Being Prez

Dave Gelly

Named as One of The Observer Music Monthly’s Best Books for 2007

Lester Young (1909-1959) was one of the great jazz masters, whose tenor saxophone playing brought new levels of expressiveness and subtlety to the jazz language. Many of his recordings – with Billi...

Open up the Doors

Mark Evans

Within the Judaeo-Christian tradition -with few exceptions- music has always been central to the performance of sacred rites. The musical setting of liturgy has its roots in the earliest customs of the church and the practice has continued to evolve up to the present day. As the contemporary church...

Living Life without Loving the Beatles

Gary Hall

This book is a satirical and sometimes surreal self-help guide, which as well as challenging the orthodox perception of the Beatles' status, presents an oppressed minority with a complete defence strategy for dealing with any Fab Four fans reluctant to give peace a chance. By breaking Beatles' fans...

The Velvet Underground

Richard Witts

Though The Velvet Underground existed for less than three years with its original members, it is considered to be not just the ‘ultimate New York band’ but also the most influential group ever. Artists who have acknowledged such influence include David Bowie, The Sex Pistols, Pat...

Out of the Long Dark

Alyn Shipton

Few British jazz musicians have been at the cutting edge of as many movements as Ian Carr. A pioneer bebop player in his youth, a colleague of Eric Burdon and John McLaughlin in the R'n'B explosion of the 60s, co-leader of one of Britain's most innovative jazz groups, the Rendell-Carr Quintet, a fre...

Chasin' the Bird

Brian Priestley

In his short life, Parker was one of the most influential musicians in jazz, and together with Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, he was the main architect of the modern jazz revolution of the 1940s known as bebop. Addicted to drugs and alcohol, and with a tangled private life, Park...

The Last Miles

George Cole

Miles Davis was one of the musical giants of the twentieth century. In a career that spanned more than five decades, Miles transformed the face of jazz four or five times and his music resonates far beyond the bounds of his genre. Miles made the most famous album in the history o...

Belly Dance

Tina Hobin

Tina Hobin - scholar and practitioner of belly dance, with many years experience of teaching and dancing throughout the world - introduces us to the history of this ancient and mystical dance in an accessible style, both enjoyable and easy to read. Tracing the evolution of belly dance from prehis...

Stockhausen on Music

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Robin Maconie

A collection of essays by Karlheinz Stockhausen on his early life, composing methods, and the structure of his modern music, compiled by Robin Maconie.

Luciano Berio

Luciano Berio

Rosanna Dalmonte, Balint Andras Varga

Two seminal interviews with the celebrated Italian composer, exploring his views on music, his method of composition and wider philosophies.

Balmonte asks about Berio's early life and deveol pment before going into a detailed examination o f his major instumental works o f the 1960s-...