Composers Books

You can't find anything better if you're looking for information on the great Mr. Bojangles.

"Mr. Bojangles: The Biography of Bill Robinson" not only serves as a crucial historical document, but also as a vivid portrait of a truly special man. An original in every sense of the word, Bill Robinson created a unique style of tap dancing, along with breaking the racist barriers of his time. This book superbly chronicles (with the help of first-hand source materials and interviews with people who knew him) the life of this incredible artist, entertainer, and humanitarian. You will not only learn what the world was like when Mr. Robinson struggled in his craft, but you will discover the values and convictions that drove him forward. You will be moved by the benevolence of this man's spirit--a spirit that could coin a phrase such as "Everything's Copasetic!" This is a touching and informative biography that informs the evolution of tap AND the human experience.

Easy to read and delish to digest, this book is written for lovers of the Elizabethan period or with an interest in either English or Music History.
It is filled with tidbits that will spur you to learn more about our language and traditions that shape our world even today.
Five golden stars for this one, Suzanne!

Easy to read and delish to digest, this book is written for lovers of the Elizabethan period or with an interest in either English or Music History.
It is filled with tidbits that will spur you to learn more about our language and traditions that shape our world even today.
Five golden stars for this one, Suzanne!

In this delightful read, Prof. Stock uses Er-hu (Chinese Spiked Fiddle) and A-bing as two themes within a montage that traces the history of Chinese folk music. Not only does the author present a convincing argument for the lost emphasis upon improv in Chinese music, but he also presents his arguments within the cultural context of A-bing's China.
Yet, this highly academic text is presented in an invigorating manner and grips the reader to finish the book at one sitting. Although some basic knowledge on western music notation is needed to get the most out of the book, the accompanying CD that has the er-hu performance of A-bing are indeed priceless (and worth the price of the book).

This work is a combination of the anthropological and historical study of Chinese society and the musicological analysis of Chinese music. Abing was a key Chinese traditional musician who lived in the city of Wuxi from the 1890s to 1950. Initially a Daoist priest, Abing went blind and became a street musician. It was in this guise that he was recorded by a visiting team of musicologists in 1950. (Recordings from that session are on the CD with this book.)

His music, which analysis shows to have been improvisatory in nature, was then taken up by players of erhu (two-stringed fiddle) and pipa (four-stringed lute) in the Chinese music conservatories. In this process the music became fixed in notation and turned into set compositions to be performed in concert-style renditions, often arranged with the accompaniment of other instruments. Meanwhile, the details of Abing's life have been reinvented several times by the cultural establishment, and he became (after his death) variously a hero of the downtrodden masses, an outspoken class revolutionary, a romantically inspired composer (like Beethoven).

In short, the book shows how one echelon of Chinese musical culture was transformed in the twentieth century, on the one hand by imported Western musical ideas (the composer, the piece), and on the other by the social and political currents of the day.

As a contribution to ethnomusicology, it argues for a greater attention to the analysis of music as a means of unlocking historical clues. It is also one of the first books to fully apply the cross-cultural perspectives of ethnomusicology to Chinese music. (Of course, I have to choose 5 stars!)

What an exceptional book this is! I haven't been able to put it down. Without a doubt it's the best exposition of musical theatre creation that I've ever read - and I've read many! Not only does it tell you about the amazing lives of the two Frenchmen who wrote Les Misérables but, with a series of exclusive personal interviews, it details exactly how they did it. Not just Les Mis but all their shows, and there's long interviews too with all their co-writers, directors and producers. Vermette's skill in presentation is magnified many times by her ability to pull nuggets of wisdom out of such talented and diverse people, such as Trevor Nunn, Cameron Mackintosh and Herbert Kretzmer as well of course as Boublil and Schönberg themselves. It's a tour de force of form and substance and a fascinating read.
I discovered this book through the brilliant website which is colourful, informative and gives news and updates to the book[...]

This book is a wonderfully insightful book to some of my favorite musicals! I really enjoyed the background information as to how some of the musicals came to be, the processes that were followed...everything! I highly recommend this book!

I was finally pleased to receive a full version of this great book. I have so far read nearly 100 pages and it is still a "cannot put down" book.
Thanks to the Netherlands Publishers for putting together a updated edition of this dear old book. I am glad I have the photos in my previous order, that was unfortunately missing about 8 pages, but this book is a great read. Worth paying out a lot of money again.
As a long time church musician since the age of 10 (now 57) I have known Ira D. Sankey's Hymns and the Sacred Songs and Solos for many many years.
Regs,
Geoff Moore Australia

I like this book very much. First of all, it is difficult to buy this book in my country. On the other hand, most people in my country know Moody but not Sankey. It is way for me to understand the supporter of Moody. This is a nice book.

This is a great book if you're into pictures of the guys (which I am). There are a lot of pictures I'd never seen before (including a very rare one of Lance crying). I've had this book for over a year, and still enjoy it a lot!

For the first time ever in the history of all 'N Sync books, we come upon one that had a lot of fan imput included when put together. A general posting on an egroups list calling for quotes led me to submit something that got into a book for the first time ever. I have to say what an honor it is to have something that you submitted put into a book. I don't love it just because I'm in it but also because real fans from all over are included in it.

There is a lot to relate to in this book. The description of Boulanger's overbearing mother brings back memories in which I thought my parents were overbearing. The description of Boulanger's problems in growing old frightened me, since I am approaching that stage myself.

Like Mr. Shapiro, I wondered why Boulanger couldn't get along with Ravel. That conflict is mentioned for the first time on page 114, phrased in such a way as to imply that the reader already knows about it. I wonder whether the author forgot to explain this, or whether she herself did not know.

I was disappointed that I did not learn more about how Boulanger came to be the composition teacher for most of the outstanding composers of her time. As an aspiring composer, I would like to take those techniques and apply them to myself. But the author does not promise such a discussion, so I can't hold her guilty.

This book is a labor of love for author Rosenstiel. It would be impossible to write a better biography. She must have spent much time with Boulanger towards the end of her long life to acquire so much detail. There was so much reverence for her more musically gifted younger sister, Lili, who, tragically, died so young. I started to get bored with names I didn't know or care about but the book was so well written that I hung in there and finished this rather lengthy but meticulously written biography of a most unique and influential pedagogue who had such a profound influence on so many musicians and notable composers including Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. I wonder why she had such a cool relationship with Maurice Ravel who was one of the finest composers of our time. There was no explanation given and I wonder why.

If the name Chris Michie rings your bell, you either lived in Madison in the late 1960s, or you've memorized the liner notes for albums by Van Morrison and the Pointer Sisters.

Now living and producing music in the San Francisco Bay area, Michie was a fixture on the Madison scene from 1965 to '69 as lead guitarist for the Grapes Of Wrath and the Mendelbaum Blues Band.

His memoirs of those years -and of the years since- are now available through his Web site at www.cmichie.com in the form of a publication called NAME DROPPINGS or IT'S ALL ABOUT ME, ISN'T IT?.

With e-mail contributions from former bandmates Willie Collins, Greg Loeb, and Keith Knudsen, Michie offers a unique perspective on those turbulent years.

There are anecdotes about playing the area's VFW halls, Langdon Street fraternities (where beer "Was served in tall cans that had the top cut out"), the Memorial Union's Great Hall, the Factory and the Dane County Fairgrounds, where the Grapes opened for the Beau Brummels.

The Grapes disintegrated in 1968 amid the frustrations of trying to be original at a time when their audience wanted covers of what was playing on the radio. "By the time the Grapes broke up, all my relationships were in a shambles." Michie writes.

He found salvation in the Mendelbaum Blues Band. "Within a few months we were the hottest group in the area, if not all of Wisconsin and the surrounding states." Michie writes. "Wisconsin was an 18-year-old drinking state, so all the college kids from Minnesota, Iowa, Upper Michigan and Illinois swarmed into Wisconsin nightly to hear music and get drunk. We worked every night of the week, sometimes doing two or three shows a day, and we made good money."

The band would arrive home at dawn after an out-of-town gig and "have breakfast at Vi's Grill, just around the corner from where we all shared a big house on West Main Street. Vi's generally catered to the early morning workers, truckers, and hotel help from across the street, but we were her favorites."

Their abode on West Main was home to as many as fourteen people at a time, not counting such overnight guests as Big Joe Williams, one of the Chicago blues acts for whom Mendelbaum opened under the auspices of the University Folk Arts Society.

"A stipulation of Joe's contract was a place to stay and a bottle of Jack Daniels," Michie writes. "Joe was accompanied by Otis Rush, who was in town for another show the following night, and after the show we all convened to the Mendelbaum house. We all sat in the living room until four in the morning, listening to Joe tell stories as Otis translated for us. The combination of the liquor and Joe's thick accent made it impossible for us to understand him. Eventually we rolled out the sofa bed for Joe, said goodnight and thank you to Otis, and headed off to bed. By then, Joe was already asleep in our living room."

Mendelbaum produced its own shows at the Broom Street Theater and the UW Music Hall, but after a series of outdoor gigs-cum-anti-war rallies turned increasingly violent and confrontational, Michie and company headed for northern California.

They quickly broke into the Bay area music scene, jamming with Buddy Miles, Carlos Santana, and members of the Velvet Underground, opening for Albert King and B.B. King before disbanding in 1971.

Michie has gone on to the kind of below-the-radar music career you don't often read about. He's opened for the Eagles and Procol Harum, played with Boz Scaggs and other Bay area heavies, toured the world, and recorded with Van Morrison and the Pointers. He now has his own production company and record label and says he's found a happy balance between recording his own albums and composing music for radio and TV.

The title is apt. Michie drops dozens of names, and has an anecdote to associate with each, including Mama Cass Eliot, Muhammad Ali (whom Michie met while in Zaire with the Pointers as part of the "Rumble In The Jungle"), and Stevie Wonder (whom Michie observed sucking on Anita Pointer's fingers during a studio session).

Memory is a filter, of course. Sometime Michie's recollections are screened through cheesecloth. Other times they're poured freely through a sieve. But NAME DROPPINGS is an entertaining read, and its chapters evoke a music scene nearly two generations gone.

If the name Chris Michie rings your bell, you either lived in Madison in the late 1960s, or you've memorized the liner notes for albums by Van Morrison and the Pointer Sisters.

Now living and producing music in the San Francisco Bay area, Michie was a fixture on the Madison scene from 1965 to '69 as lead guitarist for the Grapes Of Wrath and the Mendelbaum Blues Band.

His memoirs of those years -and of the years since- are now available through his Web site at www.cmichie.com in the form of a publication called NAME DROPPINGS or IT'S ALL ABOUT ME, ISN'T IT?.

With e-mail contributions from former bandmates Willie Collins, Greg Loeb, and Keith Knudsen, Michie offers a unique perspective on those turbulent years.

There are anecdotes about playing the area's VFW halls, Langdon Street fraternities (where beer "Was served in tall cans that had the top cut out"), the Memorial Union's Great Hall, the Factory and the Dane County Fairgrounds, where the Grapes opened for the Beau Brummels.

The Grapes disintegrated in 1968 amid the frustrations of trying to be original at a time when their audience wanted covers of what was playing on the radio. "By the time the Grapes broke up, all my relationships were in a shambles." Michie writes.

He found salvation in the Mendelbaum Blues Band. "Within a few months we were the hottest group in the area, if not all of Wisconsin and the surrounding states." Michie writes. "Wisconsin was an 18-year-old drinking state, so all the college kids from Minnesota, Iowa, Upper Michigan and Illinois swarmed into Wisconsin nightly to hear music and get drunk. We worked every night of the week, sometimes doing two or three shows a day, and we made good money."

The band would arrive home at dawn after an out-of-town gig and "have breakfast at Vi's Grill, just around the corner from where we all shared a big house on West Main Street. Vi's generally catered to the early morning workers, truckers, and hotel help from across the street, but we were her favorites."

Their abode on West Main was home to as many as fourteen people at a time, not counting such overnight guests as Big Joe Williams, one of the Chicago blues acts for whom Mendelbaum opened under the auspices of the University Folk Arts Society.

"A stipulation of Joe's contract was a place to stay and a bottle of Jack Daniels," Michie writes. "Joe was accompanied by Otis Rush, who was in town for another show the following night, and after the show we all convened to the Mendelbaum house. We all sat in the living room until four in the morning, listening to Joe tell stories as Otis translated for us. The combination of the liquor and Joe's thick accent made it impossible for us to understand him. Eventually we rolled out the sofa bed for Joe, said goodnight and thank you to Otis, and headed off to bed. By then, Joe was already asleep in our living room."

Mendelbaum produced its own shows at the Broom Street Theater and the UW Music Hall, but after a series of outdoor gigs-cum-anti-war rallies turned increasingly violent and confrontational, Michie and company headed for northern California.

They quickly broke into the Bay area music scene, jamming with Buddy Miles, Carlos Santana, and members of the Velvet Underground, opening for Albert King and B.B. King before disbanding in 1971.

Michie has gone on to the kind of below-the-radar music career you don't often read about. He's opened for the Eagles and Procol Harum, played with Boz Scaggs and other Bay area heavies, toured the world, and recorded with Van Morrison and the Pointers. He now has his own production company and record label and says he's found a happy balance between recording his own albums and composing music for radio and TV.

The title is apt. Michie drops dozens of names, and has an anecdote to associate with each, including Mama Cass Eliot, Muhammad Ali (whom Michie met while in Zaire with the Pointers as part of the "Rumble In The Jungle"), and Stevie Wonder (whom Michie observed sucking on Anita Pointer's fingers during a studio session).

Memory is a filter, of course. Sometime Michie's recollections are screened through cheesecloth. Other times they're poured freely through a sieve. But NAME DROPPINGS is an entertaining read, and its chapters evoke a music scene nearly two generations gone.

I loved this documentary. It was very candid. It profiles Nat's triumphs, but doesn't shy away from the tragedies, either...it captured the life from beginning to end of this larger-than-life entertainer on video, and I loved the clips of Nat singing the songs. It was a little sad to see some of the celebrities who were close friends of Nat's had since died years after this video was made (Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald) but I still enjoyed watching it. Even though they were friends of Nat's it was obvious that they were still in awe of him, as they should be.

Nat King Cole, in my opinion, was the greatest singer that ever lived, and he was a wonderful jazz pianist (even though after 1948, he played the piano less and less). The video goes into a lot of detail, whereas other Nat documentaries somehow leave you wanting to know more. Also featured are interviews with Freddy and Evelyn Coles, Nat's siblings, Maria Cole, Cole's widow, Natalie and Carole Cole, Nat's daughters, jazz pianist George Shearing, Harry Belafonte, Eartha Kitt and Quincy Jones. Also very moving was the final tune, "Stardust", undoubtedly the best version of that song ever recorded. When you heard Nat's voice, footage of his funeral was shown. I honestly broke down and cried, I was so affected.

NAT KING COLE: UNFORGETTABLE is an excellent look at what made this man and his music so special and beloved all over the world. Obviously he made a colossal impact, because his music is still selling, perhaps even better now than it ever did when he was alive. Seeing this video plainly shows why. It is a must-have for Nat's fans, and also makes for a wonderful study in African-American history. Highly recommended.

This documentary about one of the greatest ballad singer of his time has all a documentary should have including clips of his widow that tells a lot about what kind of man he really was;revealing television appearances in different shows including his own that was sadly put off by the sponsors after a few years;FRANK SINATRA,ELLA FITZGERALD and HARRY BELLAFONTE also add their opinions.The most important thing here is that new generations can get to know why NATHALIE COLE's father was so much loved in his lifetime.The stories of his attack by white men is shameful and so is the one about their residence in CALIFORNIA,but unfortunally they also are a part of his life.Finally, i would say that hearing STARDUST at the end pleased me a lot since it is probably the best version ever of this song.

This is a must have 217 page paperback of pictures, lyrics, music in piano and guitar format, covering 32 hit songs from 1969-1973...in my opinion, his best music. The book measures 8.75" X 11.75".

I've been a Neil Young fan going back to the Buffalo Springfield days. I was in my teens when Neil Young went solo and he was one of the biggest influences in my guitar playing, and music choices.

I've owned the first two books of these books since they where first published way back when, and still love them today.

I will occasionally forget some of Mr. Young's work, and I love going back to these books year after year.

If you're a Neil Young fan these books are golden, I love all of them and they do seem to be fairly accurate to learning his songs. Of course there are some things you need to know in his music to reproduce his sound accurately, but these books will give you a great start in his work.

I think that at least the first two Neil Young Complete Volumes belong in every Neil Young guitar playing fans.