Music

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Ted Gioia's books on jazz, blues, and folk music are both scholarly and entertaining, and his latest volume Music: A Subversive History is perhaps his most ambitious.

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“One senses on every page Kaplan’s enthusiasm for his subject as well as his deep knowledge.”

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In the late ’60s, Janis Joplin shot to international fame after her performance of “Ball and Chain” at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

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“‘I’d allowed myself to get to the stage where I shaved and wiped my arse and paid other people to do everything else for me. I had no idea how to work a washing machine.’”

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"‘Although his days on earth were limited to the summer season of his life, the music he left behind, endowed with his extraordinary inventiveness and intellectual curiosity has yet to ceas

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“All of these clear and beautiful examples help put the listener in control of the narrative. Mauceri’s book gives the audience power, confidence, and joy.

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Ask a musician to choose one American classical music celebrity and it’s likely it would be Leonard Bernstein.

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"There was a feeling of immersion into a vastness of humanity, of what seemed to some the beginning of a new age."

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“Elvis in Vegas is a must-read for fans of Elvis and for all who are interested in the history of popular entertainment in America.” 

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“Music expresses the soul of a nation and illustrates its moods and contradictions from one era to another across time.”

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“Forever and Ever, Amen by Randy Travis is a strong memoir of faith, hope and triumph shining through times of extreme tribulation.”

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“Renowned producer Mark Howard’s Listen Up! splits the difference between celebrity insights and tech-head talk, offering up candid but affectionate portraits of some of rock’s mos

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“plunge into Kushins’ uncommonly empathetic biography of the man who wrote ‘Send Lawyers, Guns and Money,’ and much more, and who contributed to the great body of American folklore and lege

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“As a biography of a towering musical figure, Serving the Servant is a fascinating read for anybody with even a passing interest in Nirvana.

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“The techniques, key steps, and commentary that Wolf provides in each chapter as he blends music and meditation together will prove beneficial to the reader who wants to cross these bridges

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“Weis’ book is particularly fascinating in offering a detailed picture of the place of the courtesan in 19th century Parisian social life.”

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If you don’t know anything about Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter you better bone up fast.

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Why write about music? It’s a fair question for an aural art form.

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"‘The truth of the Apollo's great history is the stuff of which myths are made.’"

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“This is a book that is read once, and then once again, and again—each time gaining new insight into a true maestro.”

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“There are detailed descriptions of performances of the opera and adaptations it inspired and the book is richly illustrated.

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“Port establishes Leo Fender’s unique perspective on the world of electric noise he helped create, as he innovated and borrowed and cobbled his way to the world’s first production-model sol

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English opera in the 1920s may seem to some an odd topic. What we now know as the Royal Opera did not begin until after World War II.

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“For the music lover who wants to explore the textures and unconventional harmonies which set Debussy apart as the greatest French composer of his time.”

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“Connelly is too slow for his own good. The idea that he waited 38 years since Lennon’s murder to write this bio is astonishing. Talk about sitting on a story!”

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