179 books in Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians
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A Fine Romance
Jewish Songwriters, American Songs
Written by David Lehman
Format: Hardcover, 272 pages
On Sale: October 6, 2009
Price: $23.00
Part of the Jewish Encounter series
In A Fine Romance, David Lehman looks at the formation of the American songbook—the timeless numbers that became jazz standards, iconic love songs, and sound tracks to famous movies—and explores the extraordinary fact that this songbook was written almost exclusively by Jews.
An acclaimed poet, editor, and... Read more >
Jewish Songwriters, American Songs
Written by David Lehman
Format: Hardcover, 272 pages
On Sale: October 6, 2009
Price: $23.00
Part of the Jewish Encounter series
In A Fine Romance, David Lehman looks at the formation of the American songbook—the timeless numbers that became jazz standards, iconic love songs, and sound tracks to famous movies—and explores the extraordinary fact that this songbook was written almost exclusively by Jews.
An acclaimed poet, editor, and... Read more >
Also available as an
eBook.
A Fine Romance
Jewish Songwriters, American Songs
Written by David Lehman
Format: eBook
On Sale: October 6, 2009
Price: $13.99
Part of the Jewish Encounter series
In A Fine Romance, David Lehman looks at the formation of the American songbook—the timeless numbers that became jazz standards, iconic love songs, and sound tracks to famous movies—and explores the extraordinary fact that this songbook was written almost exclusively by Jews.
An acclaimed poet, editor, and... Read more >
Jewish Songwriters, American Songs
Written by David Lehman
Format: eBook
On Sale: October 6, 2009
Price: $13.99
Part of the Jewish Encounter series
In A Fine Romance, David Lehman looks at the formation of the American songbook—the timeless numbers that became jazz standards, iconic love songs, and sound tracks to famous movies—and explores the extraordinary fact that this songbook was written almost exclusively by Jews.
An acclaimed poet, editor, and... Read more >
Also available as a
hardcover.
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Journey of a Thousand Miles
My Story
Written by Lang Lang and David Ritz
Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
On Sale: September 8, 2009
Price: $16.00
“Number One” was a phrase my father—and, for that matter, my mother—repeated time and time again. It was a phrase spoken by my parents’ friends and by their friends’ children. Whenever adults discussed the great Chinese painters and sculptors from the ancient dynasties, there was always a single artist named as... Read more >
My Story
Written by Lang Lang and David Ritz
Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
On Sale: September 8, 2009
Price: $16.00
“Number One” was a phrase my father—and, for that matter, my mother—repeated time and time again. It was a phrase spoken by my parents’ friends and by their friends’ children. Whenever adults discussed the great Chinese painters and sculptors from the ancient dynasties, there was always a single artist named as... Read more >
Also available as an
unabridged audiobook download and an
eBook.
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Moving to Higher Ground
How Jazz Can Change Your Life
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward
Format: Trade Paperback, 208 pages
On Sale: September 8, 2009
Price: $16.00
In this beautiful book, Pulitzer Prize—winning musician and composer Wynton Marsalis draws upon lessons he’s learned from a lifetime in jazz–lessons that can help us all move to higher ground. With wit and candor he demystifies the music that is the birthright of every American and demonstrates how a real understanding... Read more >
How Jazz Can Change Your Life
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward
Format: Trade Paperback, 208 pages
On Sale: September 8, 2009
Price: $16.00
In this beautiful book, Pulitzer Prize—winning musician and composer Wynton Marsalis draws upon lessons he’s learned from a lifetime in jazz–lessons that can help us all move to higher ground. With wit and candor he demystifies the music that is the birthright of every American and demonstrates how a real understanding... Read more >
Also available as an
eBook.
Portrait of Johnny
The Life of John Herndon Mercer
Written by Gene Lees
Format: eBook, 384 pages
On Sale: August 19, 2009
Price: $14.99
An intimate biography of the great songwriter, this is also a deeply affectionate memoir by one of Johnny Mercer’s best friends.
“Moon River,” “Laura,” “Skylark,” ”That Old Black Magic,” “One for My Baby,” “Accentuate the Positive,” “Satin Doll,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Something’s Gotta Give”—the honor roll of Mercer’s songs is... Read more >
The Life of John Herndon Mercer
Written by Gene Lees
Format: eBook, 384 pages
On Sale: August 19, 2009
Price: $14.99
An intimate biography of the great songwriter, this is also a deeply affectionate memoir by one of Johnny Mercer’s best friends.
“Moon River,” “Laura,” “Skylark,” ”That Old Black Magic,” “One for My Baby,” “Accentuate the Positive,” “Satin Doll,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Something’s Gotta Give”—the honor roll of Mercer’s songs is... Read more >
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Secret Lives of Great Composers
Written by Elizabeth Lunday
Illustrated by Mario Zucca
Format: Trade Paperback, 288 pages
On Sale: August 1, 2009
Price: $16.95
True tales of murder, riots, heartbreak, and great music.
With outrageous anecdotes about everyone from Gioachino Rossini (draft-dodging womanizer) to Johann Sebastian Bach (jailbird) to Richard Wagner (alleged cross-dresser), Secret Lives of Great Composers recounts the seamy, steamy, and gritty history behind the great masters of international music. You’ll learn... Read more >
Written by Elizabeth Lunday
Illustrated by Mario Zucca
Format: Trade Paperback, 288 pages
On Sale: August 1, 2009
Price: $16.95
True tales of murder, riots, heartbreak, and great music.
With outrageous anecdotes about everyone from Gioachino Rossini (draft-dodging womanizer) to Johann Sebastian Bach (jailbird) to Richard Wagner (alleged cross-dresser), Secret Lives of Great Composers recounts the seamy, steamy, and gritty history behind the great masters of international music. You’ll learn... Read more >
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A Freewheelin' Time
A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties
Written by Suze Rotolo
Format: Trade Paperback, 384 pages
On Sale: May 12, 2009
Price: $14.95
A Freewheelin’ Time is Suze Rotolo’s firsthand, eyewitness, participant-observer account of the immensely creative and fertile years of the 1960s, just before the circus was in full swing and Bob Dylan became the anointed ringmaster. It chronicles the back-story of Greenwich Village in the early days of the folk music explosion... Read more >
A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties
Written by Suze Rotolo
Format: Trade Paperback, 384 pages
On Sale: May 12, 2009
Price: $14.95
A Freewheelin’ Time is Suze Rotolo’s firsthand, eyewitness, participant-observer account of the immensely creative and fertile years of the 1960s, just before the circus was in full swing and Bob Dylan became the anointed ringmaster. It chronicles the back-story of Greenwich Village in the early days of the folk music explosion... Read more >
Also available as an
eBook.
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I Got Your Back
A Father and Son Keep It Real About Love, Fatherhood, Family, and Friendship
Written by Sr. Eddie Levert and Gerald Levert
Format: eBook, 224 pages
On Sale: May 6, 2009
Price: $9.99
The final collaboration from Eddie and Gerald Levert: an intimate glimpse into their lives, their passions, and their musical legacy. But most important, I Got Your Back gets inside the special and rare father-son bond that these two R&B legends shared. Eddie and Gerald put their hearts and souls on the... Read more >
A Father and Son Keep It Real About Love, Fatherhood, Family, and Friendship
Written by Sr. Eddie Levert and Gerald Levert
Format: eBook, 224 pages
On Sale: May 6, 2009
Price: $9.99
The final collaboration from Eddie and Gerald Levert: an intimate glimpse into their lives, their passions, and their musical legacy. But most important, I Got Your Back gets inside the special and rare father-son bond that these two R&B legends shared. Eddie and Gerald put their hearts and souls on the... Read more >
Also available as a
trade paperback.
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The Protest Singer
An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger
Written by Alec Wilkinson
Format: Hardcover, 176 pages
On Sale: April 21, 2009
Price: $22.95
A true American original is brought to life in this rich and lively portrait of Pete Seeger, who, with his musical grace and inextinguishable passion for social justice, transformed folk singing into a high form of peaceful protest in the second half of the twentieth century. Drawing on his extensive talks... Read more >
An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger
Written by Alec Wilkinson
Format: Hardcover, 176 pages
On Sale: April 21, 2009
Price: $22.95
A true American original is brought to life in this rich and lively portrait of Pete Seeger, who, with his musical grace and inextinguishable passion for social justice, transformed folk singing into a high form of peaceful protest in the second half of the twentieth century. Drawing on his extensive talks... Read more >
Also available as an
eBook and a
trade paperback.
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The Protest Singer
Written by Alec Wilkinson
Format: eBook, 176 pages
On Sale: April 21, 2009
Price: $9.99
A spirited and intimate look at American icon and activist Pete Seeger, and his life and his accomplishments.
Pete Seeger transformed a classic American musical style into a form of peaceful protest against war, segregation, and nuclear weapons. Drawing on his extensive talks with Seeger, Alec Wilkinson delivers a first hand look... Read more >
Written by Alec Wilkinson
Format: eBook, 176 pages
On Sale: April 21, 2009
Price: $9.99
A spirited and intimate look at American icon and activist Pete Seeger, and his life and his accomplishments.
Pete Seeger transformed a classic American musical style into a form of peaceful protest against war, segregation, and nuclear weapons. Drawing on his extensive talks with Seeger, Alec Wilkinson delivers a first hand look... Read more >
Also available as a
hardcover and a
trade paperback.
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Cat Power
A Good Woman
Written by Elizabeth Goodman
Format: Trade Paperback, 304 pages
On Sale: April 7, 2009
Price: $13.95
How Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, Survived Herself–and Became the Indie Rock Queen.
Chan Marshall’s stark lyrics, minimal arrangements,and wounded, smoky vocals, were an instant indie hit in the nineties–but her mental instability nearly derailed her career. How this sensitive but headstrong Georgian daughter of an unstable mother and a relatively unknown... Read more >
A Good Woman
Written by Elizabeth Goodman
Format: Trade Paperback, 304 pages
On Sale: April 7, 2009
Price: $13.95
How Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, Survived Herself–and Became the Indie Rock Queen.
Chan Marshall’s stark lyrics, minimal arrangements,and wounded, smoky vocals, were an instant indie hit in the nineties–but her mental instability nearly derailed her career. How this sensitive but headstrong Georgian daughter of an unstable mother and a relatively unknown... Read more >
Also available as an
eBook.
Cat Power
A Good Woman
Written by Elizabeth Goodman
Format: eBook
On Sale: April 7, 2009
Price: $7.99
How Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, Survived Herself–and Became the Indie Rock Queen.
Chan Marshall’s stark lyrics, minimal arrangements,and wounded, smoky vocals, were an instant indie hit in the nineties–but her mental instability nearly derailed her career. How this sensitive but headstrong Georgian daughter of an unstable mother and a relatively unknown... Read more >
A Good Woman
Written by Elizabeth Goodman
Format: eBook
On Sale: April 7, 2009
Price: $7.99
How Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, Survived Herself–and Became the Indie Rock Queen.
Chan Marshall’s stark lyrics, minimal arrangements,and wounded, smoky vocals, were an instant indie hit in the nineties–but her mental instability nearly derailed her career. How this sensitive but headstrong Georgian daughter of an unstable mother and a relatively unknown... Read more >
Also available as a
trade paperback.
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Check the Technique
Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies
Written by Brian Coleman
Introduction by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
Format: eBook, 528 pages
On Sale: March 12, 2009
Price: $14.99
A Tribe Called Quest • Beastie Boys • De La Soul • Eric B. & Rakim • The Fugees • KRS-One • Pete Rock & CL Smooth • Public Enemy • The Roots • Run-DMC • Wu-Tang Clan • and twenty-five more hip-hop immortals
It’s a sad fact: hip-hop album liners have... Read more >
Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies
Written by Brian Coleman
Introduction by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
Format: eBook, 528 pages
On Sale: March 12, 2009
Price: $14.99
A Tribe Called Quest • Beastie Boys • De La Soul • Eric B. & Rakim • The Fugees • KRS-One • Pete Rock & CL Smooth • Public Enemy • The Roots • Run-DMC • Wu-Tang Clan • and twenty-five more hip-hop immortals
It’s a sad fact: hip-hop album liners have... Read more >
Also available as a
trade paperback.
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The Facts of Life
and Other Dirty Jokes
Written by Willie Nelson
Foreword by Larry McMurtry
Format: eBook, 248 pages
On Sale: March 12, 2009
Price: $11.99
If you had to give America a voice, it’s been said more than once, that voice would be Willie Nelson’s. For more than fifty years, he’s taken the stuff of his life-the good and the bad-and made from it a body of work that has become a permanent part of our... Read more >
and Other Dirty Jokes
Written by Willie Nelson
Foreword by Larry McMurtry
Format: eBook, 248 pages
On Sale: March 12, 2009
Price: $11.99
If you had to give America a voice, it’s been said more than once, that voice would be Willie Nelson’s. For more than fifty years, he’s taken the stuff of his life-the good and the bad-and made from it a body of work that has become a permanent part of our... Read more >
Also available as a
trade paperback.
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How Can I Keep from Singing?
The Ballad of Pete Seeger
Written by David King Dunaway
Foreword by Pete Seeger
Format: eBook, 544 pages
On Sale: March 12, 2009
Price: $13.99
How Can I Keep from Singing? is the compelling story of how the son of a respectable Puritan family became a consummate performer and American rebel. Updated with new research and interviews, unpublished photographs, and thoughtful comments from Pete Seeger himself, this is an inside history of the man Carl Sandburg... Read more >
The Ballad of Pete Seeger
Written by David King Dunaway
Foreword by Pete Seeger
Format: eBook, 544 pages
On Sale: March 12, 2009
Price: $13.99
How Can I Keep from Singing? is the compelling story of how the son of a respectable Puritan family became a consummate performer and American rebel. Updated with new research and interviews, unpublished photographs, and thoughtful comments from Pete Seeger himself, this is an inside history of the man Carl Sandburg... Read more >
Also available as a
trade paperback.
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To a Young Jazz Musician
Letters from the Road
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds
Format: eBook, 144 pages
On Sale: March 12, 2009
Price: $11.99
In To a Young Jazz Musician, the renowned jazz musician and Pulitzer Prize—winning composer Wynton Marsalis gives us an invaluable guide to making good music–and to leading a good life.
Writing from the road “between the bus ride, the sound check, and the gig,”
Marsalis passes on wisdom gained from experience, addressed... Read more >
Letters from the Road
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds
Format: eBook, 144 pages
On Sale: March 12, 2009
Price: $11.99
In To a Young Jazz Musician, the renowned jazz musician and Pulitzer Prize—winning composer Wynton Marsalis gives us an invaluable guide to making good music–and to leading a good life.
Writing from the road “between the bus ride, the sound check, and the gig,”
Marsalis passes on wisdom gained from experience, addressed... Read more >
Also available as a
trade paperback.
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The Toughest Show on Earth
Written by Joseph Volpe and Charles Michener
Format: eBook, 320 pages
On Sale: February 19, 2009
Price: $11.99
The Toughest Show on Earth is the ultimate behind-the-scenes chronicle of the divas and the dramas of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, by the remarkable man who rose from apprentice carpenter to general manager.
Joseph Volpe gives us an anecdote-filled tour of more than four decades at the Met, an institution full... Read more >
Written by Joseph Volpe and Charles Michener
Format: eBook, 320 pages
On Sale: February 19, 2009
Price: $11.99
The Toughest Show on Earth is the ultimate behind-the-scenes chronicle of the divas and the dramas of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, by the remarkable man who rose from apprentice carpenter to general manager.
Joseph Volpe gives us an anecdote-filled tour of more than four decades at the Met, an institution full... Read more >
Also available as a
hardcover and a
trade paperback.
For the Music
The Vince Gill Story
Written by Jo Sgammato
Format: eBook, 236 pages
On Sale: December 10, 2008
Price: $11.99
TO LOVE MUSIC IS TO LOVE VINCE GILL
His pure tenor voice, amazing guitar playing, and superb songwriting skills have earned Vince Gill eleven Grammies and seventeen Country Music Association Awards--making him the biggest CMA winner of all time. But it's the man behind the music who inspires so much love and... Read more >
The Vince Gill Story
Written by Jo Sgammato
Format: eBook, 236 pages
On Sale: December 10, 2008
Price: $11.99
TO LOVE MUSIC IS TO LOVE VINCE GILL
His pure tenor voice, amazing guitar playing, and superb songwriting skills have earned Vince Gill eleven Grammies and seventeen Country Music Association Awards--making him the biggest CMA winner of all time. But it's the man behind the music who inspires so much love and... Read more >
Also available as a
trade paperback.
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Tori Amos: Piece by Piece
Written by Tori Amos and Ann Powers
Format: eBook, 368 pages
On Sale: December 10, 2008
Price: $11.99
I choose to fight my battles through my music . . . I was born a feminist. And then at age five, when my strict Christian grandmother punished me, I realized, I’m not penetrating here. I’m just pissing people off. So I had to find another way to penetrate. I had... Read more >
Written by Tori Amos and Ann Powers
Format: eBook, 368 pages
On Sale: December 10, 2008
Price: $11.99
I choose to fight my battles through my music . . . I was born a feminist. And then at age five, when my strict Christian grandmother punished me, I realized, I’m not penetrating here. I’m just pissing people off. So I had to find another way to penetrate. I had... Read more >
Wilco
Learning How to Die
Written by Greg Kot
Format: eBook, 256 pages
On Sale: December 10, 2008
Price: $13.99
The intimate story of one of the great American bands of our time, creators of the controversial masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
When alt-country heroes-turned-rock-iconoclasts Wilco handed in their fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, to the band’s label, Reprise, a division of Warner Brothers, fans looked forward to the release of another challenging... Read more >
Learning How to Die
Written by Greg Kot
Format: eBook, 256 pages
On Sale: December 10, 2008
Price: $13.99
The intimate story of one of the great American bands of our time, creators of the controversial masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
When alt-country heroes-turned-rock-iconoclasts Wilco handed in their fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, to the band’s label, Reprise, a division of Warner Brothers, fans looked forward to the release of another challenging... Read more >
Also available as a
trade paperback.
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Life on Planet Rock
From Guns N' Roses to Nirvana, a Backstage Journey through Rock's Most Debauched Decade
Written by Lonn Friend
Format: eBook, 320 pages
On Sale: November 26, 2008
Price: $11.99
For the generation coming of age in the years from 1987 to 1994, RIP magazine was every bit as crucial as Rolling Stone. Life on Planet Rock describes how Friend, the editor of RIP, became the Zelig-like chronicler of the biggest musical moments of that time—from introducing Guns N’ Roses (in... Read more >
From Guns N' Roses to Nirvana, a Backstage Journey through Rock's Most Debauched Decade
Written by Lonn Friend
Format: eBook, 320 pages
On Sale: November 26, 2008
Price: $11.99
For the generation coming of age in the years from 1987 to 1994, RIP magazine was every bit as crucial as Rolling Stone. Life on Planet Rock describes how Friend, the editor of RIP, became the Zelig-like chronicler of the biggest musical moments of that time—from introducing Guns N’ Roses (in... Read more >
Also available as a
trade paperback.
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Around the World in 57 1/2 Gigs
Written by Dave Bidini
Format: Trade Paperback, 328 pages
On Sale: October 28, 2008
Price: $19.99
The strengths of Bidini’s two best-loved books, On a Cold Road and Tropic of Hockey, music and travel to unlikely places, come together in this account of his search for rock ‘n’ roll.
When it looks as if the Rheostatics are breaking up after more than twenty years together, Dave Bidini is... Read more >
Written by Dave Bidini
Format: Trade Paperback, 328 pages
On Sale: October 28, 2008
Price: $19.99
The strengths of Bidini’s two best-loved books, On a Cold Road and Tropic of Hockey, music and travel to unlikely places, come together in this account of his search for rock ‘n’ roll.
When it looks as if the Rheostatics are breaking up after more than twenty years together, Dave Bidini is... Read more >
Also available as an
eBook.
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Mosaic
Pieces of My Life So Far
Written by Amy Grant
Format: Trade Paperback, 240 pages
On Sale: October 7, 2008
Price: $14.99
One of America’s most popular music artists shares beautiful pieces of an unforgettable human mosaic, revealing pieces of a life in progress.
With her unmistakable voice and honest lyrics, Amy Grant has captured a unique place in American music. As the bestselling Christian music artist of all time, a crossover pop sensation... Read more >
Pieces of My Life So Far
Written by Amy Grant
Format: Trade Paperback, 240 pages
On Sale: October 7, 2008
Price: $14.99
One of America’s most popular music artists shares beautiful pieces of an unforgettable human mosaic, revealing pieces of a life in progress.
With her unmistakable voice and honest lyrics, Amy Grant has captured a unique place in American music. As the bestselling Christian music artist of all time, a crossover pop sensation... Read more >
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Twenty Thousand Roads
The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music
Written by David Meyer
Format: Trade Paperback, 592 pages
On Sale: September 16, 2008
Price: $18.00
As a singer and songwriter, Gram Parsons stood at the nexus of countless musical crossroads, and he sold his soul to the devil at every one. His intimates and collaborators included Keith Richards, William Burroughs, Marianne Faithfull, Peter Fonda, Roger McGuinn, and Clarence White. Parsons led the Byrds to create the... Read more >
The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music
Written by David Meyer
Format: Trade Paperback, 592 pages
On Sale: September 16, 2008
Price: $18.00
As a singer and songwriter, Gram Parsons stood at the nexus of countless musical crossroads, and he sold his soul to the devil at every one. His intimates and collaborators included Keith Richards, William Burroughs, Marianne Faithfull, Peter Fonda, Roger McGuinn, and Clarence White. Parsons led the Byrds to create the... Read more >
Also available as an
eBook.
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Moving to Higher Ground
How Jazz Can Change Your Life
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward
Format: eBook
On Sale: September 2, 2008
Price: $13.99
“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... Read more >
How Jazz Can Change Your Life
Written by Wynton Marsalis and Geoffrey Ward
Format: eBook
On Sale: September 2, 2008
Price: $13.99
“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... Read more >
Also available as a
trade paperback.
