The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra celebrates their 80th anniversary as the premiere big band in jazz with a collection of classic material and a twist on a few modern hits.

Profiles twenty-six of the jazz greats of all time, from Count Basie to Louis Armstrong, through a review of their work, their life stories, and their greatest hits by one of today's top jazz performers. A is for "almighty" Louis Armstrong, whose amazing artistry unfolds in an accumulative poem shaped like the letter he stands for. As for sax master Sonny Rollins, whose "robust style radiates roundness," could there be a better tribute than a poetic...

"Tony talks about Charlie Chaplin; Judy Garland; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Cole Porter; Amy Winehouse; Fred Astaire; Lady Gaga; members of his family; significant places and other wonders that have enriched his own life. Recounting his relations with these entertainers, humanitarians, and loved ones . . . Tony reveals how he has been shaped by the principles each of them imparted to him." -- Publisher description. At ninety, musician and artist...

Rhyming text celebrates the Harlem neighborhood that successful African Americans first called home during the 1920s. Includes brief biographies of jazz greats Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, and Miles Davis; artists Aaron Douglas and Faith Ringgold; entertainers Lena Horne and the Nicholas Brothers; writer Zora Neale Hurston; civil rights leader W. E. B. DuBois; and lawyer Thurgood Marshall.

A collection of short films from the 1940s and 1950s offering a rare opportunity to see as well as hear jazz legends. Includes 27 performances featuring Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Fats Waller, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and many more.

The album is the companion 13-song soundtrack to the James Erskine-directed documentary on the breathtaking talent of Billie Holiday. It features her band, the Sonhouse All-Stars, performing her classic works, including I Only Have Eyes for You; God Bless the Child; Strange Fruit; and more. The film features newly unearthed interviews from those who knew Holiday best, Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett, Sylvia Syms, and Count Basie among them.

From the author of the bestselling Dorothy Dandridge comes a dazzling look at one of America's brightest and most troubled theatrical stars. Almost no other star of the twentieth century reimagined herself with such audacity and durable talent as did Ethel Waters. In this enlightening and engaging biography, Donald Bogle resurrects this astonishing woman from the annals of history, shedding new light on the tumultuous twists and turns of her seven-decade...