• I See the Rhythm:
  A Story of African American Music
  A celebration of African-American music and the far-reaching impact it has had on the world, "I See the Rhythm" traces the progression of black music from its traditional roots in Africa to contemporary hip hop. 15 color illustrations.

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• Miles Davis
  The Early Years
  Bill Cole's study of the late Davis covers the subject's career from his beginnings to 1974. It mixes straight biography with an examination of Davis's playing style and includes both selected scores of his musical compositions and a detailed list of recording sessions.

• The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD
  Comprehensive critical guides to jazz recordings
  The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD is one of the most comprehensive critical guides to jazz recordings available. For this revised and updated edition, some 2,000 listings have been added. Each entry is rated by leading critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton and includes musical and biographical details, full line-ups, and information on recording quality.

• The History of Jazz
  The story of African American music from its roots in Africa
  Beginning with details provided from firsthand accounts of slave dances in the early 19th-century New Orleans, Gioia relates the story of African American music from its roots in Africa to the international respect it enjoys today. Styles that developed in such hotbeds as New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, and New York are considered along with the artists that personify these styles. With the arrival of more white musicians, such as Benny Goodman in the Swing Era, jazz achieved the height of mass popularity.

  
  

• The Birth of Bebop:
  A Social and Musical History
  The richest place in America's musical landscape is that fertile ground occupied by jazz. In this book, Scott DeVeaux takes a central chapter in the history of jazz--the birth of bebop--and shows how our contemporary ideas of this uniquely American art form flow from that pivotal moment. 29 photos. 111 musical examples. 664 pp. Targeted print ads. 5,000 print.

• The Temptations
  One of the most popular singing groups of the sixties
  In clear, effortless language, Cox relates the rise of one of the most popular singing groups of the sixties. He demonstrates how this highly successful and popular Motown quintet borrowed from other music genres, and he describes the group's many ups and downs and how they made personnel changes in reaction to their successes and failures. Black-and-white photos accompany the informative text.

• You Send Me:
  The Life and Times of Sam Cooke
  Daniel Wolff's exhaustive and eloquent biography succeeds. He depicts how Cooke's life shaped his music and how his music changed his life. He highlights the intriguing characters that surrounded Cooke, from the crotchety but creative Art Rupe, czar of Specialty Records, to Barbara Campbell, Cooke's second wife. While the book chronicles both the good and bad, the edifying and theindecent, Wolff treats Cooke with critical appreciation.

• Aretha Franklin:
  Lady Soul
  Leslie Gourse chronicles the personal life and musical development of the multidimensional singer, whose voice and music have been influenced by blues, gospel, soul, and jazz. The daughter of a Baptist minister, Franklin made her first gospel recording at age 14; by age 18, she had signed with Columbia Records. Information is included about her troubled marriages and legal problems.

• James Brown:
  Living in America
  Living in America, Cynthia Rose's first book, captures Brown and his cultural context so expertly that it is superior in many ways to the earlier autobiography, James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, by Brown and Bruce Tucker {BRD 1987}.

• Got Your Back:
  The Life of a Bodyguard in the Hardcore World of Gangsta Rap
  The shadowy world of gangsta rap has been the topic of immense media scrutiny, but all of the coverage has lacked one important element--an insider's point of view. Now, Frank Alexander, the bodyguard for Tupac Shakur in the last year of his life, tells his agonizing tale of guns, drugs, and, ultimately, death.

  
  African American Music

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