Minimalist Music looks critically into the music's past, shows how the genre thrives across styles, and points the way toward minimalism's ongoing future.Minimalism as a genre is best defined not by any style or flavor but by its means. Certain rhythms and chords in other music may identify things like jazz or bossa nova or reggae; take those same elements and put them through the processes of minimalism and you have minimalism with the hues of other music...

It was 1969, and Miles Davis, prince of cool, was on the edge of being left behind by a dynamic generation of young musicians, an important handful of whom had been in his band. Rock music was flying off in every direction, just as America itself seemed about to split at its seams. Following the circumscribed grooves and ambiance of In A Silent Way; coming off a tour with a burning new quintet—called ‘The Lost Band’—with Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette; he went...

It was 1969, and Miles Davis, prince of cool, was on the edge of being left behind by a dynamic generation of young musicians, an important handful of whom had been in his band. Rock music was flying off in every direction, just as America itself seemed about to split at its seams. Following the circumscribed grooves and ambiance of In A Silent Way; coming off a tour with a burning new quintet-called 'The Lost Band'-with Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette...

Minimalist Music looks critically into the music’s past, shows how the genre thrives across styles, and points the way toward minimalism’s ongoing future.Minimalism as a genre is best defined not by any style or flavor but by its means. Certain rhythms and chords in other music may identify things like jazz or bossa nova or reggae; take those same elements and put them through the processes of minimalism and you have minimalism with the hues of other music...

From the only artist ever to win Grammy Awards for music, lyrics & orchestration, "perhaps the finest book about songwriting of our time" ( Musician )."An eminently readable master class in songwriting—one that will thrill aspiring composers and lyricists, yet still interest the general reader." — Albany Times UnionJimmy Webb has given the American songbook more hits, in m...

“In this book I hope to reach a new audience with the positive message of America’s greatest music, to show how great musicians demonstrate on the bandstand a mutual respect and trust that can alter your outlook on the world and enrich every aspect of your life–from individual creativity and personal relationships to conducting business and understanding what it means to be American in the most modern sense.”–Wynton MarsalisIn this beautiful book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning ...

The only book that shows how the Blues Scales (Major and Minor) are used to create jazz solos. Designed to help beginners quickly learn how to create meaningful solos without having to first master all the scales and chords of a tune. Great transcriptions of solo phrases by Miles Davis, Dave Sanborn, Dizzy Gillespie, etc. showing how the Blues Scales are used. The accompanying CD has the author and his NY rhythm section demonstrating each exercise, and also great as a jazz play-along! Endo...

A landmark in jazz studies, Thinking in Jazz reveals as never before how musicians, both individually and collectively, learn to improvise. Chronicling leading musicians from their first encounters with jazz to the development of a unique improvisatory voice, Paul Berliner documents the lifetime of preparation that lies behind the skilled improviser's every idea.The product of more than fifteen years of immersion in the jazz world, Thinking in Jazz combines partici...

An Economist Best Book of the YearAn acclaimed music scholar presents an accessible introduction to the art of listening to jazz.**“Mr. Gioia could not have done a better job. Through him, jazz might even find new devotees.” ―**EconomistIn How to Listen to Jazz, award-winning music scholar Ted Gioia presents a lively introduction to one of America's premie...

'It is the most singular of sounds, yet among the most ubiquitous. It is the sound of isolation that has sold itself to millions.'Miles Davis's Kind of Blue is the best selling piece of music in the history of jazz, and for many listeners among the most haunting in all of twentieth-century music. It is also, notoriously, the only jazz album many people own. Recorded in 1959 (in nine miraculous hours), there has been nothing like it since. Its atmosphere - slow, da...

The Guardian and Observer newspapers have covered jazz in all its shapes and forms for almost a century. Jazz: From New Orleans to the new generation is a collection of reviews and profiles that charts the development of the music from its first appearance in London in 1917 right through to latter day arguments over fusion. Contributors including Kingsley Amis, Benny Green, Michael Frayn and John Fordham provide a uniquely British perspective on the history of jazz that features all the top n...

A music journalist offers a lively history of modern jazz through its formative and most vital decades—from Charlie Parker to John Coltrane.In Giant Steps, Kenny Mathieson examines the most important figures in the creation of modern jazz, detailing the emergence and evolution of bebop through the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis. Using this as its starting point, Mathieson then delves into the developments...