Product Description
Since its first edition in 1964, Dixon and Goodrich's Blues and Gospel Records has been dubbed "the bible" for collectors of pre-war African American music. It provides an exhaustive listing of all recordings of the period, from the earliest cylinders up to the end of 1943, with full details on singers, accompanists, place and date of recording, titles, issue numbers, and alternate takes.The fourth edition has been thoroughly revised, adding about 150 new artists as well as numerous newly discovered recordings of other artists. The book now also includes early cylinder recordings of gospel music from the 1890s. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Blues & Gospel Records 1890-1943
This is the 4th edition of a compilation of recording sessions of blues and gospel performers between 1890 and 1943, listed by matrix number and by records issued from that master, listed alphabetically by artistname and in order of recording dates under each artist and who accompanied on what instruments if known.It is mostly of interest to collectors and ethnomusicologists, and is an invaluable resource to us.this edition contains more information than the original edition from 1962, having been revised in 1997.

Indispensable
This encyclopedia is indispensable to anyone seriously interested in blues and gospel recordings of the pre-WW2 era. Awe-inspiring labor has brought forth a volume of nearly 1500 pages listing, alphabetically by artist, recording data for every known African-American blues and gospel performer whose work was put on disk through 1943. It is not a jazz discography, though a few essentially jazz acts are included. As well as commercial recordings, it also attempts to catalog all known folklore field recordings of the same period, particularly those of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress. Included are an index of artists, to help locate sideman appearances, and an index of song titles. The work involved here, which has occupied several writers for many years, is awe-inspiring, particularly since the book is specialized enough (and priced highly enough) that it will never break any sales records. A love for this wonderful music is evident on every page.

I bought a copy about 2 years ago and use it frequently, especially with my disk and tape collection. The kind of session data given so generously here was notoriously absent on LP reissues of early blues music. As an inveterate compiler and collator and list-maker, I can't imagine not having this info! The Oxford edition is a sturdy and well-made volume, and I consider the book worth every dime I paid for it, and then some.

One "improvement" I would like to see in a future edition is the addition of some symbol to designate records of which no copy is known to exist. Here and there the editors note that a particular recording has "never been found," but this should be done more consistently. Even with such a notoriously lost 78 as Pm 13096, only the absence of a master number indicates its status. Since 7 types of saxophone are differentiated in the instrumentation chart, I would also suggest that the Queen of Musical Instruments -- I mean, of course, the 12-string -- might be distinguished from the plain old 6-string guitar (perhaps as "12g").

The quibbles are quite minor. There is really nothing about this book that I don't like. Casual blues and gospel fans certainly don't need it, but it will be indispensable to those with a more serious interest. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of studies composed for musicians who wish to extend themselves in improvisation, composition, sight reading and general musicianship skills. Each etude has a theoretical explanation, suggestions for performance and tips for practice routines. Two CDs of combo accompaniments performed by members of the Yellowjackets are included. All books are compatible and written so that they can be performed together. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

excellent tool!
wonderful idea. learning without boredom. very musical. I only wish he would transpose the book for Eb instruments so I won't have to. On the other hand if you learn the materials in ALL KEYS you won't need another book! Thank you Mr Mintzer!

Not a piano book !
I would not recommend this book for pianists at least if they are looking for the piano part and a companion CD. The sheet music does not include that is actually played by the piano (the comping) and the play-along CDshould remove the piano not the saxophone. Good book for flute, violinthough

A progressive etudes for jazz players
I play those etudes almost every day and I'm satiscfacted. My hands move better and I understood some Coltrane's substitution. I recommend it.

Insights from a master player,composer!!!
This is a must for all instrumentalists of intermediate/advanced level. Mintzer provides a wealth of very usable solos, licks, and concepts. If you really study (practice) this method you will not be disappointed!!! ... Read more

Product Description
In this evocative and intensely personal history of the blues, Bill Wyman pays tribute to the musicians who inspired him and whose music he took around the world as a member of the Rolling Stones.

The starting point of Bill's Odyssey is the journey of African slaves to the plantations of America's Deep South. We follow their descendants as they walk, travel the highways, and ride the railroads out of the Delta and the troubled South via Memphis to the northern cities of Chicago and St. Louis. But this is no superficial history: Bill Wyman's in-depth odyssey reveals a society where poverty and injustice as well as love and faith, found their expression in a musical style that gave birth to rock 'n' roll.

Location shots of smoky juke joints, railroad stations, and endless highways combine with richly detailed maps to bring the Blues alive. Feature spreads with previously unpublished photographs from Bill Wyman's personal archive showcase 40 Blues legends from Robert Johnson to John Lee Hooker, telling the story of their fascinating and often troubled lives.

Bill Wyman is a legend in his own right. He has known and played with many of the Blues legends, and his personal knowledge and unprecedented access give this book an authenticity that is almost impossible to match. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Enjoyable if you like history and the blues
You'll like this book if you love the blues and want to learn where it came from and by whom.Bill Wyman has an encyclopediac knowledge of the subject although I doubt he actually wrote the book.But, no matter.This is a good book for learning and a good book for reference.

The Most Comprehensive, the most Documented, and the most Well Illustrated, Book About American Blues That I've Seen!!!!!
This book is more than just a book about the Blues. It's also a very comprehensive, well documented, well illustrated "history", of Slavery (Not only in the U.S.A.,but also in Africa itself, in England, the West Indies, & in Brazil). It also covers some general American history, history of the Southern U.S.A., The Confederacy, the American Civil War, and how all of this ties into the creation of the genre of American Music known as the "Blues". Bill Wyman has certainly done a great job in creating this book. To me, it is the "Ultimate" reference guide to the Blues. I can relate to a lot of this, because, I was born & raised in the Mississippi Delta, on the Louisiana side, on an 80 acre farm.

The picture on the cover says a lot. Its a picture of a truck traveling down highway 49, through the Mississippi Delta. Highway 49 intersects with highway 61 in Clarksdale, Mississippi,(Which is the Famous Crossroads in Blues Folklore). The Mississippi Delta became the birthplace for the "Delta Blues". In Clarksdale, there is a museam of Delta Blues.

The history in this book starts off around sometime during the later 1600's. According to this book the history of slavery, began in West Africa itself. In Western Africa, Africans would capture and enslave other Africans. When England began trading with these Western African Nations. The Western African Nations offered slaves in return for clothes, and other goods from England & America. So, the international slave trade began. Primarily, England would send a slave ship to western Africa, exchange goods for slaves, then ship the slaves to the Southern U.S.A., or to Brazil, or the West Indies and sell them, then buy cotton, sugar, and etc., and return to England. That was the basic cycle of the Slave Trade.

Anyway, the book progresses on through the American Civil War, reconstruction, and the share cropper system of the plantation system. Its a system where the descendants of former slaves and poor whites, worked the plantations in return for a share of the profit from the crops they raised. They usually lived in small "shack" type houses on the plantation. Anyway, this is the environment where the Delta Blues was created. This was sometimes around the 1920's or so. Charlie Patton became the 1st King of the Delta Blues, around this time. Then, this book progresses on and covers the other great Delta Blues artists, such as Son House, Robert Johnson, and many, many others.

Around the 1940's these southern plantations became so mechanized, that they no longer needed all the labor that the share-croppers provided. So, without jobs a lot of the share-croppers migrated North to cities like Memphis, St.Louis, and especially Chicago.

This book covers the history, up through publication time, of the Famous Stovall Plantation. This is the plantation where Muddy Waters grew up in, and worked at, before migrating to Chicago.

The book goes on to cover the Blues, throughout the Southern U.S.A. It covers 100's of blues musicians. It even covers how the blues influenced more modern Southern Rock Bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and other artists, such as Bonnie Raitt. And, it covers how the blues influenced the Rolling Stones & other British bands.

Bill Wyman even has a "soundtrack" listing for his "Blues Odessey". It includes a list and pictures of albums that he singled out in his blues journey. It starts with some of the early 1920's blues artists and ends with Stevie Ray Vaughan's album "Texas Flood".

To me, this is my favorite blues book, but that's my opinion. I do think that anyone who is interested in the blues, and its history, would enjoy this book very much, so in that context, I do highly recommend it. Thanks!!!!

blues
this is a great look at the blues history.the book is in excellent condition.good buy all around!!thanks

Far from complete!
Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey sets out to give us a history of the blues from its beginnings in Africa to the present day.This is an ambitious task, and one which I believe the book falls short in doing.

Wyman's Blues Odyssey gives the reader some information I am not sure they will find many other places, such as the etiology of many of the songs by Robert Johnson.Many were in fact possibly derived from other people and places. Though admittedly, because of the points below, I will have to research this before I can believe it and take it at face value.

The book leaves out important information on the basic history of the blues.For example, on the pages featuring Robert Johnson's life, he talks about the infamous crossroads and how Johnson is rumored to have sold his soul to the devil for his skill at playing the guitar, one of the most famous legends in the history of the blues.But then he entirely leaves out the fact that this exact same rumor surfaced almost a decade earlier, only then it was Tommy Johnson who was rumored to have sold his soul to the devil. The former is one of the all-time great legends in the history of the blues, but the latter is the important fact which belies the first.To me, not including the latter is a glaring omission.And one oversight could be forgiven, but they seem to abound in this book.

There is also an unfair equanimity which seem to be the modus operandi of the book.The Chess Brothers are given as much space (two pages) as the two pages devoted to the English groups who were influenced by the blues.Are the two equal in any sense of the word in the history of the blues?Absolutely not.One would think by scanning this book that the Chess brothers were not a big deal in the history of the blues, as their footprint in the book is not large, and in my opinion this is one of the books great failings.

In my own opinion, I believe one could learn much more about the history of the blues by simply reading the inserts which come with CD's, than by reading this book.I actually wanted to like this book and give it a good rating, because Wyman's love for the blues is obvious.But compare this book against Robert Palmer's "Deep Blues" and there is no comparison.

One additional note.I understand Wyman's respect and love for the blues, but I might take this book more seriously if his picture was not peppered throughout the book.Is this a book devoted to the blues, or to Bill Wyman?At times I was not so sure.These shortcomings are probably why this was in the "Bargain" aisle of the local Border's book store.

A coffee table book at best, but not a book for anyone who already has a cursory understanding of the history of the blues.

Blues
Great book with pictures and portrayals of the great blues players throughout the ages. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Intersection of Commerce, Culture and Race
Fascinating discussion of the origins of the recording industry in America, its effect on what is considered "folk" music, and how "white" and "black" categories of music were emphasized for marketing purposes.

The chapters in this book are separate and distinct, so you can skip the parts that are of less interest--I read about 80% of it. Some of the highlights:

* the early record industry in the USA focused on selling highbrow records, but eventually expanded to more popular fare that instantly sold well--a decision in part based on their commercial experience in other countries;

* early "black" music was recorded by white artists; once black artists were allowed to record their own work, white artists who recorded "black" music had to shift their style;

* record companies emphasized black/white dichotomies in their categorization of the market--black artists such as Leadbelly were only allowed to record music that could safety be categorized as "black" Leadbelly's favorite song was by Gene Autry, a country-western singer;

* Record companies shifted white southern artists into safety "hillbilly" categories, and weren't interested in hearing their renditions of pop or show tunes, thus distorting a real sense of the music they really played.

Underlying all this is the question of what "folk" music is, and the impact of academic experts on the burgeoning study of folk music, and their interaction with and effect on the recording industry (e.g. how musical styles such as the blues shifted from being "pop" to "folk" music).

STARK BILGE
A gussied-up version of a PHD thesis by an associate professor of music and applied tedium in Austin, Texas. So offended am I by it and the selective use of quotes to support pre-determined views, that I have obtained his report card for this work, which I now reproduce in the public interest. Marks out of ten are shown for each category;

Originality of Thought2
Grasp of Subject5
Armchair Research10
Field Research0
Use of Very Long Footnotes 10
Waffle & Subsequent Boredom Factor8
Overall Pomposity10
Soundness of Conclusions Drawn5
Length of Bibliography 10
Curious Absences in Bibliography 10
Quality of Indexing10

Remarks by his tutor; "Talks too much in class. Essentially harmless as long as he is ignored"

... Read more

Product Description
With this complete, clear instruction method, you'll learn to choose a harp, play cross position, and bend notes while playing in the styles of blues greats like Sonny Terry, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Jimmy Reed, and others. It also includes chapters on lead and accompaniment, performing, amplified harp, history, and much more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

buy it for because it's an oldie but goodie, not to learn harmonica
Like many, this was the first harmonica book that I owned and bought it because it was the only harmonica instruction available back in 1965 when it was first published.The book is filled with errors which they didn't bother to correct in this 2008 reprint (see patmissin website to see what they are).Also, there were floppy vinyl recordings that came with some editions of the book that aren't included here.

There is much better instruction available today--look to Portnoy, Barrett, Gindick and Duncan books if you're serious about learning diatonic harmonica out of a book.YouTube also has some good instruction.

liked it
I got this book, or it's precursor, in the 70s, loved it but lost it.I needed a follow up on it and this came very quickly after i ordered it.I always loved the flavor of the writing by Mr Glover, a great place to start for beginners.I never got to play well but I enjoyed the help the book gave me, and needed an excuse to play harp.

Still a winner after 30 years
I used this book as a teen to learn Blues Harp, that was, sad to say, 30 years ago. The experience of learning with this book was a lot of fun, still remembered clearly, and effective, I still play and enjoy it.

You want to learn Blues Harp (of course, you do), get this book. Can't miss.

Walkin' it
Tony "Little Sun" Glover is a white boy what know.This beginner's guide to the low down world of blues harp makes the right recommendation up front -- "One of the best ways to learn the techniques is to listen, listen, listen, listen every chance you get."Now that's advice that delivers on its promise in a most pleasing way.In between times, Little Sun's book will introduce you to the basics that will launch you on one of life's most satisfying journeys -- blowin' harp. ... Read more

Product Description

Bringing to life the musical worlds of New Zealanders both at home and out on the town, this history chronicles the evolution of popular music in New Zealand during the 20th century. From the kiwi concert parties during World War I and the arrival of jazz to the rise of swing, country, the Hawaiian sound, and then rock’n’roll, this musical investigation brings to life the people, places, and sounds of a world that has disappeared and uncovers how music from the rest of the world was shaped by Maori and Pakeha New Zealanders into a melody, rhythm, and voice that made sense on these islands. The accompanying audio CD wonderfully brings to life the engaging text, underscoring seminal moments in New Zealand’s musical history.

Product Description
comic strips and stories ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

makes you proud to be an American
Kurt Vonnegut said that. Makes me proud to be an American. And Crumb will make you feel good about America too. This collection of Crumb's treatment of the Blues is about American music. True, Crumb hates music produced by the music industry and so I suppose most music I love and you probably do too. His favorite music was made a long time ago and he loves it because it was music made by real people living in communities for their communities. It wasn't produced by an "industry" for the main purpose of making money. I feel where Crumb is coming from on that, but, imo, he goes too far. I like a lot of music produced by the music industry. A blurb describes Crumb as a moralist with a blown mind. In this collection the Charlie Patton strip is my favorite and like the other reviewer said is worth the price alone. I also dug the trippy stuff at the back and "The Repudiation of Keep On Trucking" was interesting and is about his feelings on this modern music "Dance of Death".

Must be jelly 'cause jam don't shake like that...
R. Crumb is not only a graphic genius.He's also an afficionado of "old music"--blues, jazz, and blue grass--and has been collecting '78s since he was a teenager.His love for the music of the 1920s and '30s is paralleled by his disdain--and sometimes active hatred--of things contemporary:fastfood culture, faddish art, loud electric music, the American ethos (which he forsook for the life of an expatriot in France in the mid 1990s).For Crumb, the "old music's" attraction isn't just because it sounds better than the newer stuff.Its appeal lies also in the fact that it's a craft, a reflection and builder of community, not the latest product from an industry whose bottom line is profit and whose identity changes almost daily.

R. Crumb Draws the Blues pulls together some of the artist's best music-themed work, reflecting both his love of the old stuff and his contempt for the new.Three of the pieces are dramatic biographies of blues greats Charley Patton (1891-1934), Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941), and Kansas City Frank Melrose (1907-1941).Each of the biographies, especially Patton's and Jelly Roll's, are drawn in dark, ominous tones--only appropriate, since all three of their subjects led unsettled, torturous lives (Jelly Roll was convinced he was voodoo-cursed), and all three died young (Melrose was beaten to death).

Crumb's love for the "old music" is expressed in "That's Life," a wonderful story about an unknown black sharecropper who travels to Memphis, cuts a record, is killed in a honky-tonk shortly afterwards, and gets rediscovered by a Crumb-like collector forty-odd years later.Good music lives on."Where Has It All Gone, All the Beautiful Music of Our Grandparents?" is a piece that Crumb calls his "diatribe on modern music."It's funny, but it's also a poignant lamentation for an age that's gone forever.

Crumb being Crumb, though, no collection of his work would be complete without a few of his deliciously outrageous rants.R. Crumb Draws the Blues doesn't disappoint in this department."The Old Songs Are the Best" and "Boppin' and Jivin'" are his opportunities to scream in frustration at noise that masquerades as sound."Cubist Bee-Bop Comics" is a (LSD-inspired?) psychedelic romp that at times waxes furious, but at other times seems utterly celebratory.Who knows how to classify it?

All in all, a fantastic collection for Crumb fans.And if you're an "old music" fan, even better!

the crumb bum does it again
this is a must for any crumb and/or blues fan. the charlie patton story is worth the price alone. great stuff! ... Read more

Product Description
A brilliant, wide-ranging book on how the seminal album revolutionized music and culture in the twentieth century.“It is the most singular of sounds, yet among the most ubiquitous. It is the sound of isolation that has sold itself to millions.” Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue is the best-selling piece of music in jazz history and, for many listeners, among the most haunting works of the twentieth century. It is also, notoriously, the only jazz album many people own. Recorded in 1959 (in nine miraculous hours), there has been nothing like it since. Richard Williams’s “richly informative” (The Guardian) history considers the album within its wider cultural context, showing how the record influenced such diverse artists as Steve Reich and the Velvet Underground.

In the tradition of Alex Ross and Greil Marcus, the “effortlessly versatile” Williams (The Times) “connects these seemingly disparate phenomena with purpose, finesse and journalistic flair” (Financial Times), making masterly connections to painting, literature, philosophy, and poetry while identifying the qualities that make the album so uniquely appealing and surprisingly universal. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Thoughts on the Bestselling Jazz Album of All Time
"The Blue Moment: Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and the Remaking of Modern Music," concerns itself with a record that is the best-selling jazz album of all time, and the only jazz album many people own: Kind of Blue.It is now 50 years old: it was recorded in nine hours, over two days, in a disused Manhattan church, in the spring of 1959, by Miles Davis and six other musicians.And the American Congress has just honored the album as a central part of the American heritage.The book was authored by Englishman Richard Williams, who writes for "The Guardian" on music and sports and has written books on Enzo Ferrari and Bob Dylan, among other subjects.Williams, who lives in London, is a former editor of "Melody Maker" and head of A & R at Island Records.

Other books have covered Davis's life, and the creation of this particular record, but few have done so in the depth Williams does.He looks at the cultural zeitgeist of the late 1950's, and explains how Davis was influenced by the prevailing winds of the time; he examines the influence of the French Impressionist composers, such as Claude Debussy, Gabriel Faure and Maurice Ravel, of whose music Davis was very fond (as am I; they are my favorite composers, but I never knew Davis also particularly liked them.)He then goes on to trace the influence of this seminal record, in jazz; art rock, such as that of John Cale, The Velvet Underground, or Brian Eno; and on the current classical school ofminimalism, works written by such composers as Steve Reich and John Adams.

Williams writes well and gracefully, in crisp stylish prose.He's evidently very knowledgeable about music, and has, furthermore, evidently done a lot of research.He's aimed this work at jazz lovers, without doubt, though those who are simply music lovers may also be gratified by the thoroughness with which he treats his subject. However, the book does presuppose a fairly significant technical knowledge of music in its readers.The book also is sometimes repetitive, and the author allows himself the freedom to range pretty far out in his meditations, as, for example, a chapter on the color blue.Finally, it's silly to complain that a book offers too much information, but the general reader may find that the book sometimes outstrips his or her interests.Frankly, it did mine: there's a lot of quite detailed material on subjects that don't much interest me, as, quite simply, I'd about a thousand times prefer spending an evening listening to Debussy than Adams.And, as to listening to The Temptations or The Velvet Underground, I can't even reckon the odds.

Not required reading
Between Ashley Kahn, Jack Chambers, Eric Nisenson et al, the kind of blue story has been told and its impact explored and documented. No matter how much I want to say this is great, essential reading for Miles afficiandos, it isnt. The writingitself is well done but the content isnt new nor does it amplify its subject sufficiently. Ben Ratliff's Coltrane book is a far better example of a book that takes an exhaustivey researched subject (Trane) and breathes new life into it in a compelling way, rife with insight.

Great info, but long winded
OK, I just finished reading an entire chapter devoted to the color blue.It was a bit overkill in its attempt to simultaneously describe the complexities of the color and tying in relevance to the album title.All of the information is great, but the minutia seems to impede momentum.

I am ammending my review of this book...

The first couple of chapters were long winded, but the rest of the book is a gem.You can skip the chapter "The Sound of Blue" and move right in to the nitty gritty of it all.This book is much more than I could of expectected.I've accumulated tons of new material that was referenced in this book.Cool Jazz, Third Stream, Free Form, Simple and Framework based minimalism a'la Terry Riley.

I'm really glad I pressed through the introductory material.From the early inspirations that led up to "Kind of Blue" to the styles and artists who were later influenced by it... this book has taught me a great deal about Jazz.

'KIND OF BLUE' CONTINUES TO INFLUENCE
Hardcover-278 pages,not including references or index.There are no photographs in this work.It is NOT out of print,but it is limited in availability.Check for sellers on Amazon

This book is not totally about Miles Davis,the making of "Kind of Blue",or the era that spawned this great music.Instead Richard Williams' weaves a sometimes loose,sometimes more focused pattern of various musical genres,that were influenced by the music.The author tells the story of the making of this album quickly-actually informing the reader of other volumes that go into greater detail on this recording,and how it was seen at the time.But he lays enough of a foundation so the reader has a good grounding going into his premise.

This book is concerned with the albums effect on other musicians,and the culture in general,over the past fifty years or so.In this book you will find names such as THE WHO,SOFT MACHINE,John Cale,THE GRATEFUL DEAD,Terry Riley,and others.The author makes a pretty convincing case on how Davis' (and the groups') music influenced a lot of the compositions and,in some cases,the very playing style of other musicians,by showing how "Kind Of Blue" fit in (or not) the culture of the time.He also makes a case for the continuing influence of this album,that shows no let-up.

This book isn't just a general overview of influences.Williams goes into some detail in order to show how the influence of "the most popular jazz recording of all time",has been much more important in the recent past,the present,and its influence into the future.An early chapter even goes into some detail on the title of this album,"Kind Of Blue",telling how 'blue',in its many permutations,was important throughout history.Jazz readers (and listeners) might feel this particular chapter,and others,go to far afield-maybe so,but they do contain some interesting information.Williams has done a great deal of work,in depth,and its evident.He then describes a number of Davis' tracks and albums,setting things up for his major premise-its continuing influence.He also describes the era and the thinking of the time,when jazz such as this,using a modal foundation,was not the norm. Using the above mentioned musicians,and a number of others,(John Coltrane,any number of other then current jazz musicians) he states the sometimes obvious influences,but also places other styles of music (TALKING HEADS,several "minimalist" composers,U2,James Brown,the VELVET UNDERGROUND for example) under this heading most readers/listeners wouldn't immediately think of.Williams has done his research and,taken together,the author makes several valid points,and opens up the reader's mind as to how this great music was assimilated,and to other possible influences.

There is occasionally a bit of technical "music speak"-scales,notes,clustered tones,etc.,but don't let that deter you from picking up this book.Reading this book is a bit like having an intelligent conversation with the author.He continually shares his viewpoint-you can take it or leave it. Even though,at times,the author goes far afield in his thinking,this is a good overview of this album,its influences,and how it was perceived,and the points he makes are both valid and interesting.If you're a Miles Davis fan,a jazz listener,or a music listener in general,this book can (and should) be placed alongside other works concerning this history making recording.
... Read more

Product Description
It's a highly original new book and a Boynton filmmaking debut. One Shoe Blues is a thoroughly captivating story and a dazzling music video. And what an unexpected yet oddly perfect team: Sandra Boynton and—wait for it—B.B. King! Boynton writes, designs, and directs (her first film ever), B.B. stars (singing, playing, and turning in a wry and brilliant comic acting performance), and exuberant Boynton sock puppets chime in.

The song that first appeared—to widespread acclaim—in the celebrated Blue Moo: 17 Jukebox Hits from Way Back Never now becomes a true star turn. The DVD showcases B.B. King's legendary musical talent and sublime good-natured performance. Boynton writes the companion storybook with her unmistakable cadence and humor, and illustrates the book with lively and fanciful photographs from the video and beyond. Sock puppets lend pizzazz and gravitas throughout.

The subject is pure fun that every child (and parent) can relate to, the story of a missing shoe. Sporting a lone green sneaker, B.B. King sings the "One Shoe Blues" while his faithful guitar, Lucille, comments here and there with those famous soulful blues notes. A supporting cast of sock puppets make brief surprise appearances—and, in the case of that saxophone-playing, rhinestone-sunglasses-wearing Momsock, grills B.B. on where he might have left his shoe.

The answer, so plain to see, will tickle kids again and again.

Read it. Watch it. Sing it. It’s fun from every direction.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Fun music
Wonderful CD, enjoyed by both adults and kids. It's fun to hear the silly songs sung by 50's and 60's stars. Innovative idea. b.b. king's "One-Shoe Blues" is a show-stopper.

Great Introduction to the Blues for kids
One Shoe Blues is a great book to introduce kids to the Blues and B.B. King. I use it in my classroom as part of Black History Month Studies. The students love it and it is user friendly!

Got my girl groovin' to the blues!!
We all love this book/dvd. I think my daughter watched it about 10x times today. After each play, she puts her index finger up and says, "1 more?" The color and feel of the movie is warm and comforting. The socks are very cool cats. I highly recommend this book to anyone, it's a great introduction to the blues for any child.

I Got the One Shoe Blues!
The DVD was cute and well worth the price of the book.We enjoyed watching the WHOLE thing almost as much as attending a BB King concert.This is a VALUE!

The "B"'s win - Boynton, Blues and B.B. King! And a bargain to boot! (NO pun intended!)


I'm a huge fan of cartoonist, author, songwriter (and now video producer) Sandra Boynton and especially of her books containing CDs. (Check out "Philadelphia Chickens", "Dog Train" and "Blue Moo") One of the tracks on "Blue Moo" (a song written by Boynton and sung by the legendary B.B. King) now has its own book, and this is it.

The book itself has the story and great Boynton illustrations. Then there is the sheet music. But in the front is a 14-minute DVD with the four-minute "music video" Boynton and her songwriting partner Michael Ford made during a three-hour slot of time with King in Las Vegas. (You'll learn all about this in the seven-minute "making of" documentary also on the DVD.

Boynton has a wonderful "tongue in cheek" sense of humor and it shows up EVERYWHERE in this book and DVD. When you get it, read the list of credits - and even the name of her production company - and you'll see what I mean.

To make this even better, look at the list price. Workman (the publisher) apparently wants everyone to get this and priced it low. And it's a hardbound book with high quality values too.

I can't wait for the next Boynton/ Workman multimedia project. The other CDs are constantly in my CD player rotation. Start here and then check out the others.

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"
... Read more

Product Description
Through revealing portraits of selected local artists and slice-of-life vignettes drawn from the city's pubs and lounges, "Chicago Blues" encapsulates the sound and spirit of the blues as it is lived today. As a committed participant in the Chicago blues scene for more than a quarter century, David Whiteis draws on years of his observations and extensive interviews to paint a full picture of the Chicago blues world, both on and off the stage. In addition to portraits of blues artists he has personally known and worked with, Whiteis takes readers on a tour of venues like East of Ryan and the Starlight Lounge; home to artists, such as Jumpin' Willie Cobbs, Willie D., and Harmonica Khan. He tells the stories behind the lives of past pioneers, including Junior Wells, pianist Sunnyland Slim, and harpist Big Walter Horton, whose music reflects the universal concerns with love, loss, and yearning that continue to keep the blues so vital for so many. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

No Jacket Cover !!
I ordered this directly from Amazon.
I received it with NO JACKET COVER !!

Terrific overview of the changing Chicago blues scene and community
David Whiteis' new book, "Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories," is a collection of portraits of blues performers and venues that provides a sense of the diversity of the Chicago blues scene with an emphasis on its evolution as a living tradition among the city's African-American community. There are chapters devoted to departed masters to a number of contemporary performers representing a diversity of approaches to the blues, and in the process provides an enlightening overview of a still evolving blues scene and tradition. The portraits are derived from articles that Whiteis wrote for a variety of publications including the Chicago Reader, Juke Blues and Living Blues, and it would be welcome for no other reason than making these available, but the book is more than that.
The first part of Chicago Blues is devoted to Elder Spirits, and includes chapters on Junior Wells, Sunnyland Slim and Big Walter Horton. What is surprising is how little has been written on these three and Whiteis' chapters are welcome for recounting these the lives of these pioneers and masters of the post-war Chicago blues scene. As Whiteis notes, these three mentored him as he developed an knowledge and love of the blues, and his affection for them is obvious as can be gleaned from what he states about Sunnyland Slim, "We weren't what you would call blood brothers. I don't claim to have been his intimate confidant. Nevertheless, I honestly believe that no one else ever taught me so much about life than Sunnyland Slim did. To hear that voice growl through the octaves, build into a liontine roar, and then soar into a leonine roar, and then soar into high-tenor declarations of freedom-bound blues passion -- or just spend time in the presence of this tender-hearted giant of a man -- was to learn life lessons of the most profound and lasting kind."
The Second Part, "We Gon' Pitch a Boogie Woogie!" is an examination of blues venues past and present. There is a chapter on Florence's Lounge, the neighborhood lounge where Hound Dog Taylor and Magic Slim had held regular gigs before they began their years of touring which closed in the ear;y 1980s; the celebrated Maxwell Street Market whose rich history is recounted along with the gentrification of Chicago, expansion of the Chicago campus of Maxwell Street and its destruction of this historical area with a promise of a restored and improved, but ultimately sanitized, area. Whiteis' bittersweet account of the last day of Maxwell Street brings the community that the University destroyed alive for us. The final chapter of this part, Clubbing the Current Chicago Scene, provides sketches of different venues including the Delta Fish Market and its successor, Wallace's Catfish Corner; the Starlite Lounge and the late Harmonica Khan who was a star in this neighborhood juke; and then taking in Denise LaSalle's show at East of the Ryan which includes a nice overview of her career in addition to his perceptive analysis of her oft salty performances that like those of other modern soul and blues artists transcend the dichotomy between sacred and profane.
The Next Part, Torchbearers is in Whiteis' words, "the heart of the book." The portraits of currently active performers who carry on the traditions of the elders. Perhaps these are not all major stylists but each "is representative o the music that remains prevalent on the contemporary scene, and each one's story exemplifies important facets of the `blues life' as it is lived by contemporary artists... ." Chapters devoted to Jody Williams, Bonnie Lee, Billy Branch, Sharon Lewis and Lurrie Bell, give us an insight into their personal histories, the ups and downs they have faced and how they continue to preserve with their art. It is a reminder that blues is more than "just notes" or "just a feeling," devoid of any broader context. Of course, one has to be a bit careful in objecting that the music's cultural history is obscured and challenging the success of some teenage white prodigies while veteran blacks stay in obscurity and then be labeled as an `ignorant racist," as Billy Branch, one of the most eloquent teachers of the blues as well as a blues performer of the highest order. Chapters on Bonnie Lee, who first came up under Sunnyland Slim and later was associated with the late Willie Kent and Sharon Lewis were revelatory about two women who keep doing what they love to do the most, while the chapter on Lurrie Bell detailed the travails of his life as well as his triumphs (musical and personal).
Part IV, The Soul Side of Town, is devoted to Artie `Blues Boy' White (who notes even down south some of the venues he used to play have closed), Cicero Blake and Little Scotty (the later a social activist as well as singer). The book concludes with a Coda, as Whiteis ruminates on the current state of the music and its future, observing that their seem to be new obstacles today to the music surviving, but also reminding us that the blues seems to have this ability to reinvent itself, and its new manifestations and performers may confound us and our expectations what the blues should be, "yet again reveal itself to be a musical language that, once incubated and nurtured in its cultural milieu, can expand its scope and speak to a universal audience."
Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories, is invaluable for its lively, informative portraits of a variety of performers that help us appreciate aspects of the blues life. Furthermore, it raises significant questions of what the blues is, that goes beyond the current trend of focusing on playing notes and ignoring the culture and community the blues arose out of. As Whiteis reminds us, the music is still deeply rooted there and continues to live and evolve, aiding us to appreciate the music in a deeper and more knowledgeable manner.

Thinking About the Blues
This excellent book is a personal meditation on the recent and present Chicago blues scene by someone who knows it as well as anyone, and who thinks and writes about it much better than most. This is definitely not an introduction to the blues, but if you are a fan of the music, especially of the artists who are still getting it done in the Windy City, and if you have ever done any big picture musing on what the blues is all about, then this will give you a lot to muse about. I loved it.

A collection of revealing depictions of selected Chicago blues artists
Chicago Blues: Portraits And Stories is a collection of revealing depictions of selected Chicago blues artists and true tales from the city's pubs and lounges, juxtaposed to reveal a vital and dynamic part of African-American culture. Written by the winner of the 2001 Keeping the Blues Alive Award for his journalistic achievements, Chicago Blues includes portraits of blues artists the author has personally known and the life stories of past pioneers. B/W photographs sparsely illustrate this eclectic and captivating account of venues such as East of Ryan and the Starlight Lounge, and artists such as Jumpin' Willie Cobbs, Harmonica Khan, pianist Sunnyland Slim, and many more.

A collection of revealing depictions of selected Chicago blues artists
Chicago Blues: Portraits And Stories is a collection of revealing depictions of selected Chicago blues artists and true tales from the city's pubs and lounges, juxtaposed to reveal a vital and dynamic part of African-American culture. Written by the winner of the 2001 Keeping the Blues Alive Award for his journalistic achievements, Chicago Blues includes portraits of blues artists the author has personally known and the life stories of past pioneers. B/W photographs sparsely illustrate this eclectic and captivating account of venues such as East of Ryan and the Starlight Lounge, and artists such as Jumpin' Willie Cobbs, Harmonica Khan, pianist Sunnyland Slim, and many more. ... Read more

Product Description
A Da Capo Original: The complete inside story of the creation of the legendary jazz album.

Jazz musicians call it The Bible. Critics call it the one jazz album every fan must own. Forty-one years since its recording in 1959, it has sold millions worldwide and sits near the top of any list of most important records of the century. How did two impromptu sessions produce such a timeless acknowledged masterpiece?

Now, for the first time, Ashley Kahn takes us into the studio to witness the creation of an album that still thrills jazz musicians, enthusiasts, and newcomers alike with its deceptively simple tunes. Using eyewitness accounts and newly discovered documents, Kahn traces Miles's move from bop to modal jazz, re-creates the sessions using master tapes (weighing in on fragmentary takes and the dispute about composers), and follows the rise of the album from its contemporary reception to its transformation into a cultural landmark through conversations with those who were there. Extensively researched and copiously illustrated, Kind of Blue recovers an invaluable piece of musical history and heightens fans' appreciation of the album they know and love.

New and never-before-published material in Kind of Blue includes:

The complete, unedited master session tapes, with analysis of fragmentary takes that have never been released, and studio dialogue between Davis and the musicians

Over forty new interviews with musicians, producers, and critics, including Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, Quincy Troupe, George Avakian, Nat Hentoff-and the only people still living who witnessed the making of the album: Jimmy Cobb, engineer Bob Waller, and photographer Don Hunstein

Previously unpublished photos of the recording session, featuring a rare shot of Miles's charts

Studio logs and internal memos from Columbia about the making and marketing of the album

The handwritten version of Bill Evans's famous liner notes ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Stop, Look, Listen....And Read More 'bout It
Everybody who got Miles Davis' album KIND OF BLUE must picked this book 'cuz I'm a huge Miles Davis fan. This was worth reading since I read it 3 or 4 times which I checked out from the library. I'm happy this one interesting like if u're an avid reader or artist that loves jazz, you should have this book, it tells it all from liner notes, artists, musicians, critics, et al who talked and thinked about it, biographies and facts about it, how it became the best selling jazz album of all-time since Dave Brubeck's TIME OUT, all of the above.

Project 43079
The title of this review is the number assigned to the then untitled "Kind of Blue" sessions." Looking at this book from a historical pesrspective it is both informative and entertaining. The freelance music journalist Ashley Kahn , manages to tell an engrossing tale structured around but not limited to the recording session of the Miles Davis recording. The author takes you back in time to the memorable sessions that produced "Kind of Blue." The tid bits of information are interesting insights into what went on in the six hours in thestudioon March 2, 1959. The album was recorded in two sessions, the second being on April 22 of the same year. The fact that the music was recorded, essentially in one take, is amazing considering the end product. I particularly enjoyed learning about the background to the song titles, specifically "Freddie the Freeloader," the relationship between Gil Evans and Miles Davis(this would be their last recording together), the perceptions of one of my music idols, John Coltraneand in general, the historical jazz ambience. The author takes excursions into what was going in jazz at the time, who was doing what and how this recording set the stage for future developments. While doing this the author examines the jazz musician of the 50's, what came before and the impact of "Kind of Blue" with it's modal introduction for the masses. The book is a great companion to the music, it is almost like being there. If you'd like to knowthe story behind the famed Miles Davis sextet that recorded one for the ages this is the book for you.
An additional bonus are the superb black and white photographs of the sessions that feature the men in their element. Many of the photographs(the first session was not photographed) are classic spontaneous glimpses into jazz history. If you like Miles, jazz or music history this book is for you, it reveals a part of Americana from a bygone era and luckily the music lives on, along with this written testament.

This is a must for any beginning or advanced jazz fan!!
This book is a great look into a great album.I'm just getting into jazz, so I can't say I know too much about it yet.And, I know only a little about music theory, but this book is a great way for the beginning jazz fan to understand what makes jazz, and this album in particular so great.

The author had unparalleled access to the actual master tapes from the two sessions that made up Kind Of Blue.He was able to hear what was going on between takes.Unfortunately there wasn't a lot being said.There's even a comment in the book about how they would stop the tape in between takes, as if to save tape.So, unlike other recordings of the day, when the tapes would continuously roll, this master tape gives only a little glimpse into what it must have been like during the two days of recording.The author is able to do the rest through interviews with people who were there.

There are only two chapters on the actual recording sessions.But, what the author does is take us through the recording take by take, song by song.It was great to be able to sit back and listen to the music while the author and others went into detail about the song you are listening to.As a beginning jazz fan, I was able to understand the music much better.I always knew I liked the album, but now, I can see a little deeper into why it is so great.I have a long way to go, but this book helped my understanding significantly.

The book doesn't just focus on the recording of the album (obviously with only two chapters dedicated to the two sessions).You get to learn a little about Miles and what he was doing musically prior to this album.The book shows you how he was always looking to improve on his previous work and expand what jazz was at that time.It is by no means close to a biography of Miles, rather, just a look at what he was doing in this time.The book then continues on with the selling of Kind Of Blues and the influence it would have years after it was made.

My only problem with the book, and it's my problem, not the books, is that I didn't understand a lot of the musical theory that was being written about.But, as I said, that is my problem.It is far beyond the scope of this book to delve into music theory.I will have to return to the book once my understanding is better.

If you are just getting into jazz or want to know more about Kind Of Blue, you need to get this book.I can't recommend it enough.

Miles rising
This is more than just a history of the conception and recording of "Kind of Blue."It's also a primer on the rise of Miles Davis as one of the premiere talents in American music.Much of the book is comprised of Miles' journey leading up to "Kind of Blue," including his work with Charlie Parker, his battle with heroin addiction, and his later collaborations with Gil Evans.A must-read for any Miles fan, as well as listeners who are just discovering jazz.Informative and exceedingly well-written.I couldn't put it down, and ended up reading the whole thing in two nights.

Stop, Listen, Read . . . and listen anew
Most writing about music -- and particularly jazz -- has always struck me about as useful as writing about the taste of an orange: If you've already tasted one, you can agree or disagree with the writer's assessment, sure; but if you haven't, then no amount of words, or skill with those words, will enlighten you one bit.Not until you taste the darn thing for yourself.

Ashley Kahn, with this book, serves as a standout exception to the above statement.Working on the valid assumption that most of the book's readers are at least slightly familiar with Davis & Co.'s landmark recording, he presents a thoughtful and reasoned guide to the music scene of the era, the restlessness and frustration (mostly Davis') which led to "Kind of Blue's" conception, as well as both its immediate and long-range aftermath.And he avoids ponderousness.

Thankfully, he also refuses to genuflect each time Davis' name is mentioned.But then, his treatment of each performer is likewise even-handed; insightful, appreciative without falling into the trap of reverence.

Perhaps this is why,in Kahn's hands, the individual recording sessions take on an almost "you-are-there" immediacy; at the same time, however, Kahn wisely keeps our focus in its 40 year-plus perspective.We cannot get too close, after all.

In retrospect, Kahn might have delved more deeply into the complexities of Davis' and Evans' relationship.There will always be the question, for me, of who exactly mentored whom at any given point.Evans had already departed the group but came back for this recording; subsequently, he and Davis would feud ever after over the authorship of "Blue In Green," and they would never work together again.Yet there seems to have been a symbiosis between them, a spark they lit within each other, which both men likely missed in the ensuing years.

A minor criticism at best, that last paragraph, and perhaps Kahn is right to have avoided that exploration in this book.(Which is not to say that it couldn't be explored in another book . . .) ... Read more

Product Description
An introduction to the jazz idiom, this is a fine collection of 31 imaginative piano solos, special original compositions inspired by and built on the elements of jazz. The Cottage Mill Blues, House Of The Rising Sun, SailorÂ’s Boogie, Honky Tonky, and many others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

perfect for the intermediate level player
A teacher gave this book to me as a child. Now, many years later, I've started playing again and I STILL love this book. The pieces are difficult enough to be interesting, with some sophisticated sounds, yet there are enough downright easy arrangements (3-4 in the beginning of the book) that you shouldn't get too frustrated. This is not a beginning, learning-to-play book, but you don't need to have any background in the blues. My biggest complaint is that most songs do not have the words, even when I know they exist. Some songs have words, and all songs have chords listed. I only recently looked at the back of the book and realized that there are many more in the Joy series. I've tried a few, and so far they are all interesting and right at my level. Also note that there is a Joy of Boogie and Blues, Book 2.

good,but could be improved
Good book for beginners-intermediate learners.To be a very good one it lacks,however,a CD with the songs recorded.A reference to the speed in the metronome would also be helpful.

Trying out Boogie and the Blues
This 64-page book is an excellent supplement to someone learning to play piano and wanting some interesting variety in the tunes they learn.There are 27 songs included in the popular idioms of Jazz, Ragtime, Rock, and, of course, Boogie and Blues. As a teenager, I played the accordion, and then later, I learned to play the electronic organ.Recently I purchased a portable keyboard and wanted to become more agile at two-handed piano playing.This book fit in perfectly with my program of study.For example, two early songs in the book, the Aunt Rhody Boogie and the Boll Weevil Boogie, include a distinctive, but easily playable, boogie accompaniment to a jazzy rendition of these classic folk tunes.

About half of the tunes are original compositions or arrangements by Denis Agay, the editor of this book, but you will also find such classics as Sunrise Serenade (Franke Carle), Maple Leaf Rag (Scott Joplin), and China Jumps (Thomas "Fats" Walker).For those with older eyes, the music is clearly printed and easy to read and most of the arrangements can be played without worrying about turning the page in the middle of the song.

Beginning to intermediate piano players should be able to master any of the tunes in this book and will be able to add some very delightful and pleasing arrangements to their repertoire. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
A look at the contemporary blues scene of Greater Boston, including dozens of interviews with musicians, blues radio DJs and photographers; regional festival listings;radio stations, and a brief history of the blues in Boston. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A review of The Boston Blues written by Ervin E. Harmon
Boston's Blues: Musicians' Profiles, History, Festivals and Radio Listings of Blues Music in Boston by Art Simas is without a doubt the best book I have seen on this subject. The author has went to great lengths to write a great book. This book has many photo's and the author comes across and shares his vast knowledge on the subject in a way that makes this book an outstanding book.

I am very glad I purchased this outstanding book and am very glad to take the time to recommend it to others. Art Simas is a great author. ... Read more

Product Description
Showcasing American music and music making during the Great Depression, "Hard Luck Blues" presents more than two hundred photographs created by the New Deal's Farm Security Administration photography program. With an appreciation for the amateur and the local, FSA photographers depicted a range of musicians sharing the regular music of everyday life, from informal songs in migrant work camps, farmers' homes, barn dances, and on street corners to organized performances at church revivals, dance halls, and community festivals. Captured across America from the northeast to the southwest, the images document the last generation of musicians who learned to play without the influence of recorded sound, as well as some of the pioneers of Chicago's R & B scene and the first years of amplified instruments. The best visual representation of American roots music performance during the Depression era, "Hard Luck Blues" features photographs by Jack Delano, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Arthur Rothstein, Ben Shahn, Marion Post Wolcott, and others.Photographer and image researcher Rich Remsberg breathes life into the images by providing contextual details about the persons and events captured, in some cases drawing on interviews with the photographers' subjects. Also included are a foreword by author Nicholas Dawidoff and an afterword by music historian Henry Sapoznik. It is published in association with the Library of Congress. ... Read more

Product Description
In 100 Tips For Blues Guitar You Should Have Been Told, David Mead focuses on the styles and techniques associated with one of the guitar's longest-surviving and most-played genres. In a series of illustrated exercises that work in combination with an accompanying CD, he tackles the problems associated with playing a form of music that stretches the harmonic boundaries of Western music tradition, covering subjects from choosing the right plectrum to executing the most accomplished finger roll this side of the Mississippi! With a thorough breakdown of the styles of the biggest names in the blues, 100 Tips For Blues Guitar is the ultimate guide for anyone with a guitar and a bottle of whiskey. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

For beginners
Although the general material is comprehensive - the title is misleading - implying that it is for people studying the blues for a while without the proper information. One thing that bothered me are several mistakes in the first couple of chapters. Perhaps have an editor go through it next time.
Ok for blues beginners - students already well situated in the pentatonics - take a pass

p.s - The Great Depression was the 30's not the 20's...

A MUST HAVE!!!!!!
I went to the local Guitar Centar looking for a good instruction book on how to play the blues, thumbed thru about 10-15 different ones. This one surpassed them all by far. A short history on the blues, recomended musicians, a CD, major and minor scales, major and minor chord voicings, etc... This book has so much to offer, its what I've been looking for
for years! You will not be disapointed at all with this book, you can only improve your playing techniques.

Must Know Guitar
A very concise and well directed study of Blues guitar. This is one
of the best books about guitar I've read.

one of the best!
I am (unfortunately) one of those folks who just can't resist buying every guitar instruction book I can find - at least ever one having to do with blues guitar. I have been doing this for a few years know, alwyas looking for that magin "silver bullet" that will move my underrstanding and my playing to the next level. I have lots of good books but am always left disappointed for one reason or another. Well, not anymore.

This is (IMO) the best material I have ever found and cona honestly say that working my way through the book and excercises I was improving by orders of magnitude with each section. More important, it was my "understanding" of blues, blues leads, scales, and the like that was really developing so at the end of the day what I got was understanding - (as opposed to a bunch of cool riffs I had memorized) - and that has made all the difference.

Great book - I highly recommend this one.

100 tips for Blues guitar
Of all the books (guitar)I have reviewed, this book should be on your "must have" list. A beginer or a pro, both would find this book very usful. ... Read more

Product Description
Do you wish you could play your favorite blues music on guitar? Even if you don’t read music, it’s not difficult with Blues Guitar for Dummies. With this hands-on guide, you’ll pick up the fundamentals instantly and start jamming like your favorite blues artists!

Blues Guitar for Dummies covers all aspects of blues guitar, showing you how to play scales, chords, progressions, riffs, solos, and more! It’s packed with musical examples, chords charts, and photos that let you explore the genre and play the songs of the great blues musicians. This accessible guide will give you the skills you need to:

• Choose the right guitar, equipment, and strings
• Hold, tune, and get situated with your guitar
• Play barre chords and strum to the rhythm
• Recognize the structure of a blues song
• Tackle musical riffs
• Master melodies and solos
• Make your guitar sing, cry, and wail
• Jam to any type of blues

In addition to this must-have book, a bonus CD is included so that you can listen to famous songs, practice your riffs and chords, and develop your style as a blues musician. It also features a quick guide to musical notation and suggestions on albums, artists, and guitars for further enjoyment. With Blues Guitar for Dummies, you can re-create the masterpieces of the blues legend without the expensive lessons! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

FOr Dummies for sure
It is a really basic book.The main and most disappointing problem is that the none of the tracks on the CD ever sound like any real blues lick that you've ever heard on a blues album.Many of them I played like recroded and directed,only to "hear" it pleayed correctly on a blues song.

It does not teach you the esence of the blues,just technical basic skills.

Great method book
Don't let the "Dummies" title fool you. This is an excellent book for learning to play blues guitar. At almost 400 pages of instruction and information, this book will give you a solid foundation for exploring blues guitar. It covers everything -- from rhythm and lead guitar, basic to advanced chords, scales, and has great information about blues artists and blues history. There's also information about equipment. The author really has taken the time to create a solid method course that's never dull. Lessons build on each other, staring from basic chords and rhythm patterns, to more advanced scales and lead and rhythm playing.

To get the most out of this book, don't skip around -- take your time. This book should give you months of instruction if you're a beginner or beginning intermediate player. The CD that comes with it is invaluable for hearing how stuff should sound.

All around great resource
This book is great even for guitarists who play well and want to expand into the blues style. Information is presented clearly for both guitarists who read music notation and those who do not. Well worth the price--enough material to learn to keep you busy for months.

Blues Book
This book is informative and pretty much just what I expected. It is a little hard to traverse and comprehend if you don't go page by page. ... Read more

Product Description
Keil's classic account of blues and its artists is both a guide to the development of the music and a powerful study of the blues as an expressive form in and for African American life.This updated edition explores the place of the blues in artistic, social, political, and commercial life since the 1960s.

"An achievement of the first magnitude. . . . He opens our eyes and introduces a world of amazingly complex musical happening."--Robert Farris Thompson, Ethnomusicology ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Urban Blues Affairs
After recently rereading this book, I'm impressed with how well Keil's book holds up today.Not only does he provide a good historical outline of ways that urban blues traditions have developed, but he also provides good descriptions of blues scenes from the 1950s and 60s.The interviews are irreplaceable resources and terrific reading.I especially appreciated Keil's description of blues concerts within overseas' tours, as Keil satirically nails the exoticism, primitivism, and other less-than-flattering ideologies that continue to emerge among blues fans even today.Keil's wit complements his good scholarship.His outline of various blues styles is an excellent resource for those who wish to compare styles and gain a sense of artistic distinctiveness.Although some of the analysis, and Keil's tone of writing, doesn't fully hold up with what we've learned about blues in the last 40 years, this book remains a good entry point for those who want an overview of what's come to be called "Chicago Blues."One major issue since Keil first wrote the book is the need to recognize that the "Chicago Style" really started in Memphis and various and sundry points South.Readers who want the bigger story need to check out what was going on outside of the windy city in more detail than what is provided in urban blues.There also are a number of good books on the history of record companies and numerous biographies and autobiographies of blues players that further complement, develop, and occasionally critique Keil's study.

superb study of urban blues
This is the second most important book that's been written on American popular music. Keil sees blues culture as medicine for the ills of Western Civilization. After introductory chapters on African-American music (in which he makes some remarks on Baraka's Blues People), and blues styles, Keil begins discussing the urban blues, blues played with electric instruments and played in clubs in cities. He has studies of B. B. King and Bobby Blue Bland, plus remarks on many other bluesman. How do they structure a performance? How do they interact with the audience? What are the values upheld in the blues world?

The Book You StartWith To Understand Rock 'n Roll
Unfortunately, most people who actually know something about RnR and RnB are too old to look like they do to younger readers who think Buddy Guy is first generation.Most thirtysomethings (or fortysomethings) think rock isrock 'n roll and rock 'n roll is rhythm and blues and rhythm and blues isblues.

Today, the actual people who created modern urban blues formsare unknown to young rock revisionists.But they weren't unknown toCharles Keil.He traces and authoritatively compares the various styles ofblues, showing that the electric forms that led to rock were as importantand significant as the blues music put out in the twenties and thirties.

Duh, you say.Well when this book was written, there were no books onthe subject of modern (1950s-1960s) blues around.Especially none writtenfor a black or knowledgable white audience.This is the book that startedthe black-oriented musical criticism necessary to understand the main taproot to rock 'n roll.

Although the first of its kind, it still remainsfresh with very little material the would need updating today. When I gotmy copy in the mid sixties, I stopped everything and read it cover to coverunderlining all the important parts.As I say, Urban Blues was the firstand still one of the few to get it right.Bedrock. ... Read more

Product Description

Yank Rachell and his mandolin playing style moved every musician lucky enough to hear him perform in the early sixties. When he died in April 1997, he left behind a stack of unanswered requests to tour Europe and to play blues festivals in the United States.

In Blues Mandolin Man: The Life and Music of Yank Rachell, Richard Congress delivers the first biography of a family man whose playing inspired and energized the likes of David Honeyboy Edwards, Sleepy John Estes, and Henry Townsend. No other biography discusses the mandolin's influence and role in the blues.

Guitar great Ry Cooder said, "Yank's style fascinated me because it had a lot of power and it's very raw-and what a great thing to do, just attack this little instrument like that."

Charlie Musselwhite, the noted harp player, worked with Rachell and club hopped in Chicago with the elder bluesman. "He just had a great spirit about him," Musselwhite said of Rachell's playing and singing, "really just shouting it out. If the world was made up of people like Yank Rachell it would be a wonderful place to live."

Blues Mandolin Man chronicles the life, times, and music of a man who was born into a family of sharecroppers in 1910 in rural western Tennessee. An active musician for 75 years, Rachell mastered several musical instruments and first recorded for Victor in Memphis in 1929. Through the blues, Rachell's world expanded to include Chicago, New York, recording studios and, after the sixties, radio, TV, and national and European tours.

Yank's recollections reveal new information about personalities and events that will delight blues history buffs. Rich appendixes detail Yank's mandolin and guitar style and his place in the blues tradition.

For this book Richard Congress, who reissued two of Rachell's old LPs in CD format, worked closely with him to record memories spanning decades of blues playing. Congress tells a compelling and engaging story about a colorful and thoughtful character who as a child picked cotton and plowed a field behind a mule, who grew to manhood coping with the southern Jim Crow system, and who participated in the creation and perpetuation of the blues.

Richard Congress is the owner of Random Chance Records, a record company based in New York City. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

For All Blues lovers and musicians.
This book is for anyone who's not sure what the definition of a Blues-man is.For those not familiar with Yank Rachell, but have seen the original Blues Brothers movie you will have heard his "I Caught The Katy"The book isn't full of fluff and theory and should be required reading in any college level music course for those who want to make it in the music business. Once you've read the book you'll understand why he was such an influence on Sonny Boy Williamson, B.B. King, Allen Stratyner, John Sebastian and Charlie Musselwhite.

Learn from Yank like Handy did!
The glory of this book is that it is Yank Rachel's story, told in Yank Rachel's words, Yank Rachel's way. The absences and differences from what those with a check list for Blues biographies desire in a biography speak to what Yank wanted, Yank thought, and to his age when interviews.

For example, he answers questions about learning the mandolina nd the guitar similar to what other Bluesicians of his generation answer, because these instruments were all around at the turn of the century and early 20th Century when Rachel was growing up in the music. People learned not from lessons, but from hearing players and trying to match their styles. There was much to hear in the Delta and its environs where Rachel grew up.

Rachel is quite important to me because rather than being a solo blues guitarist as the stereotype of a blues singer is,Rachel usually played in small bands and trios, usually with a guitarist and a jug player, but often with bassists and other instruments.Such bands were a really important part of the early Blues although they tend to be neglected by white folkie-Blues fans who fantasize about the solo guitarist.Actually, many of the solo guitarists like Robert Johnson, usually travelled with a partner and played a lot with another guitarist or a mandolin or bass or fiddle player or all three.

This is because the main venue for making money for bluesicians was playing for dancers at Juke Joints, at country suppers, and in bars and tavern. Dancers needed more support than a guitar could give, particularly in larger venues.

In Handy's autobiography, he mentions one night his Ragtime band of 9 pieces played a dance in Cleveland, Mississippi sometime in the early 1900s.When Handy's band wanted to take a break, the crowd asked if a local band of a guitar, mandolin, and bass could play a few tunes in the intermission.Handy reports the thrills these three scruffy blues players gave the audience and how they motivated the dancers.Hand who is always concerned about commerce first, second, and third, notes that the crowd gave this trio more in tips, than he was charging for his entire band! He says this was one of his main reasons for adopting the Blues for his orchestras and band (Handy was as much of a booking agent with a number of bands travelling throughout the South as he was a bandleader in these years.).

What Yank tells us is that Handy turned the tables on this kind of arrangement.Not only did he move his orchestra to play Blues tunes, or at least ragtime tunes tinged with the Blues, but he hired little Blues bands like the one Yank played in to play intermissions for his band.

Well, if Handy learned from folks like Yank, we should be grateful that this book allows us to learn from Yank.

Pass on this one
This book was pretty dissappointing. The author did virtually nothing except turn on a tape recorder and let Yank speak, and then transcribe his monolog. The publisher did nothing excpect slap the pages betweeen a softcover wrapper.

The author provided no or very little historical context of the subject or the music; if it's there, then it is so short and shallow that I missed it. The only discussion of other musians and music is what Yank provides.

For example, there is virtually no real description of how this son-of-a-share-cropper learned to play mandolin or develop his style (heavy tremolo) of music. All Yank said is that he got hold of a mandolin and started fooling around with it. This is the sort of basic information that should have been explored in fuller detail.

On the other hand, maybe I was just looking for something else. Perhaps, if you're into studying Southern culture, you'll find this book useful. But even then, you'd better come with some knowledge of the culture of rural West Tennessee in the first half of the 20th century or you'll miss out on a lot of what Yank is describing. Again, the author could have provided supplemental detail and context.

Well done oral history of unsung blues hero
Richard Congress has championed the music of the late Yank Rachell, one of the few blues artists to record extensively on the mandolin. Congress has made available some of rachell's hard to fine post-war recordings on his Random Chance label as well as put together Rachell's oral history. The first 100 or so pages are devoted to Rachell's recollections and if some parts are sketchy, its because Rachell's death prevented Congress from fleshing out more details. Rachell's association with John Estes and others in the neglected Jackson, Tennessee music scene is discussed as is his life as a travelling musician, as well as his pursuits of daytime employment unlike others he played with. He recounts playing in St. Louis and then recording, Big Joe Williams and John Lee "Sonny Boy Williamson" and his early recordings as well as moving up to Indianopolis for the last years of his life. The oral history is supplemented by Rich Delgrosso's discussion of Yank's mandolin style, David Evans' distillation of Yank's guitar playing and recollections of those who came under Yank's spell including Henry Townsend and Charlie Musselwhite. A full discography of Yank's recordings, both as a leader and an accompanist is provided. In summary, this is a very nicely put together volume that provides us with a window into a slice of the blues past often neglected.

Discusses the mandolin instrument's contributions to blues
Richard Congress' Blues Mandolin Man provides a biography of the life and music of Yank Rachell, a 1960s blues mandolin performer. This is his first biography, and one of the few books to discuss the mandolin instrument's contributions to blues. ... Read more

Product Description

Yank Rachell and his mandolin playing style moved every musician lucky enough to hear him perform in the early sixties. When he died in April 1997, he left behind a stack of unanswered requests to tour Europe and to play blues festivals in the United States.

In Blues Mandolin Man: The Life and Music of Yank Rachell, Richard Congress delivers the first biography of a family man whose playing inspired and energized the likes of David Honeyboy Edwards, Sleepy John Estes, and Henry Townsend. No other biography discusses the mandolin's influence and role in the blues.

Guitar great Ry Cooder said, "Yank's style fascinated me because it had a lot of power and it's very raw-and what a great thing to do, just attack this little instrument like that."

Charlie Musselwhite, the noted harp player, worked with Rachell and club hopped in Chicago with the elder bluesman. "He just had a great spirit about him," Musselwhite said of Rachell's playing and singing, "really just shouting it out. If the world was made up of people like Yank Rachell it would be a wonderful place to live."

Blues Mandolin Man chronicles the life, times, and music of a man who was born into a family of sharecroppers in 1910 in rural western Tennessee. An active musician for 75 years, Rachell mastered several musical instruments and first recorded for Victor in Memphis in 1929. Through the blues, Rachell's world expanded to include Chicago, New York, recording studios and, after the sixties, radio, TV, and national and European tours.

Yank's recollections reveal new information about personalities and events that will delight blues history buffs. Rich appendixes detail Yank's mandolin and guitar style and his place in the blues tradition.

For this book Richard Congress, who reissued two of Rachell's old LPs in CD format, worked closely with him to record memories spanning decades of blues playing. Congress tells a compelling and engaging story about a colorful and thoughtful character who as a child picked cotton and plowed a field behind a mule, who grew to manhood coping with the southern Jim Crow system, and who participated in the creation and perpetuation of the blues.

Richard Congress is the owner of Random Chance Records, a record company based in New York City. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

For All Blues lovers and musicians.
This book is for anyone who's not sure what the definition of a Blues-man is.For those not familiar with Yank Rachell, but have seen the original Blues Brothers movie you will have heard his "I Caught The Katy"The book isn't full of fluff and theory and should be required reading in any college level music course for those who want to make it in the music business. Once you've read the book you'll understand why he was such an influence on Sonny Boy Williamson, B.B. King, Allen Stratyner, John Sebastian and Charlie Musselwhite.

Learn from Yank like Handy did!
The glory of this book is that it is Yank Rachel's story, told in Yank Rachel's words, Yank Rachel's way. The absences and differences from what those with a check list for Blues biographies desire in a biography speak to what Yank wanted, Yank thought, and to his age when interviews.

For example, he answers questions about learning the mandolina nd the guitar similar to what other Bluesicians of his generation answer, because these instruments were all around at the turn of the century and early 20th Century when Rachel was growing up in the music. People learned not from lessons, but from hearing players and trying to match their styles. There was much to hear in the Delta and its environs where Rachel grew up.

Rachel is quite important to me because rather than being a solo blues guitarist as the stereotype of a blues singer is,Rachel usually played in small bands and trios, usually with a guitarist and a jug player, but often with bassists and other instruments.Such bands were a really important part of the early Blues although they tend to be neglected by white folkie-Blues fans who fantasize about the solo guitarist.Actually, many of the solo guitarists like Robert Johnson, usually travelled with a partner and played a lot with another guitarist or a mandolin or bass or fiddle player or all three.

This is because the main venue for making money for bluesicians was playing for dancers at Juke Joints, at country suppers, and in bars and tavern. Dancers needed more support than a guitar could give, particularly in larger venues.

In Handy's autobiography, he mentions one night his Ragtime band of 9 pieces played a dance in Cleveland, Mississippi sometime in the early 1900s.When Handy's band wanted to take a break, the crowd asked if a local band of a guitar, mandolin, and bass could play a few tunes in the intermission.Handy reports the thrills these three scruffy blues players gave the audience and how they motivated the dancers.Hand who is always concerned about commerce first, second, and third, notes that the crowd gave this trio more in tips, than he was charging for his entire band! He says this was one of his main reasons for adopting the Blues for his orchestras and band (Handy was as much of a booking agent with a number of bands travelling throughout the South as he was a bandleader in these years.).

What Yank tells us is that Handy turned the tables on this kind of arrangement.Not only did he move his orchestra to play Blues tunes, or at least ragtime tunes tinged with the Blues, but he hired little Blues bands like the one Yank played in to play intermissions for his band.

Well, if Handy learned from folks like Yank, we should be grateful that this book allows us to learn from Yank.

Pass on this one
This book was pretty dissappointing. The author did virtually nothing except turn on a tape recorder and let Yank speak, and then transcribe his monolog. The publisher did nothing excpect slap the pages betweeen a softcover wrapper.

The author provided no or very little historical context of the subject or the music; if it's there, then it is so short and shallow that I missed it. The only discussion of other musians and music is what Yank provides.

For example, there is virtually no real description of how this son-of-a-share-cropper learned to play mandolin or develop his style (heavy tremolo) of music. All Yank said is that he got hold of a mandolin and started fooling around with it. This is the sort of basic information that should have been explored in fuller detail.

On the other hand, maybe I was just looking for something else. Perhaps, if you're into studying Southern culture, you'll find this book useful. But even then, you'd better come with some knowledge of the culture of rural West Tennessee in the first half of the 20th century or you'll miss out on a lot of what Yank is describing. Again, the author could have provided supplemental detail and context.

Well done oral history of unsung blues hero
Richard Congress has championed the music of the late Yank Rachell, one of the few blues artists to record extensively on the mandolin. Congress has made available some of rachell's hard to fine post-war recordings on his Random Chance label as well as put together Rachell's oral history. The first 100 or so pages are devoted to Rachell's recollections and if some parts are sketchy, its because Rachell's death prevented Congress from fleshing out more details. Rachell's association with John Estes and others in the neglected Jackson, Tennessee music scene is discussed as is his life as a travelling musician, as well as his pursuits of daytime employment unlike others he played with. He recounts playing in St. Louis and then recording, Big Joe Williams and John Lee "Sonny Boy Williamson" and his early recordings as well as moving up to Indianopolis for the last years of his life. The oral history is supplemented by Rich Delgrosso's discussion of Yank's mandolin style, David Evans' distillation of Yank's guitar playing and recollections of those who came under Yank's spell including Henry Townsend and Charlie Musselwhite. A full discography of Yank's recordings, both as a leader and an accompanist is provided. In summary, this is a very nicely put together volume that provides us with a window into a slice of the blues past often neglected.

Discusses the mandolin instrument's contributions to blues
Richard Congress' Blues Mandolin Man provides a biography of the life and music of Yank Rachell, a 1960s blues mandolin performer. This is his first biography, and one of the few books to discuss the mandolin instrument's contributions to blues. ... Read more