Genres Books

Oscar's "autobiography" is delightful reading! It's written in a very conversational style. It covers various aspects of his youth, family, teachers and training, career, musical influences, and his fellow musicians. I have also read "The Will To Swing" by Gene Lees. Oscar's book is a great compliment to that book. It's nicer, in a way, since it's written by Oscar. The reader feels that we're meeting Oscar Peterson in person. In order to know Oscar beyond this, listen to the music. That was his life, after all!

A wonderful book! about a life well lived and enjoyed, and thankfully Mr. P is still on the planet. I must take issue with the Publishers Weekly review; it does not follow a predictable format, and why would it? Anyone who has heard this musical giant in live performance or on recordings realizes that the superlative, wonderful music that pours from his soul and through his fingers is truly a Jazz Odyssey. OP may have some idea of where he wants it to go, but in the end his musical journey of surprise and discovery is ours too. This is a book to read and re-read - just like his recordings, you will discover something new that you missed the last time around. Kudos!

Aside from having one of the most beautiful cover jackets I've seen on a book in a long time, this is an engaging, lovely book to read. I have to take issue with the reviewer from Publishers Weekly above - once you know that Oscar has suffered a stroke, I don't think it's fair to expect a perfectly written or perfectly structured book. What we get, instead, is a collection of reminiscences - nearly all of which shine with Oscar's warmth and intelligence and extraordinary feel for his subject: the life of a jazz man. Here's a good example, where he discovers a new piano, as a child:

'Early on I imagined that all the pianos I would play would be uprights. Not so! One day I was sent to the auditorium of my High School on an errand, and there stood a beautiful baby grand piano. I couldn't resist it: the errand vanished from my mind as I sat down to play this exquisite discovery. It was fantastic! The sound from its horizontal strings was a revelation after the vertical, harp-like strings I was used to: it seemed to reach inside me and grab at the pit of my stomach. The bell-like treble end particularly intrigued me, as I tried out numerous harmonic clusters in my left hand against moving phrases in the upper register, and I came away determined that one day one of these musical marvels would be mine. My own grand piano.' (page 297)

I can truly recommend this book if you're a fan of jazz piano. According to the book, there is a CD available of some of Oscar's best work to tie in with this, but I have not seen it anywhere yet.

Almost 25 years ago when Oscar Peterson last performed here in Winnipeg, my wife and I enjoyed prime seats at our concert hall for what would be the most remarkable musical performance by ANYONE, that either of us has ever had the pleasure to witness.

It was Oscar Peterson at the peak of his powers, `alone together' with Joe Pass (the guitar genius, who was born Joseph Anthony Passalaqua in New Jersey, and who died in L.A. 13 years ago). I remember we could see a heavy gold bracelet, glinting in the spotlight, dancing on Oscar's right wrist as he made music at the speed of light!

In the years since, whenever we'd see that glint of gold on Oscar's wrist -- during rare television appearances - we'd say to ourselves, What's the story on that bracelet?

Tonight I picked up a copy of this "Jazz Odyssey" autobiography, and went straight for the index, looking up "Sinatra, Frank" (my favorite male singer - Oscar's too) and . . . sure enough, there was the answer to my question! (on page 206).

"At the end of the final (recording) session with Fred Astaire, Fred presented each member of the group with a beautiful gold identification bracelet -- which he had autographed.

"I have worn mine ever since; years later, when I met Fred Astaire at a party Frank Sinatra was giving for me, he told me he'd seen me on television a few nights before and had been `thrilled' to see I was wearing his bracelet!

-----

Oscar's "report" on those marvelous recordings with Astaire - his acute observations of little things he noticed and vividly recalls fifty years later -- is what makes this musical autobiography truly unique. How many musicians have we heard interviewed, who think and express themselves at the following level?

"As I waited for Fred (to arrive) I started toying with a few phrases I thought unusual in the songs likely to be used - Top Hat, for example (and) As I sat there engrossed, I became aware of a presence nearby, and looked up into the smiling face of Astaire himself. He wore a tweed sports jacket a soft pair of brown slacks (engagingly held up by a man's tie) and a hat set at an almost rakish angle.

"He was at once immensely likeable, and awe-inspiring: sensing my diffidence, he said kindly, `Sounds awfully good to me, Oscar!'"

"After the initial rehearsal went very well - although Fred voiced some doubts about his competence as a vocalist - he was very clear on the feel and treatment he wanted on most of the songs; on others he was less sure, and wondered aloud, `I've never understood why he wrote that kind of lyric for this particular tune," or "I've never felt comfortable with this passage.

"It would be idle to pretend that the sessions passed without a hitch. For all his rhythmic feel, Fred was not naturally attuned to jazz phrasing, and it was at times perilously easy to throw him, via the wrong intro or a misplaced fill.

"We learned to gauge our ad lib lines around and behind him very carefully, giving him enough time to hear his place of re-entry coming up. We also stuck firmly to the normal harmonic clusters, as any kind of `modern' dissonance could faze him, or make him worried about his own intonation.

"I found it fascinating to discover how different were Fred's senses of time as a vocalist and as dancer: Dancing, his time was so strict that he could make an accompaniment sound early or late; his vocal time however, was VERY loose, uninhibited, and unmeasured.

"I found the best way to accompany Fred was to give him a long harmonic chord cushion and let him take his natural liberties with metronomic time.

"It was also riveting to watch Fred on some of the slow ballads. His normal posture was to hold one hand cupped over his ear as he sang, but on some tunes he would lower the hand and instinctively fall into a semi-swirl, so familiar from his gliding ballroom performances.

"And we were all touched by his nervous, boyish anxiety: he'd rush to the piano after every take asking, `How was that?' or `Did I stay in tune?'

"One or two surprises remained. We found out that he LOVED playing drums (he had a full set in his living room) and we cajoled him into sitting-in during a rehearsal! It was a riot! To hear his time, in conjunction with Ray Brown's vast sound was quite an event - and the look of rapt attention on his face was a joy to behold!

-----

In a sort of `afterward' titled "THE WILL TO PERFECTION," Oscar writes,

"Creating an uninhibited, off-the-cuff musical composition in front of a large audience is a dare-devil enterprise, one that draws on everything about you, not just your musical talent. It requires you to collect all your senses, emotions, physical strength, and mental power and focus them totally onto the performance - utter dedication every time you play."

The pay-off, Oscar says, is "scary (but) also uniquely exciting. Once it's bitten you, you never get rid of it. Nor do you want to: for you come to believe that if you get it ALL right, you will be capable of virtually anything. That is what drives me, and I know it will always do so."

Lets not beat around the bush's, this book is tough. This is like looking into Jimi's bag of tricks and you will be tested!!! All in all the one books that blues guitarist who love Jimi have to spend some time with, ok a lot of time with but.....you will get something out of it.

In my opinion, the best collection of Jimi's songs. This tablature is top notch, and should take you a while to get through even one song. :)

Jimi Hendrix's guitar style is established based on a dozen of preceding blues masters such as Muddy Waters. "Blues" shows Jimi's rendition of the blues standards performed by the masters. Learning this transcription carefully is the shortest way to master the techniques and licks used by the blues masters. "Radio One" and "Woodstock" transcriptions are also essential for blues guitar students.

This is Jimi's quintessential blues album, with covers of great standards and true-to-form originals. His rendition of 'Born Under a Bad Sign' is quite satisfying, with its string scratching, chordal rolls, and tasty wah-wah treatment.

Then there's the climactic highlight of 'Here My Train A Comin' (electric)' from his 5/70 Berkley concert - a performance thought by many, to be Jimi's most comprehensive expoundment upon the genre; and I would concur.

'Red House' is a great jam and not too difficult to get under the fingers. The key to learning other player's stuff, is to listen very closely to identify the elements and structure, then seek to apply them to your own voice.

This book would be a good place for even a beginner to learn the blues. Because after all, the blues isn't complicated. And Jimi's masterful expression of it didn't come from a place of technical prowess, but rather from a place of deep-rooted and heart-felt meaning.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a wonderful example of literature that allows the reader to escape to another place while examining how one thinks about life's difficult decisions. Jody reminds us that with all of our difficult decisions, sometimes the choice isn't option A or B, but rather pushing our own boundaries to find something better.

I really enjoyed reading Jody and highly recommend it to all. I was captivated into the story within the first page - an experiance I find to be quite rare in the world of literature. The author did an extraordinary job, beautifully written with a unique storyline and characters that are both lovable and relatable. My only question is, when is the movie coming out and where can I buy the tickets......

Kier tells the tale of his protagonist, Jody, with a "Tolkienesque" style. He develops the story from the heart of a true storyteller. Kier doesn't merely chronicle a story about a boy named Jody, he is Jody and takes the reader through a labyrinth of perils finding friends both true and false along the path. It is a good, solid storyline, well worth the read for the early, or slightly pre, teenage reader.

David Kier has written a delightful story for those who want to step away from the grit that increasingly characterizes our modern world. It is a story about good versus evil, although he craftily holds you in a suspenseful ambiguiity as to the outcome. Jody, the main character in the story, exemplifies what can happen when one pursues life with a passion, even when the path of those pursuits is unorthodox or even shunned by others. So those with a good heart, I encourage you to step into Jody's world(s) and participate in the battle.

The story is written with a Tolkien-like quality. The vocabulary is too difficult for small children to read. Rather, it seems like a story that could be read aloud to and enjoyed by a small child. It could have come from the oral tradition of storytelling. For those that still see a role for naivete, Jody will be pleasing to read.

My brother has albums and CD's by the wall full and this book helped him with those little known facts about the album "cuts" he tries to profile in his computerized inventory. Great book!

If you care or want to know anything about music and it's chart performance this is the book to have. I have always been fascinated with the Billboard charts, ever since first listening to Casey Kasem count them down in the mid-70's. For anyone with music as a hobby, this is a must have.

Just like the other editions of this book, this is a great reference to the Billboard 200 chart. It includes every album that made the charts! It's fun to look at your favorite artists and find out where they stand compared to the hundreds of other artists. It is easy to find what you are looking for, by artist or category and then the top artists and albums!

In this update of the 2002 volume, Joel Whitburn has not messed with what was already pretty much a perfect compendium of all things related to the Billboard Top 200 album charts. The layout of the book remains much the same which means that information is extremely easy to find, with artist lists of every album that made the Top 200, every song contained on those albums and where they got to on the Hot 100, comparative analysis of the most successful album artists all time, by decade, as well as lists of artists with most #1 albums, most top 10 albums, etc. etc. This is an essential volume for anyone interested in US album chart history or even the casual chart follower.

I just updated this replacement hardcover book from my earlier version of 1955-1986. It's my reference bible for songs and artists. I have a large collection of 45 rpm's (mostly from the 1950s and 1960s) and the only way I can inventory them is by referring to this book. I'm also purchasing more current MP3 songs online on Amazon.com of course. The book also lists song titles when I can't remember the artists group or name. A must have book if you want to be completely organized about your music collection. Thank you Mr. Joel Whitburn!

This the only complete reference book, updated every four years. I ONLY buy the hardcover version, and even that is falling apart by the time the newest version is published. I have purchased his books since 1978! Simply the best!

This is the definitive book for the Billboard Hot 100 chart from 1955 thru 2006. Every charted song, every charted artist. The bible of the radio industry. Indexed by artist or song title....a great argument solver. I've been buying Joel Whitburn's books since the 70's.

If you need to know about the last half century of pop music, is necesary to buy this book because is all in one.

Brahms was a genius. This book includes his greatest and most important works, with the notable acception of the student of harmony/orchestration/composition student.

This edition is (inexpensive), detailed, and easy to read. I use these scores for study and rehearsal and I highly reccommend it. Detailed corrections (as well as explanations) from earlier editions were done by Hans Gal.

It is a large score (9 3/8 x 12 1/4 inches)and the is very durable. The pages are thick and the binding allows for the score to lie flat for easy use.

Buying the full score of these wonderful symphonies allows you to dig deeper into such wonderful works. I strongly recomend you buy this full score.

This edition of the Brahms symphonies is relativley cheap for the wealth of material it presents. The music is very easy to follow and is a must for the Brahms fan and serious student or layperson.

I'm just checking, in the top-left corner of the image for this book, it says "Intermediate Duet" and in the top-right it says "4 hands - 1 piano". Is this a/the duet book, or is that a faulty image?

The Quentin Blake illustrations are cool. The lyrics are very readable. (Quentin Blake illustrated many Roald Dahl books) A 4 year old friend of mine loves this book and sings along with it.

Joseph is one of the greatest musicals I have ever seen. As a 14-year-old participant in this production, I strongly recomend this music to anyone who loves Andrew Lloyd Webber. This is a great collection of ballads and up-beats.

Joseph is one of many brothers. He is his dad's favorite so the brothers don't like him much. Joseph is given a colorful coat by his dad wich gets the brothers very mad. They sell him into slavery. Potiphar is a rich man in Egypt and he buys Joseph. Joseph gets thrown into jail because Patiphar's wife is flirting with him. He becomes well known because he can interpert dreams. Will he get out of jail?

I've read the first 2 in this collection (Julip & The Seven Ounce Man) and I have to say that Harrison is quickly becoming one of my favorite American authors. His language is witty, but diverse. He can describe the heck out of a patch of woods using concision only guys like Fitzgerald could find, and then go ahead and give you a wildly humorous anecdote about a mistaken bar fight (one of my favorite scenes from The Seven Ounce Man). This will appear all within the same story and--more importantly--the two segments will actually be connected. Some authors make you forget that every word, every sentence, means something. Jim Harrison is not of that school. Every word is an important part of the story.

Harrison is merciless with his subjects. In Julip, he brings to bear all of the violence, fear, promiscuity, hatred, incest, drunkennes, and irresponsibility that permates the lives of these characters. Somehow I come away from the story liking each character (some more than others, mind you) and I don't feel like I was given any kind of direction to. I feel like I ought to have strongly disliked some of them, actually. But Harrison's style is such that it creates these beautiful portaits of such terrible things. I know the content is disturbing, but I love how well everything has been rendered!

The Seven Ounce Man is more overtly concerned with reservation of the North. B.D. is a remarkable character who--again, even though I can't sympathize with his lifestyle--I admire as a character. It's easy to see how his character is misrepresented time and time again, while he goes on to admit (during his stint in 1st person position) that a lot of the time he's just thinking about sex or how to avoid getting beat up. Meanwhile, well-intentioned, but ultimately hyper-empathetic characters like Gretchen are wrongfully attributing descriptions like 'fascinating' to this drifter. I can't help but like him myself, since he seems an honest narrator and overall quite a good person (barring some minor role in contributing to the national statistic of marital infidelity).

Jim Harrison really knows how to create a dynamic character. And by reading the stuff in this book, I am led to believe that he has an intimate knowledge of the landscapes in which his characters move. If I am wrong, he is faking very well.

Not the best by Mr. Harrison, but enjoyable. The 7 Ounce Man is especially funny. I liked all of his characters and they even reminded me of a few people I know. Read "The Woman Lit by Fireflies", it's one of my favorites.

read these 3 novellas on plane from New Zealand to Jakarta. Not much business to be had in Indonesia but the book made the trip worthwhile. A new writer for me and I was impressed with the ironic, slightly weary style and with the gentle humour - not taking itself too seriously. Highly recommended.

This collection of novellas by acclaimed poet and novelist Jim Harrison is to savor. He once said, "Art should be a process of discovery, or it's boring." Reading Julip is an engrossing emotional discovery as we share the lives of characters that only this author can create.

Julip, the title piece in this presentation of three stories is about an irrepressible 21-year-old whose name is "the mixture of a flower and a drink." Apt description that. Julip tries to convince her brother to say he is insane so that he might be released from prison. Brother Bobby is there for shooting (not fatally) Julip's three wealthy boyfriends.

In The Seven-Ounce Man another appearance is made by one of Harrison's familiar characters, Brown Dog. Many met Brown Dog, a rapscallion and ex-Bible student who lives in Michigan's Peninsula, in The Woman Lit By Fireflies. This incarnation finds Brown Dog the victim of Native American activists. B.D. enjoys the simple life - he reads Popular Mechanics and likes pork and beans.

The Beige Dolorosa, the title of the third story, is the name that a defrocked academic, Phillip Caulkins, has given to a bird, one bird among the 700 North American varieties he has decided to rename. Caulkins's daughter comes to his rescue and deports him to Arizona, where he becomes interested in ranch life and being a cowboy.

As always, Harrison's prose is entertaining and humorous. He is an original.

- Gail Cooke

Brian Ward is currently teaching "The Southern Civil Rights Movement" at the University of Florida. As a scholar his knowledge on the civil rights movement is exhaustive. Not only that, Ward knows his music. In Just My Soul responding Ward displays extensive knowledge of black music ranging from fifties R&B and Doo Wop to seventies Funk & Soul. Not surprisingly Ward has written several publications on the relation between mass media and the civil rights struggle.

"Just My Soul Responding" focuses on the relation between the struggle and Black music, and black popular music to be precise. Ward doesn't take Jazz into his analyses by stating that this was music for the intellectual crowd. Ward is more interested in the influence popular music had on the advance of the movement and what it meant for race relations.

The strength of this publication lies in the fact that it's not burdened by a drive to prove cultural imperialism. Some scholars on the subject of black music at times tend to get blinded in their effort to show how the white co operations tried to steal or destroy black music. Although Ward acknowledges such mechanisms, he paints a much more subtle picture. Ward shows us how black and white music influenced each other, that the lines weren't always as sharp as they seemed. Most tellingly is his analysis of Southern Soul, now often seen as the epiphany of black music. Ward dissect Southern Soul and shows how much of it is actually a multi-racial effort. A lot of the music was backed by integrated bands. White musicians brought Country into Soul and vice versa. Ward doesn't take the road of easy analyses but tries to pierce the way segregation worked, and how far it extended. Through the course of the book we get a picture of where the racial lines blurred and where the space of advancement lied.

Ward's publication is interesting reading for those interested in the civil rights movement but also for those just interested in the music as well. The book is littered with amusing anecdotes of Black music's most influential artist. Going though the book it becomes clear that for true appreciation of Black music knowledge of the civil rights movement is essential.

Dr. Ward's work adds much needed academic perspective on America's cultural history. This is not a book you can just breeze through, but the payoff is high. Dr. Ward writes with a true passion for the music as well as a subtle wit.

what i dig about this Book is it's honesty.Music along with Sports have brought people of all Races together but when it's over folks go back into their Enviroment.The Music Speaks of Being Free&that's How People Get into Music but not Viewing the person as a Human Being is very sad.this book points that out&more.it's cool to Emulate James Brown, but being him?the business has always been Unequal.the charts have Pop,R-N-B/Rap(now Lumped as one)then Country,etc.....this is a Must Read.I Understood it all&then some.

I found this book informative and readable; a thoroughly documented guide to black music in the 50s, 60s and 70s by someone who is evidently a fan yet who does not allow his passion for the music to lead him into simplification or wishful thinking. Some parts of the book are a very useful corrective to this tendency in other books I have read - for example his treatment of black consumption of white music. He is particularly interesting on the subject of the sexual politics of the music and its relation to the social and political background. An accessible and entertaining book which maintains scholastic rigour throughout and is never guilty of sloppiness or turgidity.

very good book
for fans of the band
information not written anywhere else
very cool pics of original newspaper/magazine articles
pic of original ad which started the band

overall = awesome

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This book offers a look at the killers past that hasn't been told before with great photos that help tell the story of this band's drive and talent.
without focusing on just one member it gives an interesting look at each members role, how they came together and how hard they worked to be the successful band they are today.
normally skeptical about unofficial biography's.. especially on band's that I love.. this book is different I think it is an honest,accurate portrayal of the band and one all killers fans will love!

Sometimes bands seem to come out of nowhere and suddenly they're everywhere... This book is awesome in that it shows just how hard the Killers worked to go from playing for 10 people in a cafe and tiny clubs (the book has the photos to prove it!) to being the huge stars they are today -- really inspiring if you're in a band that's just starting out or trying to get signed...

A must-have for all Killers fans -- lots of great photos and the mystery of Ted, the fifth Killer, is revealed. Very cool!

If you've ever lived in Las Vegas, you know why the Killers' story is worth reading: They made it out, and in a very big way.

If you haven't lived in Vegas, and don't know how many bands have tried and failed to do what the Killers did, this book will fill you in.

Jarret Keene was the perfect journalist to detail the Killers' rise to fame, as he was there from the start. Not many other rock star biographies have that luxury.

It doesn't get much better than "The Killers: Destiny is Calling Me." The writing's great. The pictures are amazing. The band is unforgettable. Read itv and let the process of forgetting Slaughter begin.