Jazz (American Popular Music) - Hardcover

Holmes, Thom

9780816053162: Jazz (American Popular Music)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0816053162 ISBN 13: 9780816053162

Publisher: Facts on File, 2006

American popular music reflects a rich cultural diversity. From Aaron Copland to Miles Davis to Elvis Presley to Muddy Waters, the United States has produced some of the most influential and beloved musicians and performers of the 20th century. The blues, jazz, and rock and roll - musical genres loved around the world - were born here, and American composers, producers, singers, and songwriters have crafted a unique heritage in other genres such as classical and folk. American Popular Music, a new eight-volume set, celebrates American music by presenting a wealth of information on seven major musical branches. Each comprehensive book provides the perfect, one-stop starting point for research in each musical field.

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About the Author:

Thom Holmes is a writer specializing in natural history subjects and dinosaurs. He was the publications director of The Dinosaur Society and the editor of its newsletter, Dino Times, the world's only monthly publication devoted to news about dinosaur discoveries.

From Booklist:

This concise volume is a part of Facts On File's seven-volume American Popular Music set. With more than 500 alphabetically arranged entries covering history, instruments, leading figures, influential recordings, varying styles and subgenres, vocabulary, and performance techniques, the volume functions as a comprehensive guide to a uniquely American musical form. A very useful "Introducing Jazz" section briefly discusses jazz eras and movements and provides a helpful listening guide for nonaficionados. Most helpful of all, entry headings are cross-referenced throughout the introduction, allowing users to jump right to them.

The volume is heavily cross-referenced throughout and has occasional black-and- white photographs. Composer entries begin with birth and death dates and a brief description--for example, "Mingus, Charles (1922-1979) American bass player, composer, arranger, and bandleader." The scope of personages is not limited to Americans or to mainstream or popular artists. For example, Czech guitarist and composer Miroslav Vitous, best known as a founding member of Weather Report, merits his own entry, as do eccentrics Sun Ra and Pharaoh Sanders. Other miscellaneous entries include, for example, Hot Club de France, tone cluster, and the Wire magazine.

Six appendixes complete the volume, among them a list of seminal recordings, a historical map of early jazz, and a list of Grammy Awards for jazz. An eight-page glossary of music terms follows the appendixes. "End Notes and Further Reading" includes a fair number of readily available Web documents (interviews, essays, articles, etc.). Finally, a comprehensive index finishes the volume.

Functioning more as a dictionary than a detailed and in-depth encyclopedia, Jazz is appropriate as a handy reference volume for high-school, public, and academic libraries. Michael Tosko
Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved

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