Blues

The term ';blues' has traditionally conveyed an image of hard-living, hard-drinking, carousing singers and musicians grinding out melancholy tunes and evil lyrics. Contesting that …

Experiencing Jazz, Third Edition is an integrated textbook, website, and audio anthology for jazz appreciation and history courses. Through readings, illustrations, timelines, …

This book reveals the ideas behind the Beat vision which influenced the Beat sound of the songwriters who followed on from them. Having explored the thinking of Alan Watts, who …

Singing was just one element of blues performance in the early twentieth century. Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and other classic blues singers also tapped, joked, and flaunted …

The American singer and guitarist Ramblin' Jack Elliott (1931- ) is a seminal figure in the folk music revivals of the United States and Great Britain. Declared an American …

Praised as "e;suave, soulful, ebullient"e; (Tom Waits) and "e;a meticulous researcher, a graceful writer, and a committed contrarian"e; (New York Times Book …

In this essential and impassioned text, LeRoi Jones traces the intertwined development of blues and jazz music with the history of its creators in 'White America'. As important and …

Ethel Waters overcame her disadvantaged childhood to become the most famous African American actress, singer, and entertainer of her time. Her critically acclaimed move to Broadway …

Showcasing American music and music making during the Great Depression, Hard Luck Blues presents more than two hundred photographs created by the New Deal's Farm Security …

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKBessie Smith: singer, icon, pioneer. Scotland's National Poet Jackie Kay brings to life the tempestuous story of the greatest blues singer who ever …