San Antonio College Library

Documentary exploring the history of jazz from its beginnings through the 1990's, including the stories of many of its creators and performers. Includes archival video, still photographs, historical performances, and newly recorded interviews and musical performances.

This is Whitney Balliett's long-awaited "big book." In it are all the jazz profiles he has written for The New Yorker during the past 24 years. These include his famous early portraits of Pee Wee Russell, Red Allen, Earl Hines, and Mary Lou Williams, done when these giants were in full flower; his recent reconstructions of the lives of such legends as Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, Jack Teagarden, Zoot Sims, and Dave Tough; His quick but indelible glimpses...

American composer, pianist, and orchestra leader Duke Ellington was the first genuine jazz composer of truly international status. In this book Ken Rattenbury offers the most thorough musical analysis ever written of Ellington?s works, assessing the extent to which Ellington drew on the black music traditions of blues and ragtime and the music of Tin Pan Alley, and examining how he integrated black folk music practices with elements of European art...

"Hawkins, the most imitated and influential saxophonist in jazz up to Charlie Parker#x19;s modern revolution, stood virtually alone among jazz musicians who came to prominence in the 1920s and successfully made the transition to modern jazz 25 years later. He also set a standard of dignity for black musicians that was rarely equalled." #x14;Choice, July 1991.

Based on interviews with family and friends, this account of the jazz great's life reveals the influence of Miles Davis' life on his work as well as the musician's persistent desire to re-invent himself.

No one knew Duke Ellington better than the author of this memoir, his son. This work is the most complete and intimate memoire available of America's genius of jazz. The author was born in 1919 when Duke was twenty, and was associated with his father's musical activity at a very young age. Mercer's account of Ellington's earlier years is based on personal memories, and his description of Duke's family and musical life in Washington, D.C., throws new...

This portrait of Chet Baker describes the jazz legend's hardscrabble Oklahoma youth, his rise to success in the world of jazz, his long-time addiction to heroin, and his mysterious 1988 death falling from an Amsterdam hotel window.

A biography of the musician who created more than 5,000 compositions, led his own orchestra for almost fifty years, and was a legendary figure of his time.

Moonlight Serenade, Sunrise Serenade, Little Brown Jug, In the Mood... These and other memorable tunes endeared Glenn Miller to millions in the Swing Era and all who recall those times. After playing trombone and arranging for leading orchestras of the Dorsey brothers, Ray Noble, Ben Pollack, and Red Nichols, Glenn Miller formed his own "sweet" band, which from 1938 to 1942 achieved widespread popularity second only to Benny Goodman's. Miller learned...