From Satchmo To Miles

"Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Norman Granz, Oscar Peterson, Ray Charles, Don Ellis, and Miles Davis--these are the dozen j"

"Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Norman Granz, Oscar Peterson, Ray Charles, Don Ellis, and Miles Davis--these are the dozen j"

A groundbreaking study of Louis Armstrong’s autobiographical practices

A revelatory look at the tumultuous life of a jazz legend and American cultural icon In the first biography of Billie Holiday in more than two decades, Paul Alexander—author of heralded lives of Sylvia Plath and J. D. Salinger—gives us an unconventional portrait of arguably America’s most eminent jazz singer. He shrewdly focuses on the last year of her life—with relevant flashbacks to provide context—to evoke and examine the persistent magnificence of Holiday’s artistry when it was supposed to have declined, in the wake of her drug abuse, relationships with violent men, and run-ins with the law. During her lifetime and after her death, Billie Holiday was often depicted as a down-on-her-luck junkie severely lacking in self-esteem. Relying on interviews with people who knew her, and new material unearthed in private collections and institutional archives, Bitter Crop—a reference to the last two words of Strange Fruit, her moving song about lynching—limns Holiday as a powerful, ambitious woman who overcame her flaws to triumph as a vital figure of American popular music.

This collection of interviews and photos celebrates some of the most outstanding artists in these genres. The book is divided by instrument, and for each artist there is a biography, an interview by Julie Coryell, an outstanding photo by Laura Friedman, and a selected, cross-referenced discography. Legendary players covered here include: Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorius, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Stanley Clarke, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Ayers, Ron Carter, Chick Corea, George Benson, Flora Purim and many others. Also features a stunning section of full-color photos, and a preface by Ramsey Lewis. 368 pages.