Musicals Books

It's a long title, to be sure, it is so terribly important that more people know who the great Hecky Krasnow is, and what he has made possible, that even those who read the title can get the idea.

He should be a household name, considering that, if not for him, we would never have heard the songs "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," Frosty the Snowman," "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" or one of my favorites, "Suzy Snowflake." He believed in these songs when others did not. He bucked the Columbia brass when they and every other label had no use for Johnny Marks' "Rudolph" song. Even Gene Autry was reluctant. The song made added millions to Autry's bank account, as well as those at Columbia who first rejected it. The only one who did not become rich was Krasnow, who was, like many of us, a corporate worker bee with a wife and children to support.

But as this book makes abundantly clear, Hecky Krasnow was rich in the ways that really count. In an exhaustively detailed account of growing up in a suburban household where Dad often took the kids to work, where the likes of Gene Kelly, Rosemary Clooney, Art Carney, Bob Keeshan, Paul Tripp or Jackie Robinson was doing a children's recording, Judy Gail Krasnow deftly shares her storytelling gifts by providing as many sensory details as possible. You really feel like you're having dinner at the Krasnow's, right down to the tasty roast beef with pan drippings.

The anecdotes run the gamut to the absurdly funny (a party at "Tubby the Tuba" composer George Kleinsinger's Manhattan penthouse, which is a living jungle of wild animals, bugs and shrubberies) to the frightening (personal accounts of racism and a kid's-eye-view of McCarthyism). Either Judy has one astonishing memory or she kept a very copious diary.

When rock & roll and the youth market began to change the face of mass entertainment, the "golden age" of children's records as Krasnow experienced it (with kid discs like "Little Red Monkey" hitting the charts and crossing over into mainstream pop) were fading. (And yes, the success of Disney's venture into recording also crowded out most of the competition -- what can I say?)

Fortunately, Judy Gail Krasnow has created this loving tribute to her father so we can all appreciate his contributions to our lives. It's also reassuring to learn that this man was such a kind and decent human being. It would have been so disillusioning to find out that the person behind these records really cared about what he was doing and who was listening.

His work may not have made him rich, but we are all the richer for it.

This book was a wonderfully written biography of a father, extremely talented, and a period of time - the 40's and 50's - and its music - how it came to be acknowledged and published. Hecky Krasnow, father, husband and friend was a remarkably talented man. I am so glad to have been able to share in his life and the music business at that time, through the excellent storytelling of his daughter Judy. It was a joy to read!!!

I have just finished reading "Rudolph, Frosty, and Captain Kangaroo", Judy Krasnow's loving memoir of her father, Hecky Krasnow. His career in the children's music recording industry of the 1940s and 50s as a writer, producer, and all-around cheer-leader is described in such colorful and interesting detail, that I came away from the book wishing that I could have been Judy's best friend, or even better, a brother or cousin, growing up with her and sharing all of the wonderful adventures that she had being involved with her Dad as a pre-teen in the recording sessions, parties, etc. This book brought to life the very large collection of vintage kiddie records which I own, including just about all of the records produced by Hecky. Prior to reading this superb book, the records on my shelves had an inanimate quality to them. That reality has been radically altered as a result of Judy's sharing of her personal account of the stories behind the records that Hecky produced for Columbia records. But the book goes way beyond just the discussions of the records themselves. It is a great look into an era of "innocence" in our nation's history as seen through the eyes of a kid growing up after World War II in the New York City area. It has been my distinct pleasure to know you, Judy. Thanks!

I met Judy Gail Krasnow as a fellow author in the South Florida Writer's Association. When she began to describe the book she was planning to write about her father, I knew the story would speak to me and I couldn't wait for her to complete the project. This book was worth waiting for. As others have noted, it brings back an era in vivid detail. I found that I was enjoying the book so much that I forestalled finishing it as long as I could because I didn't want it to end. The book gives us an inside peak at a very important time in children's music and it also permits us to appreciate the stories behind the stories of Hecky Krasnow's personal and public worlds and Judy's experiences being a part of it all. Judy is, of course, a master storyteller and she brings us into her story most magnificently. I told my seven year old grandson that I knew the daughter of the man who discovered Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. His eyes widened in awe and the two of us strode up Broadway singing the song. You will sing when you read this book. At times you will laugh out loud; at others you will cry. It is a terrific read. I bought it for everyone on my holiday list.

Here is a unique contribution to the bookshelf of behind-the-scenes memoirs
about the recording industry. Though millions of children grew up listening
to "kidisks" in the decade following World War II, Judy Krasnow is one of
the few kids who actually witnessed them being recorded, and the only one to
write about it. Her narrative is told with childlike enthusiasm, and her
memories are enhanced by several scrapbooks-worth of primary documents.

Judy relates many anecdotes of growing up in the recording studio alongside
her father Hecky Krasnow, a Juilliard-trained musician who headed the
children's record division of Columbia Records from 1949 to 1956, and whose
biggest claim to fame is having produced Gene Autry's megahit recording of
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." He was also the music man behind Captain
Kangaroo, and dozens of popular children's records in between.

There is something in these pages to satisfy almost anyone with an interest
in American popular culture. In addition to the great singing cowboy, we get
a few famous crooners, a very important baseball player, the haunting
specter of McCarthyism, a psychologist and his healing machine, a gig on a
really really big TV variety show, bookburning, payola, Chef Ed Norton, a
totally bizarre party at a composer's penthouse atop the Chelsea Hotel, a
guitar lesson from a Frosty folksinger, and quite a lot more.

We come away with a loving portrait of a very decent, talented man, who,
unlike many of his peers in the record biz, didn't get filthy rich. He did
better than that.

I read this book first in the 1980s, while I was actually working in the theater (and I had met a few of the people talked about in the book). What I like about it so much is that Goldman expresses his opinions, especially about the fare on Broadway at the time (not so good), the deficiencies of some of the actors and actresses and his sweeping view of the whole milieu. I don't always agree with him, but he's so incisive that you gain enormous respect for him, particularly when he's writing about Judy Garland, Sandy Dennis and Tom Stoppard. Students of theater history should turn to this book to find out what a bygone era (before huge corporations and nonprofits took over Broadway) was all about.

This book is it. It's just it. If you have any inclination at all to work in the theatre in any capacity, this book is required reading. Do not move to New York without it. I did, and I barely barely survived the few days it took me to find a copy. Order it now while you still have time! I'm serious!

William Goldman is not only a great screenwriter, but a wonderful writer of prose/criticism, as evidenced by "The Season," probaby the smartest, if not funniest, book ever written about the (sorry) state of Broadway. Here he tells you all you would want to know about the making of a Broadway show--all the compromises, betrayals, fits of ego, and under-the-table deals that keep the "fabulous invalid" (a phrase, by the way, that makes Mr. Goldman want to vomit) alive for another season. As a lover of theater, you may become depressed at the cynical machinations that go on to get what is, after all, usually pretty mediocre material to the stage; however, Mr. Goldman's prose is so crisp and entertaining that your spirit is ultimately lifted by his keen analysis. Although the patient is very sick, here's a doctor who has a prescription to offer. And all through the book, he does offer suggestions on how Broadway can better serves us, the theatergoers. Alas, the advice wasn't followed then (the late 60s), and it's not being followed today.

This is an extraordinary book. It is written by an author with a first class mind and genuine curiosity about his subject. Whilst one may not agree with all of it, the writing is a delight and he does not shirk dealing with controversial issues such as the influence of homosexuality on the stage and the corrupt financial practices in relation to theatre tickets, etc. Even though it was written for the 1967-1968 season, it still resonates and viewed in retrospect, it provides crucial evidence relative to the aetiology of the culture wars.

William Goldman's groundbreaking book The Season is all it's cracked up to be and more. Though a number of the people he deals with are no longer with us, many of the shows have been forgotten, and the ticket prices are quite a bit higher, it's astonishing how much the Broadway of the late 1960s resembles the Broadway of today. The same problems, the same headaches, the same disappointments, and the same triumphs are all still a part of the Great White Way. No Broadway enthusiast should be without this book; The Season is a stunning history--and current events--lesson on Broadway theatre.

This book contains a good selection of Yanni pieces that are not too hard to play yet reproduce the original music very faithfully.

Ever since my daughter was little, she and I have loved Yanni's music. This was a Christmas gift to her. It is so neat to hear her playing the compositions we have listened to for so long. She has taken piano for 10 years and is learning this music easily. She loves this book.

This is a very thorough Piano Book of Yanni Songs. The music was large enough to see cleary, and enough room to make notes in. I am enjoying it immensly.

This is a must-have for all pianists who love Yanni! Each piece is emotionally moving and ingeniously intricate, though not so intricate as to be impossibly difficult. There are only one or two typos that most people would miss, but they never detract from the integrity of the piece. "In The Morning Light" is exceptionally beautiful, and is not that difficult. "Until The Last Moment" is another excellent piece, although it is the most difficult in the entire book. I could keep on listing my favorites, but that list would include pretty much every song in the book. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!!

This is a great book for anyone who wants to play some of Yanni's best piano solos for themselves. It is not too hard to do, nor too easy. It does not include every solo from In My Time album; but it is still very good. I have enjoyed it very much. The only problem I have is one that is inherent to Yanni's composing style: there is a lot of repetition in his music, and I have had to stop and figure out where to go next with a lot of the passages. It is not a problem with the product-it is just his style. Very nice book-I would recommend it to Yanni fans as well as pianists who would like to play some challenging, different, beautiful music.

The daily exercises used by Charlie Parker. What more could a sax player want? Scholars have traced their influence in his recordings....

This book was a bit too challenging for me and seemed to be mostly scales. I prefer jazz songs etc... so maybe it was just a poor choice for me.

This book is really good if you want to master scale passages. I on the other hand, I really don't care for scale music like this. Very challenging!

They say phrases from some of these Klose etudes found their way into Charlie Parker's musical vocabulary. When asked by Paul Desmond, Bird replied "It's not smoke and mirrors, some of it comes from books."

When it comes to playing any musical instrument, gaining mastery over the fundamentals of how to play said instrument forms the base of a musicians training. Yes, a large part is also sheer creativity, but being skilled in creating what you want, and how you want it, is first and foremost to being able to create music.

That being said, the etudes enclosed in this book will work the full range of skills necessary to effectively play the saxophone. Range, articulation, accidentals, endurance, breathing, and phrasing are all worked in each exercise.

If each etude is worked through methodically, starting out slowly and working towards full tempo, all of your playing skills should see improvement.
I pair this with Jackie McClean's "Daily Warm-Up Exercises for Saxophone" to start each practice session, allowing me to drill the full range of scales, chords, and overall technique.

For a basic course in music theory, this is the compilation which will teach you everything you need to know about tonality, cadences, voice leading, nonharmonic tones, and harmony.

Bach's Chorales are the stuff of legend. The sheer wealth of invention is staggering. The Reimenschneider version has been around for decades and it is difficult to see how it could be improved. The layout is excellent with useful and insightful notes from a true Bach scholar.

For any piano player, music theorist, composer, or music enthusiast, this is the book for you. Excellent for daily piano study or for a better understanding of common practice tonal harmony. Great notes in the back for reference. The basis of tonality lies within these pages.

This is nearly indispensable for the serious music student. Used in most first-year theory courses, the Bach Chorales illustrate what the master did and why our Western music theory is based on the chorales he wrote.

First bought 18 years ago, I found that I'd somehow lost my copy along the way. I bought another copy since I'm taking further music theory courses and though it isn't required in this particular course, it helps immensely to have a copy on hand.

The book is very well laid out but the music is smaller than would be preferred. If the scores were printed larger it would be more enjoyable.

As a guitar instructor for 10 years now, I'm alway on the lookout for good materials...and this book is one of the best. The selections start at a level most advanced beginners can handle and progress through the late intermediate level. There is a second book that is just as good. The pieces are perfect for recital and contest material. All the pieces are well edited and are also supported with tab.

The selections are great. I absolutely enjoy this book, but I wish that I had never purchased it. Tabulature makes this accessible to the most novice player, but establishes bad practices which are extremely difficult to break. Even though it is harder and slower, I recommend a good note speller and a series which does not use tab.

This review relates to the Book 2 of the same author. Its amazing that Ben Bolt is the only classical guitarist who offers this kind of product meaning classic themes on a progressive order with tablature to the public and not only that, the book is masterly ordered to improve with every lesson or piece your technical expertice step by step magicaly. It seems that the author knows exactly what are the techniques in each lessons that help you reach a l;evel that the next one is a little more challenging with the consequence that when you finish the book you have a very profound technical knowledge of playing guitar. Great Book recommended for the intermediate guitar player that want to master at record speed the classical guitar. Probably after finishing the book 2 I recommend to perfect your guitar playing knowedge is just to get a great teacher and give public concerts. Thanks Bolt and I am waiting book 3...

I bought this book and have learned almost all the songs in it. The recordings on the CD sound very nice. The song selections are excellent. They are a little more up beat and lively then many other solo classical guitar I have bought. Classical guitarist sometimes play the most boring songs but Ben Bolt's selection is superb.

I enjoyed this book and the CD. It's good. However I feel short-changed because it's only 27 progressive solos and not 39. You have to get the remaining 12 solos in Book II.

Dear Mr Ben Bolt, it would be great if you or your publisher did not misguide buyers with such a title.

I still give it a 5 star rating regardless....

this is one of the greatest. sublime had done so much with what little money they had to use. making this cd was one of the best things they could have done. the lyrics, and bass lines, and vocals, and drums, are all absolutly "sublime". we wish bud and eric and the rest of the lbda the best of luck, and rest in peace brad. we love and miss you

this album totally kicks a** it is one of sublime's best. some of the great songs on this album are... Date Rape, badfish, smoke 2 joints, 40oz, what happened, ebin and that is only a few of them. if you don't have this album get it now!

40oz. To Freedom is one of the best albums I have ever heard. I recomend all SUBLIME fans get this CD. Some great tracks include, Waiting for my Ruca, 40oz, to Freedom, Smoke two Joints, Don't Push, and BadFish to name a few. SUBLIMES unique sound and awsome lyrics are really expressed in this CD. I listen to it every day. Its my fav. CD. Everyone should go out and buy it!

Best sublime every you could want rock, ska, reggae, Funky freash lyrics

This album is a pure stroke of genious!

Sublime touches every genre thinkable, and it's so incredibly well done. Best work they ever did. Track after track, the magic just goes on!

I feel I can die peacefully after hearing this album. Don't know how I survived all those years without it.

To all you secret tweakers out there: Buy it mon!

This is a great book to have if you love the Les Paul. It's really that simple, although for the serious collector or afficionado, more information about dates & numbers would be good. As that doesn't apply to me, and the book delivers elsewhere, five stars, no question.

Tony Bacon books are always top notch: stunning photos, accurate descriptions and very well researched. This book is no exception. It is, however in my opinion, an excellent overview of the famous Les Paul guitar---not a resource book. At 160 pages it does a very fine job of detailing how this legendary guitar has blossomed into SO many different models over the last 50 plus years (up to 2001). Sticklers for details, however, will probably find it lacking in some areas (year by year pix and descriptions,for example), but then one would need a book twice as thick to serve as this kind of encyclopedia on the subject. I highly recommend it as an introduction to Les Pauls, and it will probably be all that most guitarists want to know about the subject. It would make a great gift!

Gibson Electrics - The Classic YearsGibson Guitars: 100 Years of an American Icon

Very informative and extremely well illustrated. I now feel like an authority on the LP.

A great book on Gibsons and also for references.

This is the bible for children's folksongs, with artwork by Barbara Cooney the icing on the cake!

Our family has loved this songbook very much. There are ninety songs in the book. Written by Pete Seeger's sister, American Folk Songs for children has songs each of them suggests an activity. There are songs for going places, songs for knocking on doors and windows, songs for eating, songs for dancing, and many others. I would like to buy a copy as a gift, and I hope there is a reprint date soon.

This is the book with the favorite songs from my long ago childhood. So I bought it for my daughter so she could sing these to my grandchildren.

It has the good songs. Songs with lots and lots of verses. Fun songs for older kids and songs to sing babies to sleep.

This book is a treasure! The introduction gives a wonderful background on these authentic folk songs and how they can be used with children. This is an essential book for music teachers, but also great for parents. Be careful, though, because once the children know the songs you'll hear them over and over again... :)

I own a copy of the original print of this book. It posseses some of the most whimsical little songs I have yet to hear. Its just...fabulous...and I don't even know how to play any instruments....lol

His uncle Felix Blumenfeld was a Horowitz teacher.
Some of Neuhaus students among many others:
- Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels, both considered top 10 world pianists.
- The first teacher (the mother) of Andrei Gavrilov.
- Radu Lupu.

This book is funny as exemplified below by some excerpts:

"Thinking about art and science, about their mutual relationship and contradictions, I came to the conclusion, for some reason or other, that mathematics and music are situated at extreme poles of the human spirit, that these two antipodes limit and determine the whole spiritual and creative activity of man and that situated between them is everything that mankind has created in the field of science and art".

I found his above childish thoughts very interesting, perhaps meaning that everything is a linear combination of pure logic (math) and pure emotion (music). As I work with math and like to play piano I will tend to be a "complete" human being :-)

Other of his "jokes":

"When Emil Gilels came to study with me in the Moscow State Conservatory, I was once forced to say to him: You are already a grown man, you can eat steak and drink beer but so far you have been fed with a baby's bottle"

"I remember that when Glazunov was about fifty his mother used to tell the washerwoman to be careful with the child's linen"

"To play the piano is easy. I mean the physical process, and not the summit of pianistic art.It is obvious that to play the piano very well is just as difficult as to do anything else very well, for instance to pull teeth or macadam a road".

"I must once more apologize for this excessively long history about myself; that is always somewhat indecent. But what can one do?"

"Carl Czerny, the "dry and methodical genius" who has tortured generations of pianists wih an inexhaustible stream of studies and exercises..."

And many more...

His jokes are almost everywere. Otherwise the book has several useful recommendations and analysis about the art of piano playing and has chapters on "artistic image of a musical composition", on tone, on technique and on teaching activity.

But be advised: Sometimes the book is a bit verbose, repetitive and philosophical. It is not directed only to technical problems.

The Art of Piano Playing such a terrific book that every pianist should have it. I've read it through and will read it again and again. The information in this book is to the point. You can't help but come away with a better understanding of the art of piano playing

I'm sure anyone shopping for this book knows that Heinrich Neuhaus was the mentor of such giants of the piano as Richter, Gilels and Lupu. Well, here between these covers you'll find the reason why. Neuhaus possessed a great mind and an ability to express himself like no other pedagogue I have read. While reading his book I kept thinking I was reading Tolstoy, not for any similarity of style or substance but because I got the same feeling from both their works, that here is a great man who had lived a full life, and then had the patience and wherewithal to sit down and commit it to paper, thereby enriching piano posterity. This book deserves pride of place on any pianist's bookshelf. I thank the previous reviewer who said that it was a crime that this book is out of print. I paid a hefty amount for what looks like a slim volume, but it is packed with such profundity that I have to consider this a seminal addition to my library. Get it wherever you can, this is one for the ages.

I havent heard anything bad about this book. Neuhaus is a very cultural and wise man, and great sense of humor. After reading this book I have found myself quoting it quite often.
Its not perfect, but nothing is so... Just read it and you will know what I mean, Its very well worth the read, and it will make you laugh several times.

Lets put it this way.... this is not light reading (is the slang word an airplane book?). It is though one of the best books on playing the piano. Neuhaus is concise, to the point and likes to put out interesting anecdotes, some humorous.
This is also pretty advanced so I doubt non musicians could find any utility apart from historical tidbits. Neuhaus taught Richter who taught many others.... and just like we do with other disciplines - we have to pay tribute to the forefather of this lineage/legacy, especially since he helped produce Richter.