Popular music
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Song for Someone
Trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler (1930–2014) was one of the most enigmatic and influential musicians in recent memory. His instantly recognisable sound was a driving force within every major innovation in modern European jazz during the last half of the 20th century. More importantly, his lif...
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Bill Russell and the New Orleans Jazz Revival
Born in 1905, Bill Russell demonstrated diverse musical interests from an early age. Having been a contemporary of John Cage, Henry Cowell, and Lou Harrison, amongst others, his significance as a percussion composer is well known amongst aficionados. His work as a musicologist of New Orleans jazz mu...
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The Godfather of British Jazz
This is the first book about the life of jazz pianist and composer Stan Tracey CBE (1926-2013). Drawn largely from his personal diaries and some of his many interviews, his son Clark Tracey pieces together what made the late Stan Tracey a unique character in jazz music. Stan's wit and wisdom also co...
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The Long Shadow of the Little Giant
Over forty years have elapsed since the death of the British jazz legend Tubby Hayes and yet his story still continues to captivate. Beginning as a precociously talented teenage saxophonist, he took first the local and then the international jazz scene by storm, displaying gifts equal to the finest...
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The Beatles
Of all pop music's icons, the Beatles have attracted more attention and generated more discussion than any other performers. The group's transformation from a semi-professional skiffle group in Liverpool to one of the twentieth century's key historical and cultural events has been told and re-told i...
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Do You Want to Know a Secret?
When Billy J. Kramer's "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" by Lennon and McCartney topped the charts in 1963, he was the first singer in the world to have a number one hit with a Beatles song, apart from the Fab Four themselves. This propelled the teenage Kramer into the fast lane, and he followed it wi...
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The Ultimate Guide to Great Reggae
The Ultimate Guide to Great Reggae celebrates (and helps you find) the greatest songs of reggae. It focuses on every style of reggae, from mento to Jamaican R&B, ska, rock steady, dub, DJ roots, dancehall and more. It opens with an exceptionally comprehensive brief history of reggae. This is followe...
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Antipodean Riffs
Antipodean Riffs is a collection of essays on Australian jazz and jazz in Australia. Chronologically they range from what could be called the 'prehistory' of the music -- the tradition of US-sourced African-American music that predated the arrival of music billed as 'jazz' -- to the present. Themati...
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Rufus Wainwright
Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright (b. 1973) is famous around the world for his multi-faceted musical style, shown through both his recorded output and his engaging live performances. In this book, Katherine Williams combines aspects of his life story with scholarly readings drawn...
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An Unholy Row
The post-war jazz revival marked the beginning of an independent British youth culture with music as its focus. Although it always remained a minority enthusiasm, jazz actually embodied the vaguely felt sentiments, dissatisfactions and aspirations of the post-war generation more fully than any other...