Artie Shaw, King of the Clarinet: His Life and Times

Artie Shaw, King of the Clarinet: His Life and Times
Author: Tom Nolan
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2011-05-16
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0393082032

Download Artie Shaw, King of the Clarinet: His Life and Times Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

"The two sides of Shaw…are at the center of…[this] compulsively readable biography." —Daniel Akst, Wall Street Journal During America’s Swing Era, no musician was more successful or controversial than Artie Shaw: the charismatic and opinionated clarinetist-bandleader whose dozens of hits became anthems for “the greatest generation.” But some of his most beautiful recordings were not issued until decades after he’d left the scene. He broke racial barriers by hiring African American musicians. His frequent “retirements” earned him a reputation as the Hamlet of jazz. And he quit playing for good at the height of his powers. The handsome Shaw had seven wives (including Lana Turner and Ava Gardner). Inveterate reader and author of three books, he befriended the best-known writers of his time. Tom Nolan, who interviewed Shaw between 1990 and his death in 2004 and spoke with one hundred of his colleagues and contemporaries, captures Shaw and his era with candor and sympathy, bringing the master to vivid life and restoring him to his rightful place in jazz history. Originally published in hardcover under the title Three Chords for Beauty's Sake.

Three Chords for Beauty's Sake

Three Chords for Beauty's Sake
Author: Tom Nolan
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010-04-27
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0393062015

Download Three Chords for Beauty's Sake Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

For his centennial, an indispensable biography of Artie Shaw, the legendary big-band leader, virtuoso clarinetist, and renegade in music and romance. During America’s Swing Era, no musician was more successful or controversial than Artie Shaw: the charismatic and opinionated clarinetist-bandleader whose dozens of hits became anthems for “the greatest generation.” But some of his most beautiful recordings were not issued until decades after he’d left the scene. He broke racial barriers by hiring African American musicians. His frequent “retirements” earned him a reputation as the Hamlet of jazz. And he quit playing for good at the height of his powers. The handsome Shaw had seven wives (including Lana Turner and Ava Gardner). Inveterate reader and author of three books, he befriended the best-known writers of his time. Tom Nolan, who interviewed Shaw between 1990 and his death in 2004 and spoke with one hundred of his colleagues and contemporaries, captures Shaw and his era with candor and sympathy, bringing the master to vivid life and restoring him to his rightful place in jazz history.

Artie Shaw

Artie Shaw
Author: Vladimir Simosko
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2000-01-19
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0810872706

Download Artie Shaw Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Artie Shaw, the world famous clarinet-playing bandleader who became popular during the Swing Era, was immersed in the music business as a performer for 30 years, from the summer of 1924, when he began to study saxophone, until the summer of 1954, when he stopped performing. This period of activity is the focus of this musical biography and discography, a detailed account of Shaw's musical career and recorded output. The book begins with a summary of Shaw's career in the contexts of jazz history and social setting, then moves into more detail. The chronologically arranged sections, mirroring each phase of his career, incorporate contemporary reviews and interview quotes to create an insightful narrative. The discography lists all known recordings and is separate from the text to facilitate easy reference. Includes appendixes and index.

Artie Shaw

Artie Shaw
Author: Barnett Singer
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2023-12-25
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1476689709

Download Artie Shaw Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

A remarkable bandleader, composer and clarinetist, Artie Shaw's popularity defined the American music scene from 1938 to 1945, the Swing Era. Shaw led a fascinating, tumultuous personal life, including a difficult childhood and marriages to starlets such as Lana Turner and Ava Gardner. This biography covers Shaw's life and career, and is based in part on interviews with Shaw conducted by the author during the 1970s and 1980s. Chapters cover the Swing Era, his time in the Navy during World War II and the Shaw Orchestra. Some analytic chapters dig deeper into the meaning behind his recordings, highlighting the growth within his music.

Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings

Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings
Author: Steve Sullivan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 830
Release: 2017-05-17
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1442254491

Download Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Volumes 3 and 4 of the The Encyclopedia of More Great Popular Song Recordings provides the stories behind approximately 1,700 more of the greatest song recordings in the history of the music industry, from 1890 to today. In this masterful survey, all genres of popular music are covered, from pop, rock, soul, and country to jazz, blues, classic vocals, hip-hop, folk, gospel, and ethnic/world music. Collectors will find detailed discographical data—recording dates, record numbers, Billboard chart data, and personnel—while music lovers will appreciate the detailed commentaries and deep research on the songs, their recording, and the artists. Readers who revel in pop cultural history will savor each chapter as it plunges deeply into key events—in music, society, and the world—from each era of the past 125 years. Following in the wake of the first two volumes of his original Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, this follow-up work covers not only more beloved classic performances in pop music history, but many lesser -known but exceptional recordings that—in the modern digital world of “long tail” listening, re-mastered recordings, and “lost but found” possibilities—Sullivan mines from modern recording history. The Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volumes 3 and 4 lets the readers discover, and, through their playlist services, from such as iTunes toand Spotify, build a truly deepcomprehensive catalog of classic performances that deserve to be a part of every passionate music lover’s life. Sullivan organizes songs in chronological order, starting in 1890 and continuing all the way throughto the present to include modern gems from June 2016. In each chapter, Sullivanhe immerses readers, era by era, in the popular music recordings of the time, noting key events that occurred at the time to painting a comprehensive picture in music history of each periodfor each song. Moreover, Sullivan includes for context bulleted lists noting key events that occurred during the song’s recording

Swing, Swing, Swing

Swing, Swing, Swing
Author: Ross Firestone
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 536
Release: 1993
Genre: Band musicians
ISBN: 9780393311686

Download Swing, Swing, Swing Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Before Elvis and rock & roll, Benny Goodman--the King of Swing--ruled American popular music. In this intimate biography, Firestone illuminates Goodman's enormous impact on American music and culture, offering a mesmerizing, behind-the-scenes look at this complicated, difficult jazz superstar. Photos.

Historical Dictionary of Popular Music

Historical Dictionary of Popular Music
Author: Norman Abjorensen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 695
Release: 2017-05-25
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1538102153

Download Historical Dictionary of Popular Music Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book seeks to trace the rise of popular music, identify its key figures and track the origins and development of its multiple genres and styles, all the while seeking to establish historical context. It is, fundamentally, a ready reference guide to the broad field of popular music over the past two centuries. It has become a truism that popular music, so pervasive in the modern world, constitutes a soundtrack to our lives – a constant though changing presence as we cross thresholds and grow from children to teenagers to adults. But it has become more than a soundtrack; it has become a narrative. Not just an accompaniment to our daily lives but incorporating our lives, our sense of identity, our lived experiences, into it. We have become part of the music just as the music has become part of us. The Historical Dictionary of Popular Music contains a chronology, an introduction, an appendix, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1000 cross-referenced entries on major figures across genres, definitions of genres, technical innovations and surveys of countries and regions. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about popular music.

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin
Author: Peter Ackroyd
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2014-10-28
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0385537387

Download Charlie Chaplin Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

A brief yet definitive new biography of one of film's greatest legends: perfect for readers who want to know more about the iconic star but who don't want to commit to a lengthy work. He was the very first icon of the silver screen and is one of the most recognizable of Hollywood faces, even a hundred years after his first film. But what of the man behind the moustache? Peter Ackroyd's new biography turns the spotlight on Chaplin's life as well as his work, from his humble theatrical beginnings in music halls to winning an honorary Academy Award. Everything is here, from the glamor of his golden age to the murky scandals of the 1940s and eventual exile to Switzerland. There are charming anecdotes along the way: playing the violin in a New York hotel room to mask the sound of Stan Laurel frying pork chops and long Hollywood lunches with Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. This masterful brief biography offers fresh revelations about one of the most familiar faces of the last century and brings the Little Tramp vividly to life.

Benny Goodman and the Swing Era

Benny Goodman and the Swing Era
Author: James Lincoln Collier
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 404
Release: 1991-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780195067767

Download Benny Goodman and the Swing Era Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Traces the rags-to-riches career of the clarinetist and his role in popularizing jazz music in the post-Depression 1930s, assesses his elusive personality, and reevaluates dozens of his landmark recordings

Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Miles Davis

Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Miles Davis
Author: Aaron Lefkovitz
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2018-06-20
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1498567525

Download Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Miles Davis Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book examines Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Miles Davis as distinctively global symbols of threatening and nonthreatening black masculinity. It centers them in debates over U.S. cultural exceptionalism, noting how they have been part of the definition of jazz as a jingoistic and exclusively American form of popular culture.