Dancing in Your Head: Jazz, Blues, Rock, and Beyond
Santoro, music columnist for the Nation , is an avid generalist who writes with emotion, enthusiasm and distinct likes and dislikes. Here, he offers 65 articles and record and book reviews written between 1986 and 1992 for the Nation , the Village Voice , Downbeat and other publications. He opens with an appreciation of bluesman Robert Johnson's creative use of the constraints imposed by 78rpm recording, and he closes with raves for saxophonist John Zorn's "sonic assault" on traditional musical boundaries and for Steve Coleman, whose musical evolution he traces. Santoro also covers gospel, James Brown, country (which, he writes, is based on "commercially generated nostalgia"),
Picture Yourself Playing Bass is a full-color, step by step guide to learning bass guitar for beginners and intermediate players. This one-of-a-kind package walks readers through all of the important educational and musical techniques through easy-to-follow fingering charts, illustrations, photos, musical notation, and detailed instructional chapters. Everything is covered, from tips and advice for purchasing your bass and proper bass care and maintenance, to fingering techniques, reading sheet music, and advanced sound effects techniques.
There's no way around it: Sedaris fans are going to have to buy both her lavishly illustrated book and her audiobook adaptation. No one should be forced to decide between enjoying the visual delights of her kitschy photo-filled book or the aural pleasures of Sedaris's wonderfully exuberant narration. The rubber-faced comedienne proves equally limber vocally with her quicksilver changes from perfect deadpan to goofy dialects. The jaunty musical score and quirky sound effects enhance the production and complement her narration. Sedaris sounds like she's throwing a party in the studio and listeners would be foolish not to RSVP.
The authors are concerned with both the relationship between performance, music, and film and the specificity of national, historical, social, and cultural contexts. Subjects include: cinematic representations of music forms; celebrities, fan culture, and intertextuality; the importance of popular music and the soundtrack movie; and specific national contexts.
Music in Chopin's Warsaw examines the rich musical environment of Fryderyk Chopin's youth--largely unknown to the English-speaking world--and places Chopin's early works in the context of this milieu. Halina Goldberg provides a historiographic perspective that allows a new and better understanding of Poland's cultural and musical circumstances.