From his formative years playing pure, hardcore honky-tonk for mid-'80s Los Angeles punk rockers through his subsequent surge to the top of the country charts, Dwight Yoakam has enjoyed a singular career. An electrifying live performer, superb writer, and virtuosic vocalist, he has successfully bridged two musical worlds that usually have little ......
Ever since British press agent Derek Taylor declared Brian Wilson a "genius" in the promotion for the 1966 album Pet Sounds, some variation of the claim has become commonplace when discussing the Beach Boys' founder and chief composer. Intended to liberate Wilson from his outmoded image as a purveyor of sun-and-surf teen pop, the label has become ......
Mark Everett's band the Eels has released some of the most acclaimed albums, from "Beautiful Freak" to "Tomorrow Morning". Everett is also one of music's most fascinating characters. This title covers his unusual childhood, his relationship with his brilliant mathematician father and his initial struggles to succeed in the music industry.
Stan Kenton (1911-1979) formed his first full orchestra in 1940 and soon drew record-breaking crowds to hear and dance to his exciting sound. He continued to tour and record unrelentingly for the next four decades. Stan Kenton: This Is an Orchestra! sums up the mesmerizing bandleader at the height of his powers, arms waving energetically, his face ......
The British horn player Dennis Brain (1921-1957) is commonly described by such statements as "the greatest horn player of the 20th Century," "a genius," and "a legend." He was both a prodigy and popularizer, famously performing a concerto on a garden hose in perfect pitch. On his usual concert instrument his tone was of unsurpassed beauty and ......
Wagnerian Influences on French Musical and Literary Culture 1870-1945
Paul du Quenoy's acclaimed book reinterprets the works and ideas of Richard Wagner and their profound influence on the artistic, intellectual, and social life of modern France. Wagner's Romanticism influenced the French symbolists so greatly that they named their major journal La Revue Wagnerienne. His musical themes, dramatic structures and ......
The pianist, composer, and bandleader Randy Weston is one of the world's most influential jazz musicians and a remarkable storyteller whose career has spanned five continents and more than six decades. Packed with fascinating anecdotes, African Rhythms is Weston's life story, as told by him to the music journalist Willard Jenkins. It encompasses ......
Iconic American composer-bandmaster John Philip Sousa (1854-1932) led a disciplined group of devoted musicians on numerous American tours and around the world. Paul Bierley documents every aspect of the ''March King's'' band: its history, its star performers, its appearances on recordings and radio, and the problems members faced on their 1911 ......
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, in the enormous diversity of his activities, is arguably the most complete musician. Not only does he have a remarkable 300 commissioned concert works to his credit, he has also contrived to lead several completely different musical lives. This book studies this gifted musician.
