Download or read book Experiencing Bessie Smith written by John Clark and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-10-06 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bessie Smith occupies a unique place in the history of American music. She was one of the first undisputed artists to come from the American vernacular tradition of the twentieth century, and as a woman, she was a figure of extraordinary power. She organized and led her own touring companies, wrote some of her repertoire, controlled her many relationships (romantic and otherwise), and even negotiated her own contracts. This type of agency was virtually unheard of in the popular music industry during the first half of the century, and Smith is often cited as a major influence on artists who sought to manage their work and reputation. Her musical output comprises a long series of recordings done between 1923 and 1933, all of which feature her vocal range, musical ability, and emotional power. Her band included some of the best black musicians of the day. In Experiencing Bessie Smith, John Clark chronicles Bessie Smith’s vital contribution to and influence on music, the music industry, and the recording industry. While her recording career lasted only a decade, she toured long before setting her music to vinyl, with much of her early career amply documented. Singers from Billie Holiday to Janis Joplin were influenced by her work, and both musicians and music lovers today continue to be entranced by her unmistakable style.
Download or read book Blues Legacies and Black Feminism written by Angela Y. Davis and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-10-05 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of this country's most important intellectuals comes a brilliant analysis of the blues tradition that examines the careers of three crucial black women blues singers through a feminist lens. Angela Davis provides the historical, social, and political contexts with which to reinterpret the performances and lyrics of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday as powerful articulations of an alternative consciousness profoundly at odds with mainstream American culture. The works of Rainey, Smith, and Holiday have been largely misunderstood by critics. Overlooked, Davis shows, has been the way their candor and bravado laid the groundwork for an aesthetic that allowed for the celebration of social, moral, and sexual values outside the constraints imposed by middle-class respectability. Through meticulous transcriptions of all the extant lyrics of Rainey and Smith−published here in their entirety for the first time−Davis demonstrates how the roots of the blues extend beyond a musical tradition to serve as a conciousness-raising vehicle for American social memory. A stunning, indispensable contribution to American history, as boldly insightful as the women Davis praises, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism is a triumph.
Download or read book Words and Songs of Bessie Smith Billie Holiday and Nina Simone written by Melanie E. Bratcher and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-11-21 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the relationship between three African American women's dance-art-music sensibilities within the context of a Pan African aesthetic. Its purpose is three-fold: to show commonalities between Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone's lives and original compositions; to codify, examine and evaluate their selected song performances in accordance with the Pan African aesthetic "Nzuri theory/model;" and to illuminate the vast sources of transformational values that aesthetic analysis of African American song performance can foster. Following concordant procedures and principles of Afrocentricity, the study focuses on Smith, Holiday and Simone's performances as part of a whole African artistic and cultural value system. The goal of the Afrocentric methodological structure is to locate relevant African dynamics in songs and to promote knowledge for cultural transformation and continuity. Its use in this study provides meta-criteria for analyzing African American music, which the author has used to uniquely argue connections between African cultural memory and African-derived cultural expression.
Download or read book A Bad Woman Feeling Good Blues and the Women Who Sing Them written by Buzzy Jackson and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2005-02-17 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The women who broke the rules, creating their own legacy of how to live and sing the blues. An exciting lineage of women singers—originating with Ma Rainey and her protégée Bessie Smith—shaped the blues, launching it as a powerful, expressive vehicle of emotional liberation. Along with their successors Billie Holiday, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, and Janis Joplin, they injected a dose of reality into the often trivial world of popular song, bringing their message of higher expectations and broader horizons to their audiences. These women passed their image, their rhythms, and their toughness on to the next generation of blues women, which has its contemporary incarnation in singers like Bonnie Raitt and Lucinda Williams (with whom the author has done an in-depth interview). Buzzy Jackson combines biography, an appreciation of music, and a sweeping view of American history to illuminate the pivotal role of blues women in a powerful musical tradition. Musician Thomas Dorsey said, "The blues is a good woman feeling bad." But these women show by their style that he had it backward: The blues is a bad woman feeling good.
Download or read book Bessie Smith written by and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Black Pearls written by Daphne Duval Harrison and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some singers included in this book are Sippie Wallace, Victoria Spivey, Edith Wilson, and Alberta Hunter.
Download or read book Blues Empress in Black Chattanooga written by Michelle R. Scott and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2008-08-04 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cultural and industrial reconstruction of the South, explored through a major figure in early black music
Download or read book The Sandbox And the Death of Bessie Smith With Fam and Yam written by Edward Albee and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Trumpet written by Jackie Kay and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-07-20 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Supremely humane.... Kay leaves us with a broad landscape of sweet tolerance and familial love." —The New York Times Book Review In her starkly beautiful and wholly unexpected tale, Jackie Kay delves into the most intimate workings of the human heart and mind and offers a triumphant tale of loving deception and lasting devotion. The death of legendary jazz trumpeter Joss Moody exposes an extraordinary secret, one that enrages his adopted son, Colman, leading him to collude with a tabloid journalist. Besieged by the press, his widow Millie flees to a remote Scottish village, where she seeks solace in memories of their marriage. The reminiscences of those who knew Joss Moody render a moving portrait of a shared life founded on an intricate lie, one that preserved a rare, unconditional love.
Download or read book Experiencing Mahler written by Arved Ashby and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-01-08 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experiencing Mahler surveys the symphonies and major song sets of Gustav Mahler, presenting them not just as artworks but as vivid and deeply felt journeys. Mahler took the symphony, perhaps the most tradition-bound genre in Western music, and opened it to the widest span of human experience. He introduced themes of love, nature, the chasmic depth of midnight, making peace with death, facing rebirth, seeking one’s creator, and being at one with God. Arved Ashby offers the non-specialist a general introduction into Mahler’s seemingly unbounded energy to investigate the elements that make each work an experiential adventure—one that has redefined the symphonic genre in new ways. In addition to the standard nine symphonies, Ashby discusses Das Lied von der Erde, the three most commonly heard song sets (the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Kindertotenlieder, and Rückert-Lieder), and the unfinished Tenth Symphony (in Cooke’s edition). Experiencing Mahler is a far-reaching and often provocative search for meaning in the music of one of the most beloved composers of all time.
Download or read book Experiencing Berlioz written by Melinda P. O'Neal and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-02-23 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experiencing Berlioz: A Listener’s Companion is an in-depth entrée into the sound world of Hector Berlioz, recognized today as one of the most profoundly original and engaging composers in 19th-century Europe. Melinda O’Neal offers the non-specialist a pathway into the underlying allure of Berlioz's music. His views on rehearsing and conducting, bumpy career ride and failures, the journey of a work through revisions and editions, and historical performance practices provide a backdrop to discussions of his most significant works. As O’Neal addresses the motivation and conception, sonic atmosphere, and compositional strategies of key works, she provides a new multifaceted experience not only to music historians and performers but also to any amateur music lover who has ever been entranced by Berlioz’s undeniable musical veracity. As the listener interacts with Berlioz's music, the ear's curiosity and imagination will take flight.
Download or read book Experiencing Chopin written by Christine Lee Gengaro and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-12-20 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fryderyk Chopin’s career is intricately entwined with the piano. Although he made forays into orchestral and chamber work, the vast majority of Chopin’s pieces feature the piano. While his relatively brief life shortened his potential contribution as a composer, the originality, richness, and quality of his work is undeniable. His harmonies were often surprising, the rhythms flexible, and the music dramatic. In Experiencing Chopin: A Listener’s Companion,Christine Lee Gengaro surveys Chopin’s position as a composer at a time when the piano stood at the center of musical and social life. Throughout, she shines a spotlight on Chopin and his music, which illuminated the Romantic period in which he lived, the social and artistic climate that surrounded him, and the importance of the individual artist at a time of political foment. Gengaro considers the different genres among Chopin’s works, linking each to the historical, social, and biographical issues that shaped them.
Download or read book Experiencing Herbie Hancock written by Eric Wendell and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-08-10 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The musical output of pianist and composer Herbie Hancock is a design rarely seen in jazz; a child prodigy working their way up the ranks to elder statesman and influencing an entire generation of musicians across numerous genres. Sowing his oats in classical repertoire, Hancock used jazz to satiate his musical curiosities enhanced by his undying love of the technological advancements of the day. As a result, Hancock has traversed expectations and continues to be a staple in mainstream music. In concert with his performance style, Hancock’s compositional efforts have added to the jazz canon and remain popular standards today. Like a musical protein, Hancock has used jazz as his foundation and added his own personal spices creating a unique harmonic invention. In addition to being a virtuoso pianist and composer, Hancock has explored many forms of music such as rock, funk and world music, always looking ahead rather than rehashing what has already been accomplished. Hancock’s chameleon-like ways of changing musical direction to broaden contemporary styles has been met with excitement from both peers and fans alike. But all of this came naturally to Hancock, whose boundless energy and creativity formed the music he loved so deeply. In Experiencing Herbie Hancock: A Listener’s Companion, author Eric Wendell looks beyond the successes and failures of Hancock’s career in an effort to explore Hancock’s musical design both within the jazz community and within the popular mainstream. Furthermore, Wendell will explore the dramatic impact that Hancock has held on the jazz community and how his efforts have fostered the cross-genre continuity of modern jazz practitioners. Experiencing Herbie Hancock: A Listener’s Companion, is an ideal work for jazz aficionados, music students and anyone who appreciates the efforts of an artist that would rather look ahead to the great unknown then tread backwards on past endeavors.
Download or read book Experiencing Progressive Rock written by Robert G. H. Burns and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-05-14 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Experiencing Progressive Rock: A Listener's Companion, Robert G. H. Burns brings together the many strands that define the "prog rock" movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s to chart the evolution of this remarkable rock tradition over the decades. Originating in the 1960s with acts like Yes, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, The Who, Jethro Tull, Genesis, and The Moody Blues, progressive rock emerged as a response to the counterculture on both sides of the Atlantic. Prog rock drew heavily on European classical music as well as the sophisticated improvisations of American jazz to create unique fusions that defied record label and radio station categorizations. Reemerging after the 1980s, a new generation of musicians took the original influences of progressive rock and reinvented new formats within the existing style. The trend of combining influences continues to the present day, earning new audiences among the musically curious. Burns draws on his own experiences and original interviews with members of prog rock acts such as Colosseum, Renaissance, Steve Hackett’s Genesis Revisited, past and current members of King Crimson, Steven Wilson, and Brand X, as well as several others, to provide an exciting behind-the-scenes look at this unique and ever-changing musical expression'.
Download or read book Experiencing Alice Cooper written by Ian Chapman and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-03-12 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experiencing Alice Cooper: A Listener’s Companion takes a long overdue look at the music and stage act of rock music’s self-styled arch-villain. A provocateur from the very start of his career in the mid-1960s, Alice Cooper, aka Vince Furnier, son of a lay preacher in the Church of Jesus Christ, carved a unique path through five decades of rock’n’roll. Despite a longevity that only a handful of other artists and acts can match, Alice Cooper remains a difficult act and artist to pin down and categorize. During the last years of the 1960s and the heydays of commercial success in the 1970s, Cooper's groundbreaking theatricality, calculated offensiveness, and evident disregard for the conventions of rock protocols sowed confusion among his critics and evoked outrage from the public. Society’s watchdogs demanded his head, and Cooper willingly obliged at the end of each performance with his on-stage self-guillotining. But as youth anthem after youth anthem - “I’m Eighteen,” “School’s Out,” “Elected,” “Department of Youth”—rang out in his arena concerts the world over and across airwaves, fans flocked to experience Cooper’s unique brand of rock. Critics searched for proper descriptions: “pantomime,” “vaudeville,” “retch-rock,” “Grand Guignol.” In 1973 Cooper headlined in Time magazine as “Schlock Rock’s Godzilla.” In Experiencing Alice Cooper: A Listener’s Companion, Ian Chapman surveys Cooper’s career through his twenty-seven studio albums (1969-2017). While those who have written about Cooper have traditionally kept their focus on the stage spectacle, too little attention has been paid to Cooper’s recordings. Throughout, Chapman argues that while Cooper may have been rock’s most accomplished showman, he is first and foremost a musician, with his share of gold and platinum albums to vouch for his qualifications as a musical artist.
Download or read book Experiencing Black Sabbath written by Nolan Stolz and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-11-08 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black Sabbath has often been credited with inventing heavy metal with their first album released in 1970. Their new style of music was loud, brutal, scary, innovative, and it has greatly influenced heavy metal bands since then. Their five decades of music cross generations of fans, and they remain relevant to this day, with their 2013 album charting #1 in the United States and at least five other countries. In Experiencing Black Sabbath: A Listener’s Companion, musician and scholar Nolan Stolz leads the reader through Sabbath’s twenty studio albums and additional songs, closely examining their music and the storied history of the band. Along the way, Stolz highlights often-overlooked key moments that defined Sabbath’s unique musical style and legacy. Band members’ own words illuminate certain aspects of the music, and Stolz makes connections from song to song, album to album, and sometimes across decades to create an intricate narrative of the band’s entire catalog. Experiencing Black Sabbath reveals the underappreciated genius of these heavy metal progenitors to all rock music lovers and gives even the most fervent Sabbath fans a new perspective on the music.
Download or read book Experiencing Ornette Coleman written by Michael Stephans and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-10-06 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Ornette Coleman, along with pianist Cecil Taylor, was one of the founding forces of the Free Jazz movement which took the music world by storm in the 1950s and 60s. His brilliance as an instrumentalist at first positioned him as a polarizing figure, but eventually brought him recognition as an American original and international jazz treasure. Jazz drummer Michael Stephans explores the personal challenges Coleman faced, the music he created from one decade to the next, and the incredibly positive attitude he maintained in the face of so much negativity throughout his life. Revealing how Coleman became an iconic, enigmatic figure not only in jazz, but in much of contemporary improvisational music, Stephans weaves together analysis of Coleman’s recordings with interviews of those who knew Coleman best. Experiencing Ornette Coleman: A Listener's Companion encourages both jazz devotees and readers with little knowledge of the music to trace the inspirational journey of this now-seminal figure from his early years through the beginnings of the new millennium. Along the way, readers will learn about the music and motivations of the free jazz movement while experiencing an utterly human story of artistic genius and expression.
