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.
William Vacchiano (1912-2005) was principal trumpet with the New York Philharmonic from 1942 to 1973, and taught at Juilliard, the Manhattan School of Music, the Mannes College of Music, Queens College, and Columbia Teachers College. While at the Philharmonic, Vacchiano performed under the batons of Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Dimitri ......
This is the first serious biography of a man widely considered one of Texas'-and America's-greatest songwriters. Like Jimmie Rodgers, Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, Townes Van Zandt was the embodiment of that mythic American figure, the troubled troubadour. A Deeper Blue traces Van Zandt's background as the scion of a prominent ......
Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-1992
Hold On to Your Dreams is the first biography of the musician and composer Arthur Russell, one of the most important but least known contributors to New York's downtown music scene during the 1970s and 1980s. With the exception of a few dance recordings, including "Is It All Over My Face?" and "Go Bang! #5", Russell's pioneering music was largely ......
George Gershwin lived with purpose and gusto, but with melancholy as well, for he was unable to make a place for himself--no family of his own and no real home in music. He and his siblings received little love from their mother and no direction from their father. Older brother and lyricist Ira managed to create a home when he married Leonore ......
Throughout his career as composer, conductor, and pianist, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was an intensely private individual. When Bertensson and Leyda's 1956 biography appeared, it lifted the veil of secrecy on several areas of Rachmaninoff's life, especially concerning the genesis of his compositions and how he was affected by their critical ......
John Cage was a giant of American experimental music--composer, writer, and artist. He is most widely known for his 1952 composition 4'33,whose three movements continue to challenge the definition of music by being performed without playing a single note. In questioning fundamental tenets of Western music, Cage was often at the center of ......
As one of the best-known honky-tonkers to appear in the wake of Hank Williams's death, Faron Young was a popular presence on Nashville's music scene for more than four decades. The Singing Sheriff produced a string of Top Ten hits, placed more than eighty songs on the country music charts, and founded the long-running country music periodical ......
An Australian, Malcolm Williamson was the first non-Briton to hold the post of Master of the Queen's Music. He was appointed in 1975 as a composer. By the time of his death in 2003 he was unproductive and largely forgotten. This work tells his story, sifting fact from fiction and offering a case for re-evaluating this multi-talented musician.
