The first installment in the long-awaited portrait of one of the most talented and influential musicians of the twentieth century. Charlie Parker personified the tortured American artist: a revolutionary performer who used his alto saxophone to create a new music known as bebop even as he wrestled with a drug addiction that would lead to his death at 34. With the wisdom of a jazz scholar, the cultural insights of a social critic, and the narrative...

"Strayhorn: An Illustrated Life is a stunning collection of essays, photographs, and ephemera celebrating Billy Strayhorn, one of the most significant yet under-appreciated contributors to 20th century American music. Released in commemoration of Strayhorn's centennial, this luxurious coffee-table book offers intimate details of the composer's life from musicians, scholars, and Strayhorn's closest relatives. Perhaps best known for his 28-year collaborative...

An account of the public and private lives of the eminent jazz artist covers his slave heritage, the musical talent that inspired some 1,700 compositions, and his relationships with numerous lovers.

Over the course of his fifty-year career, George Benson has performed for hundreds of millions of fans around the world, received ten Grammy Awards, and recorded with some of the most revered musicians of his era. And he has finally decided to tell his story. "Benson: The Autobiography" follows the musician's remarkable rise from the ghettos of Pittsburgh to the stages of Dubai, and everywhere in between. His tales of scuffling on the road with jazz...

"William Parker is the most influential jazz bassist since Charles Mingus. Universal Tonality tells the story of his origins-traced from Africa to the Carolinas to Harlem-and then details his path to music. Universal Tonality chronicles Parker's career from his early days playing with Cecil Taylor to leading his own bands"--