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How America invented swing, how swing energized America. It was for stage bands, for dancing, and for a jiving mood of letting go. Throughout the nation swing resounded with the spirit of good times. The swing era was America's segue into modernity. But this pop genre, for a decade America's favorite, arose during the worst of times, the Great Depression. From its peak in the 1930s until bebop, rhythm and blues, and country swamped it after World War II, swing defined an American generation and measured America's musical heartbeat. In its heyday swing reached a mass audience of very disparate individuals and united them. They perceived in the tempers and tempos of swing the very definition o...
This volume examines the synthesizer’s significance for music and culture, with a range of contributors providing historical, musicological, practical and theoretical perspectives. The synthesizer as an instrument has evolved rapidly over the last 50 years, conveying different meanings in musical culture at various times in its history. For example, post-punk and new wave acts used synths to signify their embrace of futurism and modernity. Earlier psychedelic bands used the instrument to sonically represent mind expansion while prog acts signposted their lineage to the classical avant-garde. Techno artists used synths to escape the strictures of acoustic music in parallel with rave culture’s desire for escapism from the mundanity of daily existence. It is now seemingly ubiquitous in modern pop music production.
Derived from years of teaching in the classroom and online, Dr. Lewis Rosengarten's Jazz in Short Measures offers a refreshingly succint yet thorough presenation of the struggles, styles and achievements in Jazz in a series of ten essential lectures. The history of Jazz is recovered from a variety of voices and perspectives providing an exceedingly well-informed overview that would serve as a perfect addition to any study or course. The author's ability to synthesize an enormous amount of material into an enjoyable coherent whole is uncanny.
Jazz: Research and Pedagogy is the third edition of an annotated bibliography to books, recordings, videos, and websites in the field of jazz. Since the publication of the 2nd edition in 1995, the quantity and quality of books on jazz research, performance, and teaching materials have increased. Although the 1995 book was the most comprehensive annotated jazz bibliography published to that date, several books on research, performance, and teaching materials were omitted. In addition, given the proliferation of new books in all jazz areas since 1995, the need for a new, comprehensive, and annotated reference book on jazz is apparent. Multiply indexed, this book will serve as an excellent tool for librarians, researchers, and scholars in sorting through the massive amount of new material that has appeared in the field over the last decade.
First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Bordered by the Watchung ridges, Mountainside's picturesque four square miles afford a parklike setting in the midst of exurban activity. Author Connie McNamara provides a comprehensive look at this tight-knit community that prides itself on its bucolic surroundings and its caring and cohesiveness. She recounts anecdotes, passed on by town elders, of Mountainside's prestigious historic architecture, the establishment of the nationally renowned Children's Specialized Hospital and the Badgley House, where Revolutionary residents concealed their valuables from the British. Longtime Mountainsiders candidly recall the 1987 tornado, the 1995 centennial celebration and the galvanizing day in 1985 when the historic Hetfield House was moved down Route 22. Produced in collaboration with the Mountainside Historic Preservation Committee, A History of Mountainside unveils the extraordinary character of this beloved New Jersey town.
Learning Jazz: Jazz Education, History, and Public Pedagogy addresses a debate that has consumed practitioners and advocates since the music's early days. Studies on jazz learning typically focus on one of two methods: institutional education or the kinds of informal mentoring relationships long associated with the tradition. Ken Prouty argues that this distinction works against a common identity for audiences and communities. Rather, what happens within the institution impacts—and is impacted by—events and practices outside institutional contexts. While formal institutions are well-defined in educational and civic contexts, informal institutions have profoundly influenced the developmen...
There is no better authority on jazz than the creators, educators, and writers who have made this enigmatic musical style a major force internationally as well as in American history. The answer to the question “what is jazz?” is as complex and diverse as those involved in it. This book takes the question to noted musicians, scholars, and composers, creating a documentary style of oral history that makes you feel as if you are actually in the room as they put the sounds they know as music into words. The ideas from these authentic, personal voices of authority provide a unique perspective that will enlighten the novice and stimulate the professional. Ron Carter, Bassist-“Because they are improvising does not necessarily mean that it is jazz” Buddy Rich,Drums-“Trane to Bird, Diz to Miles, all in the family of jazz, just different children.” Ray Charles, Singer/Pianist-Jazz is the freedom to do what you want within the confines of the chord structure.” Milt Jackson, Vibraphonist-"The era of bebop represents jazz to me.” Chet Baker, Trumpet-Paris “Jazz is a hard swinging rhythm section with everybody playing with the same time feeling.”