"It’s a welcome surprise to read this careful look by a music historian at Graceland, Paul Simon’s 1986 masterpiece: By bringing both its beauty and its uglier aspects into the light, Kahn, far from ruining the album’s strange magic, lets readers appreciate its intricacies and paradoxes all the more." —The New York Times (Editors' Choice)In 1984, Paul Simon was at a professional and personal crossroads. His new marriage was failing and hi...

• 2022 ASCAP Foundation Special Recognition Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Book Award in Pop MusicGeorge Harrison on George Harrison is an authoritative, chronologically arranged anthology of Harrison's most revealing and illuminating interviews, personal correspondence, and writings, spanning the years 1962 to 2001.This compendium of his words and ideas proves that point repeatedly, revealing his passion for music, his focus on spirituality, and his responsibil...

"A jazz-lover's delight."—Ray Olson, BooklistNoted jazz author Ashley Kahn brings to life the behind-the-scenes story of Impulse Records, one of the most significant record labels in the history of popular music. “Kahn mingles engaging stories of corporate politics with insider accounts of music-making and anecdotal takes on particular albums. His history of Impulse is also the story of the genesis of an American art form and the evolution of the record in...

Few albums in the canon of popular music have had the influence, resonance, and endurance of John Coltrane's 1965 classic A Love Supreme-a record that proved jazz was a fitting medium for spiritual exploration and for the expression of the sublime.Bringing the same fresh and engaging approach that characterized his critically acclaimed Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, Ashley Kahn tells the story of the genesis, creation, an...

In the early spring of 1959, six musicians went into the 30th Street Studio in New York. Nine hours later, they had recorded one of the finest albums of the twentieth century.Kind of Blue traces Miles Davis's development into an artist capable of making such a masterpiece, and explores the careers and struggles of the musicians who shaped him and played alongside him. Using interviews and pictures, studio dialogue and outtakes, the great jazz historian Ashley Kahn follows ...

The intimate and long-awaited memoir of guitar legend Carlos Santana.In 1967 at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium, a young guitarist played a blistering solo that announced a prodigious talent. Two years later he played a historic set at Woodstock, and the world came to know Carlos Santana by name.THE UNIVERSAL TONE is a tale of musical self-determination and self-discovery. It traces his journey from his teen days playing in Tijuana, and the est...

"It’s a welcome surprise to read this careful look by a music historian at Graceland, Paul Simon’s 1986 masterpiece: By bringing both its beauty and its uglier aspects into the light, Kahn, far from ruining the album’s strange magic, lets readers appreciate its intricacies and paradoxes all the more." —The New York Times (Editors' Choice)In 1984, Paul Simon was at a professional and personal crossroads. His new marriage was failing and hi...

The long-awaited reissue of Alice Coltrane’s original spiritual teachings and reflections, which provide powerful insight into her transcendent music, cherished by millions across the globe.ALICE COLTRANE (1937–2007) was a composer, master of various musical instruments, improviser, spiritual leader, and wife of John Coltrane. Throughout her adult life, she worked within and combined a broad range of musical genres, including gospel, R&B, ...

The revealing, wildly entertaining, and bestselling memoir from the legendary Bruce Springsteen, one of the greatest songwriters and performers of any era. Born to Run is the greatest rock ‘n’ roll story ever told.Essential reading for the 50th anniversary of Springsteen’s seminal album Born to Run, the long-awaited release of Nebraska ’82, and a companion to the acclaimed film Deliver Me from Nowhere, starring Jeremy Allen White...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From America’s favorite storyteller comes “one of his best legal dramas” (Associated Press): a gripping thriller about a former big-city lawyer who finds herself up against Big Coal—and under attack.“Yes, Gray Mountain is fiction. But after reading the book, you’ll believe heroic action must be taken.”—USA TodayThe year is 2008 and Samantha Kofer’s career at a huge Wall Street law fi...

From the time the first "Diddley Bo" appeared on a wooden barnyard wall, countless great sounding blues songs, acoustic and electric, have been written and recorded by many talented artists.These ten legendary songs, among them "Boom Boom," "Little Red Rooster" and "The Thrill is Gone," from fabled musicians like John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon and B.B.King, provide some of the critical links in the chain of the American blues tradition.

The expression of innovative women in acoustic and electric blues music is both vital and far-reaching. From the beginning, remarkable female artists have helped shape popular music with important blues contributions. As a result, their legacy should be kept in mind.This book commemorates a select group of noteworthy women chosen for their compelling collective vibe along with an incredible music mojo. Read Seven Celebrated Women of the Blues and share the writer's enjoyment.