The Guinness Jazz Companion

Apex Blues chronicles the extraordinary lives and musical legacies of two generation-spanning Jazz clarinet virtuosos: Jimmie Noone Sr. and his son Jimmy Noone Jr. Jimmie Noone Sr. rose to fame in the 1910s New Orleans French Quarter jazz scene, forging his iconic ‘Sweet Lorraine’ style during the dawn of the genre. Later, his son Jimmy initially made waves as a San Diego local musician before feeling called to follow in his father’s footsteps. He set out to revive his dad’s New Orleans Jazz sound and mentorship. As the author witnesses firsthand, Jimmy exceeds even his father’s musical heights through raw talent and relentless dedication to his craft. In his final days, he completes his quest: to honor Jazz history by propelling his father’s sound into the future. Jimmy cements the Noone legacy, ensuring the nation remembers what sublime Jazz can be. Spanning generations, geographies, and evolutions of musical style, Apex Blues captures how two clarinet greats shepherded Jazz from regional obscurity into an acclaimed American art form.

Jazz: Research and Pedagogy is the third edition of an annotated bibliography to books, recordings, videos, and websites in the field of jazz. Since the publication of the 2nd edition in 1995, the quantity and quality of books on jazz research, performance, and teaching materials have increased. Although the 1995 book was the most comprehensive annotated jazz bibliography published to that date, several books on research, performance, and teaching materials were omitted. In addition, given the proliferation of new books in all jazz areas since 1995, the need for a new, comprehensive, and annotated reference book on jazz is apparent. Multiply indexed, this book will serve as an excellent tool for librarians, researchers, and scholars in sorting through the massive amount of new material that has appeared in the field over the last decade.

First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In Vintage Living Texts, teachers and students will find the essential guide to the works of Toni Morrison. Vintage Living Texts is unique in that it offers an in-depth interview with Toni Morrison, relating specifically to the texts under discussion. This guide deals with Morrison's themes, genre and narrative technique, and a close reading of the texts will provide a rich source of ideas for intelligent and inventive ways of approaching the novels. Also included in this guide are detailed reading plans for the novels, questions for essays and discussion, contextual material, suggested texts for complementary and comparative reading, extracts from reviews, a biography, bibliography and a glossary of literary terms. Whether a teacher, student or general reader, Vintage Living Texts gives you the chance to explore new resources and enjoy new pleasures.

This biography reveals the lost history of the life of the 1920s Black female international superstar. Mills was lionized by the crowned heads in Europe and opened doors for generations of Black female stars from Lena Horne to Diana Ross. Although her career and shows changed the nature of Black entertainment, and thereby the wider American popular culture, she was largely forgotten in later years. Anyone who wants to understand the history of Black entertainment from Bert Williams to Michael Jackson and, by implication, the history of American popular culture, needs to understand the ways in which Florence Mills changed the rules forever.