) 1899. Harmonic Spaces (1980–85) 1939.1. The Harmonic-Space Music 1939.2. Harmonium #3 (1980) 1959.3. Bridge (1984) 1999.4. Koan for String Quartet (1984) 21610. Transition and Tradition (1986–94) 22410.1. Critical Band (1988) 22510.2. Flocking (1993) 23111. Spectra and Diaphony (1994–2006) 23711.1. Dissonant Counterpoint and Statistical Feedback 23711.2. In a Large, . . . (1994–95) 24111.3. Diaphonic Study (1997) 24611.4. Arbor Vitae (2006) 25012. A Tradition of Experimentation 259Appendix A. Acoustics, Sensation, and Logarithmic Models 261Appendix B. Spectrographic Analysis 265Notes 271References 301Index 315

    2 in stock

    £48.60

  • The Music of James Tenney

    University of Illinois Press The Music of James Tenney

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisA work-by-work guide to the composer's groundbreaking music Robert Wannamaker's monumental two-volume study explores the influential music and ideas of American composer, theorist, writer, performer, and educator James Tenney. Delving into the whole of Tenney's far-ranging oeuvre, Wannamaker offers close, aurally grounded analyses of works linked to the artist's revolutionary theories of musical form, timbre, and harmonic perception. Written as a reference work, Volume 2, A Handbook to the Pieces, presents detailed entries on Tenney's significant post-1959 experimental works (excepting pieces covered in volume 1). Wannamaker includes technical information, an analysis of intentions and goals, graphs and musical examples, historical and biographical context, and thoughts from Tenney and others on specific works. Throughout, he discusses the striking compositional ideas found in Tenney's music and, where appropriate, traces an idea's appearance from one piece to the next to reveal the evTrade Review"An astonishing book, a virtual encyclopedia of James Tenney that threatens to leave no remaining scope for further scholarly work on his music. It answered many questions I've long had about Tenney's music, and has already acted as a spur to my own work. The amount of information one could currently find on Tenney's work would comprise only a small fraction of what is included here."--Kyle Gann, author of The Arithmetic of Listening: Tuning Theory and History for the Impractical Musician"Wannamaker's essential, extraordinary work on the music of James Tenney is a brilliantly detailed and exhaustively researched addition to our comprehensive understanding of Tenney's music and compositional ideas, and to our conception of music of the second half of the twentieth century."--Larry Polansky, Emeritus Strauss Professor of Music, Dartmouth CollegeTable of ContentsPreface xiii1. 1952–59 (Early Works) 11.1. Monody (1959) 32. 1959–61 (Tape Music) 72.1. Improvisations for Medea (1960) 72.2. Collage #1 (“Blue Suede”) (1961) 83. 1961–64 (Computer Music) 93.1. Analog #1 (Noise Study) (1961) 93.2. Entrance/Exit Music (1962) 93.3. Five Stochastic Studies (1962) 133.4. Stochastic String Quartet (1963) and Stochastic Quartet (1963) 163.5. Dialogue (1963) 223.6. Radio Piece (1963) 273.7. Ergodos I (1963) 283.8. Phases (1963) 303.9. Music for Player Piano (1964) 303.10. Ergodos II (1964) 363.11. String Complement (1964) and Instrumental Responses (1964) 384. 1964–68 (Performance and the Social) 424.1. Choreogram (1964) 424.2. Chamber Music (1964) 424.3. Maximusic (1965) 474.4. Metabolic Music (1965) 474.5. Three Theater Pieces (1965) 494.6. Collage #2 (“Viet Flakes”) (1966) 514.7. A House of Dust (1967) and Letters to Gertrude Stein (1968) 604.8. Fabric for Che (1967) 664.9. Swell Piece (1967) 665. 1969–73 (Process and Continuity) 675.1. For Ann (rising) (1969) 675.2. Quiet Fan for Erik Satie (1970/1971) 675.3. Hey When I Sing These 4 Songs Hey Look What Happens (1971) 745.4. Postal Pieces (1965–71) 755.5. For 12 Strings (rising) (1971) 975.6. In the . . . Mode (1971, 1973) 996. 1972–79 (Canons and the Harmonic Series) 1036.1. Clang (1972) 1036.2. Quintext: Five Textures (1972) 1036.3. Canon (1973) 1176.4. The Chorales Series (1973–75) 1186.5. Spectral CANON for CONLON Nancarrow (1974) 1246.6. Orchestral Study: The “Creation Field” (1974) 1246.7. Three Harmonic Studies (1974) 1266.8. Three Pieces for Mechanical Drum (1974–75) 1346.9. Three Pieces for Drum Quartet (1974–75) 1456.10. Symphony (1975) 1606.11. Harmoniums #1, #4, and #5 (1976–78) 1616.12. Saxony (1978) 1696.13. Three Indigenous Songs (1979) 1727. 1980–85 (Harmonic Spaces) 1737.1. Harmoniums #2, #3, #6, and #7 (1980–2000) 1737.2. Chromatic Canon (1980/1983) 1787.3. Band (1980/1983) 1907.4. Septet (1981) 1937.5. Glissade (1982) 1997.6. Two Koans and a Canon (1982) 2177.7. Voice(s) (1982/1984) 2207.8. deus ex machina (1982) 2267.9. Bridge (1984) 2297.10. Koan for String Quartet (1984) 2297.11. Changes: 64 Studies for 6 Harps (1985) 2297.12. Water on the mountain . . . Fire in heaven (1985) 2578. 1986–94 (Transition and Tradition) 2598.1. The Road to Ubud (1986) 2598.2. Rune (1988) 2648.3. Critical Band (1988) 2758.4. Tableaux Vivants (1990) 2758.5. Three New Seeds (1991) 2888.6. Pika-Don (1991) 2908.7. “Ain’t I a Woman?” (1992) 2988.8. Flocking (1993) 3008.9. Cognate Canons (1993) 3018.10. Forms 1–4 (1993) 3078.11. Ergodos III (1994) 3159. 1994–2006 (Spectra and Diaphony) 3189.1. In a Large, . . . (1994–95) 3189.2. Three Pages in the Shape of a Pear (1995) 3189.3. The Spectrum Series (1995, 2001) 3209.4. Diapason (1996) 3339.5. ’Scend for Scelsi (1996) 3379.6. Diaphonic Study (1997) 3409.7. Diaphonic Toccata (1997) 3419.8. Diaphonic Trio (1997) 3429.9. Song ’n’ Dance for Harry Partch (1999) 3439.10. Seegersong #1 and Seegersong #2 (1999) 3499.11. Last Spring in Toronto (2000) 3529.12. Prelude and Toccata (2001) 3579.13. (Fontana) Mix for Six (Strings) (2001) 3599.14. To Weave (a meditation) (2003) 3619.15. Essay (after a sonata) (2004) 3649.16. Just Another Bagatelle (2004) 3679.17. For Piano and . . . (2005) 3689.18. Panacousticon (2005) 3709.19. Arbor Vitae (2006) 37210. Music in Popular Styles 37310.1. Three Rags for Pianoforte (1969) 37310.2. “Listen . . . !” (1981/1984) 37510.3. Blues Canon (from “Listen . . . !”) (1981) 37610.4. Nathan’s Song (1983) 37610.5. Sneezles (an encore) (1985/1995/2000) 37611. Arrangements 37711.1. Maple Leaf Rag 37711.2. Stoptime Rag 37711.3. General William Booth Enters into Heaven 37711.4. Blues for Annie 37811.5. Beatles Song Arrangements 37811.6. Five Studies for Player Piano 378Notes 379References 407Index 417

    2 in stock

    £52.70

  • Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music

    University of Illinois Press Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"Well-written, thoroughly researched, and altogether engaging. . . Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry is a work of substantial scholarship, which will come as no surprise to those familiar with Yeo's previous work." --Historic Brass Society "Well-written, thoroughly researched, and all together engaging. . . Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry is a work of substantial scholarship, which will come as no surprise to those familiar with Yeo's previous work." --Historic Brass Society Journal "Mungons and Yeo's book, Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry, combines painstaking research with insightful sociological and musicological analysis. Although co-authored, the book has a unified narrative. . . . Even if one has only marginal interest in Home Rodeheaver as a person, this scholarly description of American society at the turn of the 20th century proves fascinating and illuminating." --International Trombone Association "Refreshingly free of academic speak. . . . Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry is more than a tale about the emergence of gospel singing and revivalism, it's a quintessentially American story about a quintessential American." --ARSC Journal "Like virtually all books in the University of Illinois's much-honored Music in American Life series, Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry fills in significant blanks in our understanding of different aspects of music history. Mungons and Yeo elevate their contribution with meticulous detail and research; a penchant for finding fascinating, revealing stories and anecdotes; and a sparkling, highly readable prose style that's all too rare in most academic books. " --Robert Darden, Christianity Today"Kevin Mungons and Douglas Yeo’s biography of Homer Rodeheaver brightens an important corner of gospel music history that has gone unexplored for far too long. What they reveal in their remarkable portrait of 'Reverend Trombone' is a man both of his time and ahead of his time. It’s more than a tale of the emergence of gospel singing and revivalism, it’s a quintessentially American story about a quintessential American."--Robert Marovich, author of A City Called Heaven: Chicago and the Birth of Gospel Music"I am truly taken by the book. It is good, informative, comprehensive, and free of the usual assortment of clichés, academic hems and haws, and over-spiritualization. It takes the often over-simplified view of music and revivalism and exposes it to a fascinating cross-weave of thought, content, and context which, to my embarrassment, I thought I had already had a handle on. I recommend it without reservation. There is no doubt in my mind that general readers and specialists alike will benefit from reading this book."--Harold Best, emeritus professor of music and dean emeritus of the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music"Mungons and Yeo have rescued a former icon of American religious life from undeserved historical obscurity, placing Homer Rodeheaver in the complex context of his times. . . . If you care about the Christian music industry and an era largely lost to history, you’ll want to read this book." --Stan Guthrie

    4 in stock

    £87.55

  • Tania Le243ns Stride  A Polyrhythmic Life

    University of Illinois Press Tania Le243ns Stride A Polyrhythmic Life

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"This books is well conceived, well written, and a great companion text to Robin Moore's books on Cuban music. . . . A major contribution to the scholarship of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Latin women composers and musicians, but also transcends these categories by showing how a woman of color navigated exile and migration to make a new life while maintaining her identity and growing personally and artistically." --New West Indian GuideWinner of the Bronze Medal in the category of Best Biography in English at the 2022 International Latin Book Awards "The story Madrid tells is not only coherent, but also captivating, opening new avenues of scholarly inquiry about Léon's life, work, and the worlds she has inhabited. I look forward to seeing those kernels sprout in different and unexpected directions and develop into still more fascinating narratives." --Journal for the International Alliance of Women in Music"Madrid's biographical counterpoint masterfully portrays the polyrhythmic life of Tania León. His use of photos and personal interviews vividly tells León's life story. The prevalence of this intimacy adds flavor -- a taste of memoir -- inviting readers to devour the book like linear notes. The juxtaposition of firsthand accounts with historical context and political drama creates a page turner -- a biography containing strides that many outside of music will find illuminating." --Notes"Highly recommended." --Choice"There is incredible beauty and power in the way this book attends to aesthetics and artists with rigor and care. What sets it apart are Madrid's stunning interviews conducted over several years with León and her family, peers, and students. An essential document about an extraordinary artist."--Alexandra T. Vazquez, author of Listening in Detail: Performances of Cuban MusicTable of ContentsList of Figures ix List of Music Examples xiAcknowledgments xiiiIntroductionNotes on a Biographical Counterpoint 1Chapter 1 Tonic: The House on Salud Street 11Chapter 2 Modulation and Displacement: cubana de adentro . . . cubana de afuera 33Chapter 3 Syncopation and Color: Adapting to New Life Rhythms 59Chapter 4 Direction: Leading in Music, Leading in Life 93Chapter 5 Voice: Style and Idea in the Music of Tania León 126Chapter 6 Canon: Representation, Identity, and Legacy 166Epilogue Tania León’s Stride: An Echo that Reaches Our Ears 181Appendix A List of Works 185Appendix B Tania León’s Life 193Notes 203Bibliography 229Index 241

    £77.35

  • Interviews with American Composers

    University of Illinois Press Interviews with American Composers

    Book SynopsisTrade Review"A unique time capsule of recent history of the state of the field of art music composition in the United States in 1972. Virginia Anderson presents Childs’s interviews as-is, warts and all. As such, each interview is revealing of the character of the times and of the protagonists."--Chris Brown, Professor Emeritus and former Co-Director of the Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College

    £45.00

  • Johann Scheibe

    University of Illinois Press Johann Scheibe

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn his nearly forty-year career, Johann Scheibe became Leipzig's most renowned organ builder and one of the late Baroque's masters of the craft. Johann Sebastian Bach and Johann Kuhnau considered Scheibe a valued colleague. Organists and civic leaders shared their high opinion, for Scheibe built or rebuilt every one of the city's organs. Drawing on extensive research and previously untapped archival materials, Lynn Edwards Butler explores Scheibe's professional relationships and the full range of his projects. These assignments included the three-manual organ for St. Paul's Church, renovations of the organs in the important churches of St. Thomas and St. Nicholas, and the lone surviving example of Scheibe's craft, a small organ in the nearby village of Zschortau. Viewing Scheibe within the context of the era, Butler illuminates the music scene of Bach's time as she follows the life of a gifted craftsman and his essential work on an instrument that anchored religious musical practice anTrade Review"A pioneering book with no equivalent in the field. It is packed with fascinating facts about Leipzig and its history that will interest not only musicians and musicologists but scholars of history, religion, and many other disciplines. At the same time, Butler's coverage of Scheibe's professional, personal, and domestic life will engage anyone at all interested in J. S. Bach and his milieu."--Russell Stinson, author of J. S. Bach at His Royal Instrument: Essays on His Organ Works

    15 in stock

    £48.60

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