Catalog Search Results
3) Dream lucky: when FDR was in the White House, Count Basie was on the radio, and everyone wore a hat
Author
Language
English
Description
The time: 1936-1938. The mood: Hopeful. It wasn't wartime, not yet. The music: The incomparable Count Basie and Benny Goodman, among others. The setting: Living rooms across America and, most of all, New York City.
Dream Lucky covers politics, race, religion, arts, and sports, but the central focus is the period's soundtrack-specifically big band jazz-and the big-hearted piano player William "Count" Basie. His ascent is the narrative thread of the...
Author
Publisher
Mariner Books
Pub. Date
[2024]
Language
English
Description
"This is the story of three revolutionary American musicians, the maestro jazzmen who orchestrated the chords that throb at the soul of twentieth-century America. Duke Ellington, the grandson of slaves who was christened Edward Kennedy Ellington, was a man whose story is as layered and nuanced as his name suggests and whose music transcended category. Louis Daniel Armstrong was born in a New Orleans slum so tough it was called The Battlefield and,...
6) Jazz A-B-Z
Author
Publisher
Candlewick Press
Pub. Date
2005
Language
English
Description
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...
Author
Language
English
Description
"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...
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
A celebrated columnist, nightclub emcee, and fine arts philanthropist draws inspiration from the Catholic Saints Day books to reflect on his encounters with black artists in Detroit's legendary Black Bottom neighborhood, from the Great Depression through the post-World War II years.
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: LG - BL: 3.5 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Description
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.
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"A tour de force. . . . Crouch has given us a bone-deep understanding of Parker's music and the world that produced it. In his pages, Bird still lives." - Washington Post
A stunning portrait of Charlie Parker, one of the most talented and influential musicians of the twentieth century, from Stanley Crouch, one of the foremost authorities on jazz and culture in America.
Throughout his life, Charlie Parker personified the tortured American artist:...
Author
Language
English
Description
Ella Fitzgerald. The name alone conjures up images of the Savoy Ballroom; of the Chick Webb, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie bands; of hot jazz, sweet ballads, and a genuinely unique presence. Ella Fitzgerald, an artist who has been called a national treasure-and no one has disputed the laudation-has captivated an international audience for more than fifty years. Her inimitable voice has been heard in intimate clubs, in concerts, on radio and television,...
Author
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 5.9 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Description
These fifty-four poems, all in different voices but written by one hand, do sing. They make a joyful noise as the author honors the people-the nurses, students, soldiers, and ministers-of his beloved hometown, Harlem. Worship with Deacon Allen, who loves "a shouting church," and study with Lois Smith, who wants "a school named after me." Don't get taken by Sweet Sam DuPree, who "conned a shark right outta his fin." And never turn your back on Delia...
Author
Language
English
Description
The first complete biography of singing legend Tony Bennett
Among America's greatest entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Ray Charles, and Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett alone is still here and at the top of his game. For the first time, All the Things You Are tells the incredible story of Bennett's life and sixty-year career, from his impoverished New York City childhood through his first chart-topping hits, from liberating a concentration...
Author
Language
English
Description
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...
Author
Language
English
Description
A moving and inspiring memoir from one of the greatest musical artists of all time
"My given name is Anthony Dominick Benedetto, and Benedetto in Italian means 'the blessed one.' I couldn't say it any better than that."
-Tony Bennett
Legendary singer, artist, and performer, Tony Bennett has been one of the world's most beloved entertainers for more than six decades. From the 78 to the LP to the digital age, Tony has done it all and is still at...
Author
Language
English
Description
A "behind the music" story without parallel.
John Hammond is one of the most charismatic figures in American music, a man who put on record much of the music we cherish today. Dunstan Prial's biography presents Hammond's life as a gripping story of music, money, fame, and racial conflict, played out in the nightclubs and recording studios where the music was made.
A pioneering producer and talent spotter, Hammond discovered and championed some of...
19) Giants of jazz
Author
Publisher
Crowell
Language
English
Description
Brief biographies of thirteen jazz musicians who have made major contributions to the development of this form of music.