My Life in E-flat

My Life in E-flat PDF Author: Chan Parker
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 164336278X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
A memoir of the Jazz Age and a life profoundly influenced by it My Life in E-flat is the remarkable memoir of a woman who witnessed some of the most important movements in the history of jazz. Through her autobiography, Chan Parker provides intimate insights into the music and into life with Charlie Parker, the key figure in the development of bebop and one of the most important of all jazz musicians. Born Beverly Dolores Berg in New York City at the height of the Jazz Age, Parker's father was a producer of vaudeville shows and her mother was a dancer in Florenz Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic. Parker became part of the jazz culture as a nightclub dancer and later as the wife of jazz saxophonists Charlie Parker and then Phil Woods. In a moving and candid portrait of Charlie Parker, the author describes in harrowing detail a man of incredible talent besieged with addictions and self-destructiveness. She painfully recounts his death at the age of 35 while married to her and its effect on her life as well as on the musical world. Parker's honest portrait of one of the most gifted musicians in jazz provides unique insight into the history of the music and the difficulties faced by African American performers during the 1940s. Parker also reflects on her struggle to find her own voice and on her work with Clint Eastwood on the film biography of Charlie Parker, Bird (1988).

My Life in E-flat

My Life in E-flat PDF Author: Chan Parker
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 164336278X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 234

Get Book Here

Book Description
A memoir of the Jazz Age and a life profoundly influenced by it My Life in E-flat is the remarkable memoir of a woman who witnessed some of the most important movements in the history of jazz. Through her autobiography, Chan Parker provides intimate insights into the music and into life with Charlie Parker, the key figure in the development of bebop and one of the most important of all jazz musicians. Born Beverly Dolores Berg in New York City at the height of the Jazz Age, Parker's father was a producer of vaudeville shows and her mother was a dancer in Florenz Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic. Parker became part of the jazz culture as a nightclub dancer and later as the wife of jazz saxophonists Charlie Parker and then Phil Woods. In a moving and candid portrait of Charlie Parker, the author describes in harrowing detail a man of incredible talent besieged with addictions and self-destructiveness. She painfully recounts his death at the age of 35 while married to her and its effect on her life as well as on the musical world. Parker's honest portrait of one of the most gifted musicians in jazz provides unique insight into the history of the music and the difficulties faced by African American performers during the 1940s. Parker also reflects on her struggle to find her own voice and on her work with Clint Eastwood on the film biography of Charlie Parker, Bird (1988).

Life in E Flat - The Autobiography of Phil Woods

Life in E Flat - The Autobiography of Phil Woods PDF Author: Phil Woods
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780999477656
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Phil Woods was an American original. One of the greatest saxophonists of all time, he was the first call for Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Oliver Nelson. His iconic improvisation on Billy Joel's hit song "Just the Way You Are" is quite likely the most played instrumental solo in the world. His popularity soared while an expat in Europe during the cultural revolution of the late sixties and early seventies. Upon his return to the States, Woods formed a band that would perform together for four decades. Grammy Awards, dozens of DownBeat Readers Poll victories, and designation as a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master would follow. Life in E Flat is the unvarnished self-portrait of an artist who loved and lived a life of bebop. "I would have to give Phil Woods' sax solo on "Just The Way You Are" credit for making that a hit record." - Billy Joel "Life in E Flat is a gift, a compelling and entertaining memoir by one of the leading alto saxophonists in jazz for 60 years. Woods is a charismatic storyteller-literate, funny, insightful, self-aware, with a keen eye and ear for details that reveal character and wise observations about the music business and the jazz life laced with sardonic wit." - Mark Stryker, author of Jazz From Detroit ""Someone spotted me fondling the saxophone and misinterpreted my avaricious intent as musical interest..." So Phil Wood's lifelong journey began-a saga he relates with an irreverent, self-deprecating wit, from his earliest days in Western Massachusetts to recording timeless music and traveling the world with jazz legends. Time and again, he sets up a story like a punchline's coming, and often they do. What you always get is history rich in detail and long in feeling and self-honesty - the personal stumbles and the musical triumphs. Phil left us in 2015; this book he left us is a gift that shows how so much of him is still here." - Ashley Kahn, music historian and author of A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album & Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece "Growing up a New York jazz fan, Phil Woods was always a favorite. He was straight ahead, personal but in control, brimming with ideas: solid in every way. This account of the late jazz man's American journey, assembled with a loving, light touch by the always discerning critic Ted Panken, is like a Woods' gig. Full of the right information, things you thought you knew but didn't (the stories of often being the only white man in the room especially after marrying Charlie Parker's widow are instructive), heartbreaking and triumphant, Life in E-Flat is 100% solid." - Mark Jacobson, author of The Lampshade and Pale Horse Rider, former staff writer of the Village Voice and New York Magazine, and contributing editor for Rolling Stone and Esquire

My Life, as I See It

My Life, as I See It PDF Author: Dionne Warwick
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439171351
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
For the first time, music legend and humanitarian activist Dionne Warwick reflects on 50 years in showbusiness and the lessons she has learned from being an artist, a mother and a global icon. From her rise to superstardom to raising millions of dollars for AIDS research, she gives readers a glimpse into her dazzling, inspiring life. 'If you think you can do it, you can do it' was the advice she got from her grandfather as a young girl - words she has never forgotten. Like her music and humanitarian work, her story is guaranteed to give hope and inspiration to people across the world.

Here, There and Everywhere

Here, There and Everywhere PDF Author: Geoff Emerick
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 110121824X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 658

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Book Description
An all-access, firsthand account of the life and music of one of history's most beloved bands--from an original mastering engineer at Abbey Road Geoff Emerick became an assistant engineer at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in 1962 at age fifteen, and was present as a new band called the Beatles recorded their first songs. He later worked with the Beatles as they recorded their singles “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” the songs that would propel them to international superstardom. In 1964 he would witness the transformation of this young and playful group from Liverpool into professional, polished musicians as they put to tape classic songs such as “Eight Days A Week” and “I Feel Fine.” Then, in 1966, at age nineteen, Geoff Emerick became the Beatles’ chief engineer, the man responsible for their distinctive sound as they recorded the classic album Revolver, in which they pioneered innovative recording techniques that changed the course of rock history. Emerick would also engineer the monumental Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road albums, considered by many the greatest rock recordings of all time. In Here, There and Everywhere he reveals the creative process of the band in the studio, and describes how he achieved the sounds on their most famous songs. Emerick also brings to light the personal dynamics of the band, from the relentless (and increasingly mean-spirited) competition between Lennon and McCartney to the infighting and frustration that eventually brought a bitter end to the greatest rock band the world has ever known.

My Life with Noel Coward

My Life with Noel Coward PDF Author: Graham Payn
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 9781557832474
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
Other men made fabulous careers out of the opportunities Noel Coward declined. But Coward's inner compass charted him on his own course to greatness. And when he couldn't find the destination on his maps, he invented Samolo, his own South Sea island complete with its own indigenous rituals and customs. And of course, we revisit Coward's worlds constantly in revivals of his classic plays, Hay Fever, Private Lives, Tonight at 8:30, Design for Living and Blithe Spirit. This is the definitive memoir of the private Noel Coward by the only man with the compassionate insight and first-hand experience to write it. Graham Payn, star of many of Coward's shows, shared the Master's professional and private life for thirty years. When Coward kept the rest of the world at bay, Payn remained at his side as confidant and friend. No one else was as privy to Coward's doubts and dreams.

Catalogue of Title-entries of Books and Other Articles Entered in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, Under the Copyright Law ... Wherein the Copyright Has Been Completed by the Deposit of Two Copies in the Office

Catalogue of Title-entries of Books and Other Articles Entered in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, Under the Copyright Law ... Wherein the Copyright Has Been Completed by the Deposit of Two Copies in the Office PDF Author: Library of Congress. Copyright Office
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : American drama
Languages : en
Pages : 1218

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Book Description


Lady in the Dark

Lady in the Dark PDF Author: Bruce D. Mcclung
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199725128
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
When Lady in the Dark opened on January 23, 1941, its many firsts immediately distinguished it as a new and unusual work. The curious directive to playwright Moss Hart to complete a play about psychoanalysis came from his own Freudian psychiatrist. For the first time since his brother George's death, Ira Gershwin returned to writing lyrics for the theater. And for émigré composer Kurt Weill, it was a crack at an opulent first-class production. Together Hart, Gershwin, and Weill (with a little help from the psychiatrist) produced one of the most innovative works in Broadway history. With a company of 101 and an astronomical budget, Lady in the Dark launched the career of a young nightclub performer named Danny Kaye and starred Gertrude Lawrence in the greatest triumph of her career. With standees at many performances, Lady in the Dark helped establish the practice of advance ticket sales on the Great White Way, while Paramount Pictures' bid for the film rights broke all records. New York Times drama critic Brooks Atkinson hailed the production as "splendid," anointed Kurt Weill 'the best writer of theatre music in the country,' and worshiped Gertrude Lawrence as "a goddess." Though Lady in the Dark was a smash-hit, it has never enjoyed a Broadway revival, and a certain mystique has grown up around its legendary original production. In this ground-breaking biography, bruce mcclung pieces together the musical's life story from sketches and drafts, production scripts, correspondence, photographs, costume and set designs, and thousands of clippings from the star's personal scrapbooks. He has interviewed eleven members of the original company to provide a one-of-a-kind glimpse into the backstage story. The result is a virtual ticket to opening night, the saga of how this musical play came to be, and the string of events that saved the experimental show at every turn. Although America was turned upside down by Pearl Harbor after the production was on the boards, Lady in the Dark played an important role for the war effort and rang up 777 performances in 12 cities. In what may be the most illuminating study of a single Broadway musical, this biography brings Lady in the Dark back to the spotlight and puts readers in the front row.

Music of the Great Composers

Music of the Great Composers PDF Author: Patrick Kavanaugh
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310208076
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
A unique guide to enhance and enrich your enjoyment of classical music, this book is for music lovers who want to better understand the works of the masters.

The Autobiography of Maria Callas

The Autobiography of Maria Callas PDF Author: Alma H. Bond
Publisher: Alma Bond
ISBN: 9780913559482
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
A fictionalised account of the well-known and not so widely known details of the tempestuous and passionate, creative and private life of the internationally acclaimed diva. The soaring heights of her talents, the fears of her decline, written from a psychological, highly controversial perspective.

Chamber Music

Chamber Music PDF Author: Mark A. Radice
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472051652
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
A thorough overview and history of chamber music