Книжки о музыке и музыкантах

The Rockabilly Legends: They Called It Rockabilly Long Before It Was Called Rock 'n' Roll (Hardcover)
by Jerry Naylor, Steve Halliday

In five brief but glorious years, a handful of young, animated performers set the entertainment world on its ear. The Rockabilly Legends - They Called It Rockabilly Long Before It Was Called Rock 'n' Roll celebrates the rebel forefathers who created this raw, driving sound that continues to influence and inspire musicians. This unique volume - part tribute, part first-person recollection, part history, and all fascinating - provides a complete picture of the times. It features hundreds of original rare and captivating photos, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and others. Candid interviews with music legends and personal reflections. Stunning design. Also includes a one-hour DVD sampler of rockabilly music to immerse the reader into those heady days from 1954 through 1959 when a new, high-energy sound and spirit instantly captured the hearts of fans around the world.

Product Details
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Hal Leonard; Bk & DVD edition (March 31, 2007)

Led Zeppelin Crashed Here: The Rock and Roll Landmarks of North America (Paperback)
by Chris Epting

Journey through America’s rich rock 'n' roll history with the musical landmarks detailed in this extensive collection. Nearly 600 locations, including birthplaces, concert locales, hotel rooms, and graves, are neatly compiled and paired with historical tidbits, trivia, photographs, and backstage lore—from the site where Elvis got his first guitar and Buddy Holly’s plane crashed to Sid and Nancy’s hotel room and the infamous “Riot House” on the Sunset Strip. The rowdiest and the most talented rockers are all featured, with sidebars on musical greats like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and U2. Learn the locations of the secret rehearsal for David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs album, the club where the Sex Pistols played their first and last concert in the U. S., the house where Kurt Cobain died, where Keith Richards threw a television set out of a hotel window, and hundreds more sites from the past.

About the Author
Chris Epting is the author of seven books, including Elvis Presley Passed Here; James Dean Died Here; Marilyn Monroe Dyed Here; Roadside Baseball; and The Ruby Slippers, Madonna's Bra, and Einstein's Brain. He has created and written many popular commercials and is the head of Surf City Advertising Company. He lives in Huntington Beach, California.

Product Details
Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Santa Monica Press (May 1, 2007)

The Rough Guide to Blues 1 (Rough Guide Music Guides) (Paperback)
by Nigel Williamson

Book Description
The Rough Guide to Blues gives you the complete lowdown on all the grittiest singers, bottleneck guitarists, belt-it-out divas and wailing harmonica players that made the most influential music of the last century. From music legend B.B. King to folk hero Robert Johnson, the guide includes detailed profiles of hundreds of artists and critical reviews of their best albums. The fascinating story is told in full – how the blues crawled from the Mississippi Delta, went electric in the big cities, and spread across the world – with feature boxes on topics like boogie woogie, gospel and the best blues record labels. Check out the ten greatest slide-guitar tracks – or the ten most miserable “woke up this mornin”s. with the handy playlists that help you to pick’n’choose quick “best ofs” to download to your iPod or MP3 player.

Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Rough Guides; 1st edition (February 19, 2007)

Hotel California: The True-life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and Their Many Friends (Paperback)
by Barney Hoskyns (Author)

From Publishers Weekly
As musical scenes go, it would be hard to come up with a less dramatic one than that of the singer/songwriters who dominated Southern California from the mid-1960s through the mid-'70s. Nevertheless, British music journalist Hoskyns gamely tries to make the "denim navel-gazers and cheesecloth millionaires of the Los Angeles canyons" exciting in his no-nonsense account of those musicians' rise and fall. Jumping right in with little introduction, Hoskyns relays the particulars of the burgeoning scene that drew sensitive musicians west from Greenwich Village, limning the differences between those who lived in Topanga and Laurel Canyons and detailing the explosive shocks to their insular world (like the Monterey Pop festival and the Manson murders), all leading up to the cash-register mentality that formed the Eagles. The cast is robust-ranging from the intense Joni Mitchell and mercenary David Geffen to neo-beatnik Tom Waits-but not deeply examined. Hoskyns has a better ear for the music, letting his record-critic side take over with adjective-riddled prose. Still, Hoskyns's account shows how the "back-porch folkies" of the scene's early days eventually morphed into "Lear-jet superstars."

Book Description

"Hoskyns brings a genuine love as well as an outsider’s keen eye to the rise and fall of the California scene. . . . This is a riveting story, sensitively told."–Anthony DeCurtis, Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone

From enduring musical achievements to drug-fueled chaos and bed-hopping antics, the L.A. pop music scene in the sixties and seventies was like no other, and journalist Barney Hoskyns re-creates all the excitement and mayhem. Hotel California brings to life the genesis of Crosby, Stills, and Nash at Joni Mitchell’s house; the Eagles’ backstage fistfights after the success of "Hotel California"; the drama of David Geffen and the other money men who transformed the L.A. music scene; and more.

Barney Hoskyns (London, UK) is the former U.S. correspondent for MOJO, the author of several books about music and Hollywood, and the cofounder of rocksbackpages.com, a rock journalism library.

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Wiley (May 18, 2007)

Rockin' Out: Popular Music in The U.S.A. (4th Edition) (Paperback)
by Reebee Garofalo (Author)


Book Description
Rockin' Out offers a comprehensive history of popular music in the United States from the heyday of Tin Pan Alley to the present day sounds of electronic dance music and teen pop, from the invention of the phonograph to the promise of the Internet. It offers an analysis and critique of the music itself as well as how it is produced and marketed.

Paperback: 608 pages
Publisher: Prentice Hall; 4 edition (February 15, 2007)

Inside the Music of Brian Wilson: The Songs, Sounds and Influences of the Beach Boys' Founding Genius (Paperback)
by Philip Lambert (Author)

Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group (February 15, 2007)

Dr. Dre: The Biography (Hardcover)
by Ronin Ro (Author)

Book Description

Born on February 18, 1965 to a sixteen-year-old single mom, Andre Young, AKA Dr. Dre, co-founded the notorious rap group N.W.A. The group was one of the most successful hip-hop groups of the late 1980s and, most importantly, started what the media quickly dubbed Gangsta Rap. His departure from N.W.A. was a story right out of a pulp fiction novel. His new mentor, Suge Knight, allegedly used guns, baseball bats and a kidnap threat to get Dr. Dre released from his contract. Dre and Knight went on to build Death Row Records and turned it into a multi-billlion dollar company. Yet despite its unprecedented success with stars such as Snoop Doggy Dogg and Tupac Shakur, the company quickly unraveled in a firestorm of rivalries, greed, violence, and scrutiny by both the government and the media.

Not one to fade into the background, Dr. Dre's next move was to start his own record company, Aftermath Entertainment. As CEO, he discovered and created new stars like Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game, and Eve. In this essential addition to any music section, award-winning author Ronin Ro details the rise, fall, and resurrection of one of the biggest names in rap music.

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press (April 24, 2007)

Midnight Mover: The True Story of the Greatest Soul Singer in the World [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)
by Bobby Womack (Author)

Bobby Womack is a legend—a phenomenally gifted singer, songwriter, and guitarist with 40 albums and 30 million record sales to his name. A protégé of Sam Cooke, Womack wrote classics that include "Lookin' for a Love" and "It's All Over Now" (a smash-hit for the Rolling Stones). Their success helped make him a star, but ongoing battles with drugs and the record industry nearly destroyed him. Behind his music lies a life scorched by tragedy, beginning with his impoverished childhood in Cleveland, to his years touring and recording with the greats—including James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Eric Clapton, and Elvis Presley—and through the years of drugs, partying, and riotous abuse, this is the authentic voice of a major soul artist.

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: John Blake (March 1, 2007)

The Soul of Tone: 60 Years of Fender Amps [ABRIDGED] (Hardcover)
by Tom Wheeler (Author), Keith Richards (Foreword)


An authorized and illustrated book on the most famous amplifiers ever. From the same "dream team" that created The Fender Stratocaster Chronicles - Vintage Guitar magazine's 2004 Book of the Year - comes this new publication covering the other side of Fender's legacy, the instrument amplifier. Revered as much as one's guitar, the Fender amplifier gets its due in this full-color, richly illustrated book. It will be highly desired by the millions who have plugged into one of these indispensable components, and were been delighted at its sound. - Fender is the number one guitar and amp brand in the world. This book has a built-in audience. 2006 is Fender's 60th anniversary. - Over 400 images, including legendary guitarists such as Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Neil Young, Pete Townsend, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Robbie Robertson and Dick Dale. - Unprecedented collection of vintage gear, including never-before-seen amps that were discovered while researching this book. - Accompanying CD features over 50 tracks that make terms and topics come alive.

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Hal Leonard; Pap/Com edition (June 15, 2007)

Nirvana: The Biography (Paperback)
by Everett True (Author)


True's history of the superstar 1990s band gets off to a rough start when he invokes the "live fast, die young" cliché and declares, "Kurt Cobain left one of the best-looking corpses around," perhaps not the most tasteful epitaph given the singer' s shotgun suicide. Subsequent chapters on Cobain' s early years are bogged down with interviews with just about anyone who ever met him, many with little apparent editing from the original transcripts. Fortunately, the pace picks up as Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl join the band, and the trio rocket to fame. True trades heavily on his role as one of the first music journalists to write about the Seattle scene, as well as his status as Cobain's "drunken English buddy" and an ambiguously close relationship with Courtney Love (he also takes credit for introducing the two to each other). His insider perspective, combined with a tighter control over the interview selection, brings thoughtful insight to Cobain's dramatic crash-and-burn. Yet though largely respectful, True is somewhat ambivalent, questioning the extent of Cobain's talent and openly wondering if Nirvana had any real influence on rock. His opinionated, idiosyncratic take on the band is sure to set tongues wagging and respark the debate over how things went so wrong for Cobain so fast. 32 pages of photos.

Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 30, 2007)

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>Dr. Dre: The Biography (Hardcover)
>by Ronin Ro (Author)

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Tony Visconti: the Autobiography: Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy (Hardcover)
by Morrissey (Foreword), Tony Visconti (Author)

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins Entertainment (5 Feb 2007)

A name synonymous with ground-breaking music, Tony Visconti has worked with the most dynamic and influential names in pop, from T.Rex and Iggy Pop to David Bowie and U2. This is the compelling life story of the man who helped shape music history, and gives a unique, first-hand insight into life in London during the late 1960s and '70s. This memoir takes you on a roller-coaster journey through the glory days of pop music, when men wore sequins and pop could truly rock. Visconti's unique access to the biggest names and hottest talent, both on stage and off, for over five decades is complemented by unseen photographs from his own personal archive, and offers a glimpse at music history that few have witnessed so intimately. Soon after abandoning his native New York to pursue his musical career in the UK, Visconti was soon in the thick of the emerging glam rock movement, launching T.Rex to commercial success and working with the then-unknown David Bowie. Since his fateful move to the land of tea and beer drunk straight from the can, Visconti has worked with such names as T.Rex, Thin Lizzy, Wings, The Boomtown Rats, Marsha Hunt, Procol Harum, and more recently Ziggy Marley, Mercury Rev, Even Visconti's personal life betrays an existence utterly immersed in music. Married to first to Siegrid Berman, then to Mary Hopkin and later to May Pang, he counts many of the musicians and producers he has worked with as close friends and is himself a celebrated musician.

Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)
by Manuel Bremer (Contributor), Thom Brooks (Contributor), Daniel Cohnitz (Contributor), Bart Engelen (Contributor), Thomas Nys (Contributor), William Irwin (Editor)


Hit the lights and jump in the fire, you're about to enter the School of Rock! Today's lecture will be a crash course in brain surgery. This hard and fast lesson is taught by instructors who graduated from the old school-they actually paid $5.98 for The $5.98 EP. But back before these philosophy professors cut their hair, they were lieutenants in the Metal Militia. Metallica is the "thinking man's" metal band and the headbanger's CNN. Snobs and music critics have often dismissed Metallica as mindless noise; we're here to set the record straight. "In pursuit of truth no matter where it lies," this book considers questions that philosophers have been pondering for ages, including: Does Metallica's music provide an Aristotelian catharsis or does it just make kids go postal? Can "Fade to Black" save you from suicide? Are we all in the "Sanitarium"? How can we "Escape" to be free? What can Nietzsche tell us about the God That Failed? What can Descartes and "One" tell us about the relationship between the mind and the body? Did Lars make a sound argument against Napster? Metallica is more than just a band, and this book is much more than just a ticket to ride down memory lane. This is an in-depth analysis of the soundtrack to your life. So start your CD player, fire up your iPod, or, better yet, break out the old vinyl. We're going' for a ride with the four horsemen, and a few philosophers too.

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Limited (April 6, 2007)

My So-Called Punk: Green Day, Fall Out Boy, The Distillers, Bad Religion---How Neo-Punk Stage-Dived into the Mainstream (Paperback)
by Matt Diehl (Author)

In this energetic survey of current trends in punk rock, journalist and music critic Diehl (Notorious C.O.P.) delivers a knowledgeable and sympathetic overview of the current "neo-punk" bands that achieved success with "the pop music mainstream in the mid-1990s," from big names such as the Offspring and Rancid to lesser-known artists such as Brody Dalle. He nails the key musical reason for the megapopularity of neo-punk band Green Day: while they "trafficked in three-chord minimalism, unlike many of their punk peers, they maintained a keen sense for imbuing those three chords with classic pop song structure and melody." But as a fan of punk music since its heyday in 1977, Diehl is also able to explain the various "vital subsets of the already subcultural punk experience." He keenly reports on how the age-old conflict between authenticity and commercial success has become a key issue in all parts of the neo-punk scene, from resolutely "indie" labels like Epitaph and Dischord to the popular Vans Warped Tour's "blending of the mainstream and the underground." Diehl convincingly argues that "[e]ven in its most crass, commercial state, Punk, Inc. offers more integrity and authenticity than anything comparable on the pure pop side." (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Diehl limns the bands who nominally carry forward the colors of the Sex Pistols, Clash, and Ramones in highly readable fashion. Just as every rebellious generation rediscovers Rimbaud, so does every revolutionary pop-music genre eventually deliquesce into slushy mainstream commercial success. According to Diehl, just such success has altered what punk means and how it's expressed. A punker himself in the seventies, Diehl fondly recalls when Patti Smith "reinvented the androgynous cock-rock sex symbol epitomized by Mick Jagger and Jim Morrison in her own persona . . . that reeked of Rimbaud." Punk rock was never homogeneous--what did Sex Pistols and Talking Heads share?--and since it became profitable, he says, it's even harder to define. Diehl finds value and even remnants of proto-punk's DIY ethos in today's punk bands, be they modern-day thrashers or hypersensitive emo practitioners. An essential part of the story of an ongoing movement, Diehl's book provokes lots of interesting questions. So what if he doesn't have all the answers? Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (April 17, 2007)

Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica (33 1/3) (Paperback)
by Kevin Courrier (Author)

Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group (May 1, 2007)

Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock 'n' Roller's 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict (Hardcover)
by Alice Cooper (Author), Keith Zimmerman (Author), Kent Zimmerman (Author)

Review
“Alice writes like he golfs: straight and right down the middle. Like a lot of us golf addicts, he's spent his fair share of his life getting out of the rough and back onto the green. If you're like me and only read like a book a year (OK, like every decade), this should be the one.”
—John Daly

“What a blast from the past, and such insight to the future! Alice Cooper, Golf Monster shares Alice's personal life mission, interwoven with great stories and characters from the 60's through the present in Rock and Roll. Not to mention some wonderful golf tips and experiences, humorously presented. Thank you Alice, for a nice ride!”
—Michael Douglas, actor and creator of the Michael Douglas & Friends Charity Golf Tournament

“Few things are more surreal than playing golf with a guy named Alice. But by the time you reach the second tee, you realize that No More Mr. Nice Guy is one of the wittiest and engaging playing partners you've ever had. Plus, the guy can play! For those who aren't likely to experience the pleasure of a quiet, leisurely round with the man who spends his nights singing "School's been blown to pieces," this book provides the next best thing.”
—Steve Eubanks, author of Golf Freek

“Debauchery, demons and divots! This is the only book I've ever read that should come in 3-D; the crazy stories come right at you from Sinatra to KISS to the Moscow Golf Club.”
—Gary McCord, author of Golf for Dummies

Book Description
The man who invented shock rock tells the amazing and, yeah, shocking story of how he slayed his thirsty demons—with a golf club. It started one day when Cooper was watching a Star Trek rerun between concerts, bored and drunk on a quart-of-whiskey-a-day habit; a friend dragged the rocker out of his room and suggested a round of golf. Cooper has been a self-confessed golf addict ever since. Today he and his band still tour the world, playing some one hundred gigs a year . . . and three hundred days out of that year, Cooper is on the course.

Alice Cooper, Golf Monster is Cooper’s tell-all memoir; in it he talks candidly about his entire life and career, as well as his struggles with alcohol, how he fell in love with the game of golf, how he dried out at a sanitarium back in the late ’70s, and how he put the last nails in his addiction’s coffin by getting up daily at 7 a.m. to play 36 holes.

Alice has hilarious, touching, and sometimes surprising stories about so many of his friends: Led Zeppelin and the Doors, George Burns and Groucho Marx, golf legends like John Daly and Tiger Woods . . . everyone is here from Dalí to Elvis to Arnold Palmer.

This is the story of Cooper’s life, and also a story about golf. He rose from hacker to scratch golfer to serious Pro Am competitor and on to his status today as one of the best celebrity golfers around—all while rising through the rock ’n’ roll ranks releasing platinum albums and selling out arenas with his legendary act.

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Crown (May 1, 2007)

Guitar Army: Rock and Revolution with The MC5 and the White Panther Party (Hardcover)
by John Sinclair (Author), Michael Simmons (Introduction)

"Guitar Army was our manual for revolt. It's a rainbow-colored Howl, still resonating today with the singular value of idealism."-Michael Simmons

John Sinclair, manager of the notorious Detroit band MC5 and leader of the leftist revolutionary vanguard White Panther Party, is the still-charging embodiment of a dazzlingly optimistic time in which change felt necessary and possible.

Sinclair was the martyr of the original war on drugs, sentenced to ten years in prison for possession of two marijuana joints. Guitar Army is the iconographic book that proclaimed "Rock and Roll is a Weapon of Cultural Revolution" for young, revved-up readers in 1972. Its author was released from prison just three days after 15,000 people came to see John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Archie Shepp, Allen Ginsberg, and other musicians and leaders demand his freedom.

The updated Guitar Army includes two dozen previously unpublished period photographs, recent writings from John Sinclair, and an introduction from Michael Simmons that leads the reader through the revolutionary times to Sinclair's life today.

A bonus CD contains rare music recordings of MC5 band members, the revolutionary rock group UP!, Black Panther Bobby Seale on the White Panthers, and original White Panther Party rallies.

About the Author
Manager of the revolutionary rock band MC5 and leader of the White Panther Party. International attention and the support of John Lennon came after his imprisonment for possession of marijuana.

Hardcover: 300 pages
Publisher: Process (May 1, 2007)

Jimmy Page: Magus, Musician, Man: An Unauthorized Biography (Hardcover)
by George Case (Author)

From Publishers Weekly
As long as there are teenage boys in the world, there will be an audience for Led Zeppelin, the '70s-era hard rock legend whose "Stairway to Heaven" is still one of the most-ever-played songs in the history of American FM radio. Jimmy Page was the mastermind of the Zeppelin juggernaut, and as one of the three most influential British rock guitarists of the late '60s, he certainly deserves Case's detailed and informed look at his past and present work. In this unauthorized biography, freelance writer Case focuses on Page's music as much as he does on Zeppelin's lurid touring lifestyle, and he is good at reporting Page's early work playing on countless recording sessions (ranging from Tom Jones's "It's Not Unusual" to the Kinks' "You Really Got Me"), as well as detailing the formation of Zeppelin, where Page combined his blues-based rock with singer Robert Plant's "soaring tenor moan" to create a radically new sound. While his enthusiasm sometimes overwhelms his writing ("The Teutonic implications of the airship's family surname invested a gothic sensibility to the ensemble's work"), Case successfully shows how Page and his Zeppelin's musical influence became "so broad and so established that even players who had never consciously emulated his techniques had been affected by them." (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
Jimmy Page - Magus, Musician, Man is a meticulously researched life story of Led Zeppelin's legendary guitarist and producer. From his childhood in war-torn Britain and his pivotal role in the recording studios that launched the British Invasion of the '60s to his milestone achievements, his dark, nefarious excesses with Led Zeppelin, and his emergence as a revered cultural icon and honored philanthropist, this biography - the first ever written about Jimmy Page - portrays all his spiritual, artistic, and personal dimensions. Swinging London, the Sunset Strip, Bron-yr-Aur, Kashmir, and Clarksdale: Magus, Musician, Man traverses through all of Page's hallowed stomping grounds and tells, at last, the complete story of one of rock 'n' roll's most enigmatic and influential talents.

Hardcover: 300 pages
Publisher: Hal Leonard (April 30, 2007)

Chasin' The Bird: The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker (Paperback)
by Brian Priestley (Author)

From Publishers Weekly
Charlie "Bird" Parker achieved nearly mythic status as a difficult person and heroin addict. And while Priestly's book describes Parker's tumultuous personal life and his lifelong struggle with addiction, its focus is on Bird's music. The book contains a thorough investigation of Bird's prodigious musical talent and his contributions to jazz and bebop. Priestly, a jazz pianist and co-author of The Rough Guide to Jazz, cautions readers that "so much of Parker's sound and style has entered the present-day language as to make the original seem old hat" before describing what made Bird a legend: his mastery of the alto sax, his brilliant improvisations and the speed with which he played. Priestly asserts that confusion about details of Parker's life "is a consequence of the fact that, during his brief career, entertainers generally-and especially African-American instrumentalists-were not extensively interviewed." As a result, the book skimps on personal information and leans on speculation. It also scrutinizes his musical career to such an extent that the book can be tedious to readers with a casual interest in jazz. However, for a student or a serious Parker enthusiast, Priestly's thorough documentation and analysis of Bird's recordings and gigs, along with the 60 pages of included discography, will be quite a find.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"The best overall book on Parker since Gary Giddins's photo-driven 'Celebrating Bird' of 1987.... Its 60-page discography is the most comprehensive Parker compendium yet published.... Priestley has listened to and listed everything, including all the rare, noncommercial material that's come to light in the last 20 years.... Priestley places them, for the first time, in the context of Parker's career. In so doing, he contributes significant pieces to the larger puzzle depicting Parker's role in the creation of modern jazz. Indeed, Mr. Priestley offers excellent analysis of the technical aspects of Parker's playing, explaining in detail what made his music so remarkable." --Will Friedwald, The New York Sun

"Easily enjoyed in a single sitting, with your favorite Parker record.... Well served by the breadth of Priestley's musical knowledge and his tenacious desire for accuracy."--New York Times Book Review

"Priestley's revised and updated biography...offers valuable insights to Bird's career, mainly because it is seen through the prism of his music.... This volume makes a valuable contribution to jazz literature.... A useful addition to the Parker library."--Down Beat

"Even if you've read other books on Parker, you'll gain some fresh perspective from this one. And if you've never read a book on Parker, you'd be well-advised to make this the first. Though Priestley is clearly a fan, he writes about the good in a clear-headed way and writes about the bad unflinchingly."--Kansas City Star

"Brian Priestley has not just chased but captured the elusive Bird, illuminating the turbulent life and marvelous music with human and musical insight."--Dan Morgenstern, Director, Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, and author of Living with Jazz

"Brian Priestley is one of the most accomplished jazz historians, critics, and biographers, and Chasin' the Bird is an indispensable gem--an ideal introduction to a major figure in 20th century music and an inventive interpretation of Parker's life and art that will also engage veteran jazz lovers. The comprehensive discography is a major bonus, making this a handbook every Bird chaser will relish."--Gary Giddins, author of Visions of Jazz and Weather Bird

Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (April 30, 2007)

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon (Hardcover)
by Crystal Zevon (Author)

When Warren Zevon died in 2003, he left behind both a fanatical cult following and a rich catalog of dark, witty rock-n-roll classics that includes "Lawyers, Guns, and Money," "Excitable Boy," and the immortal "Werewolves of London." He also left a trove of misadventures and anecdotes, a veritable rock opera of drugs, women, celebrity, high times, and hard ways. As Warren once said, "I got to be Jim Morrison a lot longer than he did."

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead is an intimate and unusual oral history of one of our most original and distinctive rock-and-roll antiheroes. Narrated by his former wife and longtime co-conspirator, Crystal Zevon, the book draws on over eighty interviews with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Stephen King, Billy Bob Thornton, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, and countless others who came under his mischievous spell. The result is a raucous and moving tale of love and obsession, creative genius and epic bad behavior. Told in the words and images of the friends, lovers, and legends who knew him best, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead captures Warren Zevon in all his turbulent glory.

About the Author
Crystal Zevon is Warren Zevon's former wife and lifelong friend. She lives in Vermont near her daughter, son-in-law, and twin grandsons.

Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Ecco (May 2007)