One of the most popular and memorable American musicians of the 20th century, Nat King Cole (1919-65) is remembered today as both a pianist and a singer, a feat rarely accomplished in the world of popular music. Now, in this complete life and times biography, author Will Friedwald offers a new take on this fascinating musician, framing him first as a bandleader and then as a star. In Cole's early phase, Friedwald explains, his primary task of keeping his trio going was just as much of a focus for him as his own playing and singing, always a collective or group performance. In the second act, Cole's collaborators were more likely to be arranger-conductors like Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, rather than his sidemen on bass and guitar. In the first act, his sidemen were equals, in the second phase, his collaborators were tasked exclusively with putting the focus on him, making him sound good, while being largely invisible themselves. Friedwald brings his full musical knowledge to bear in putting the man in the work, demonstrating how this duality appears over and over again in Cole's life and career: jazz vs. pop, solo vs. trio, piano vs. voice, wife number one (Nadine) vs. wife number two (Maria), the good songs vs. the less-than-good songs, the rhythm numbers vs. the ballads, the funny songs and novelties vs. the "serious" songs of love and loss, Cole as an advocate for the Great American Songbook vs. Cole the intrepid explorer of other options: world music, rhythm & blues, country & western. Cole was different from his contemporaries in other ways; for roughly ten years after the war, the majority of hitmakers on the pop charts were veterans of the big band experience, from Sinatra on down.
You already know about the Bunnies, now learn about the music that helped shape Playboy. Playboy—the magazine, the empire, the lifestyle—is one of the world's best known brands. Since the launch of Playboy magazine in 1953, two elements have been remarkably consistent: the first, is the celebration of the female form. The second, readers may be surprised to learn, is Playboy's involvement in the music scene. The playboy experience has never been just about sex, but about lifestyle. Hugh Hefner's personal passion for music, particularly fine jazz, has always been an essential component of that. Full of interviews with hundreds of people who were on the scene throughout the rise, fall, and on-going renaissance, Playboy Swings carries readers on a seductive journey. Farmer focuses on Playboy's involvement in the music scene and impact on popular entertainment, and demonstrates how the empire helped change the world by integrating television and festivals. Join Patty Farmer as she guides the reader through the first inception of the Playboy empire through the 1959 Jazz Festival, and club opening after club opening. With 60 pages of photos and a complete reference guide, readers will associate music, not just Bunnies, when thinking about Playboy after reading this enthralling look into the history of one of the world's most infamous brands.
Through curated essays, readers will experience a deeply personal and engaging survey of key figures in jazz in the book that Publishers Weekly calls "a cheerful celebration of an uniquely American musical form.” Whether in the compositions of foundational figures like Jelly Roll Morton, Thomas “Fats” Waller. and Earl “Fatha” Hines; swing pioneers such as Teddy Wilson and Joe Bushkin; torch-bearers like Mary Lou Williams and her student Thelonious Monk; technical masters including Bud Powell and Bill Evans; or modern mixologists such as Sun Ra and Keith Jarrett, the piano has been the site of historic innovations in jazz, and the stage on which some of its most colorful personalities have cemented their legacies. It’s no coincidence that several legendary pianists—Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole—are named after royalty. As one of the leading writers on jazz today, author, journalist, and historian Will Friedwald has witnessed over a half-century of epochal developments in the genre and the central role that the piano has played in its evolution. Nights at the Red Steinway collects key writings (from the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere) to form a deeply personal and engaging survey of key figures from Abrams to Zawinul. Irreverent when it wants to be but serious when it counts, Friedwald’s writing offers a wide-ranging, deeply considered tour through the history of jazz piano. It is an indispensable collection for fans of all stripes.
An extensive biographical and critical survey of more than 300 jazz and popular singers is comprised of provocative, opinionated essays that incorporate the views of peers, fans and critics while assessing key movements and genres.
In Stardust Melodies, Will Friedwald takes each of these legendary songs apart and puts it together again, with a staggering wealth of detail and unprecedented understanding. Each chapter gives us an extended history of one song—the circumstances under which it was written and first performed—and then explores its musical and lyric content. Drawing on his vast knowledge of records and the careers of performing artists, Friedwald tells us who was responsible for making these songs famous and discusses in depth the performers who have left their unique marks on them. He writes about variations in performance style, about both classic and obscure versions of the songs, about brilliantly original interpretations and ghastly travesties. And then there’s the completely unexpected, like Stan Freberg’s politically correct “Elderly Man River.” This is a book for all lovers of American song to explore, argue with, and savor.
During the mid-nineteenth century, a quarter of a million travelers—men, women, and children—followed the “road across the plains” to gold rush California. This magnificent chronicle—the second installment of Will Bagley’s sweeping Overland West series—captures the danger, excitement, and heartbreak of America’s first great rush for riches and its enduring consequences. With narrative scope and detail unmatched by earlier histories, With Golden Visions Bright Before Them retells this classic American saga through the voices of the people whose eyewitness testimonies vividly evoke the most dramatic era of westward migration. Traditional histories of the overland roads paint the gold rush migration as a heroic epic of progress that opened new lands and a continental treasure house for the advancement of civilization. Yet, according to Bagley, the transformation of the American West during this period is more complex and contentious than legend pretends. The gold rush epoch witnessed untold suffering and sacrifice, and the trails and their trials were enough to make many people turn back. For America’s Native peoples, the effect of the massive migration was no less than ruinous. The impact that tens of thousands of intruders had on Native peoples and their homelands is at the center of this story, not on its margins. Beautifully written and richly illustrated with photographs and maps, With Golden Visions Bright Before Them continues the saga that began with Bagley’s highly acclaimed, award-winning So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California, 1812–1848, hailed by critics as a classic of western history.
The author of the magisterial A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers now approaches the great singers and their greatest work in an innovative and revelatory way: through considering their finest albums, which is the format in which this music was most resonantly organized and presented to its public from the 1940s until the very recent decline of the CD. It is through their albums that Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, and the rest of the glorious honor roll of jazz and pop singers have been most tellingly and lastingly appreciated, and the history of the album itself, as Will Friedwald sketches it, can now be seen as a crucial part of musical history. We come to understand that, at their finest, albums have not been mere collections of individual songs strung together arbitrarily but organic phenomena in their own right. A Sinatra album, a Fitzgerald album, was planned and structured to show these artists at their best, at a specific moment in their artistic careers. Yet the albums Friedwald has chosen to anatomize go about their work in a variety of ways. There are studio and solo albums: Lee’s Black Coffee, June Christy’s Something Cool, Cassandra Wilson’s Belly of the Sun. There are brilliant collaborations: famous ones—Tony Bennett and Bill Evans, Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson—and wonderful surprises like Doris Day and Robert Goulet singing Annie Get Your Gun. There are theme albums—Dinah Washington singing Fats Waller, Maxine Sullivan singing Andy Razaf, Margaret Whiting singing Jerome Kern, Barb Jungr singing Bob Dylan, and the sublime Jo Stafford singing American and Scottish folk songs. There are also stunning concert albums like Ella in Berlin, Sarah in Japan, Lena at the Waldorf, and, of course, Judy at Carnegie Hall. All the greats are on hand, from Kay Starr and Carmen McRae to Jimmy Scott and Della Reese (Della Della Cha Cha Cha). And, from out of left field, the astounding God Bless Tiny Tim. Each of the fifty-seven albums discussed here captures the artist at a high point, if not at the expected moment, of her or his career. The individual cuts are evaluated, the sequencing explicated, the songs and songwriters heralded; anecdotes abound of how songs were born and how artists and producers collaborated. And in appraising each album, Friedwald balances his own opinions with those of musicians, listeners, and critics. A monumental achievement, The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums is an essential book for lovers of American jazz and popular music.
Between 1841 and 1866, more than 500,000 people followed trails to Oregon, California, and the Salt Lake Valley in one of the greatest mass migrations in American history. This collection of travelers' accounts of their journeys in the 1840s, the first volume in a new series of trail narratives, comprises excerpts from pioneer and missionary letters, diaries, journals, and memoirs-many previously unpublished-accompanied by biographical information and historical background.
Mildred believed a life lived under the wing of ones mother was no life at all, so with her death she gave a second birth to her great nephew. She possessed enough to tempt him but not enough to coddle him. When she died, she left it all to Will provided he live in her old house in Roanoke, Virginia for five years. That required Will to leave his mothers comfortable home in Baltimore. What Mildred and her conspirator, Wills father, didnt expect was how a Mamas Boy like Will would convince his very attractive, young mother to allow him to accept the conditions of Mildreds will. Nor could Aunt Mildred have foreseen Will dating three very different women nor anticipated the stupid things he would do in her house and on her furniture. But maybe she did, for Will feels her guidance.
Late ’70s San Francisco. The Summer of Love is a hazy memory, the AIDS crisis is looming, and nearby Silicon Valley is still an obscure place where microchips are made. The City by the Bay is reeling from a string of bizarre tragedies that have earned it a new name: the “kook capital of the world.” Yet out of the darkness comes a creative rebirth, instigated by punk and sustained by the steady influx of outsiders who view the city as a place of refuge, a last resort. What ensues is a collision of sounds and ideas that spans the golden age of analog DIY culture, from the dark cabaret of Tuxedomoon and Factrix, the apocalyptic sounds of Minimal Man and Flipper, the conceptual humor of Gregg Turkington’s Amarillo Records; through to the subversive pop music of Faith No More, the left-field experimentalism of Caroliner, Mr. Bungle, and Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, and much more. Drawing on extensive research—including interviews with over 100 musicians, artists, and other key players—WHO CARES ANYWAY is the first book to chronicle the wild post-punk San Francisco music scene, courtesy of those who lived it. It’s a tale full of existential drama, tragic anti-heroes, dark humor, spectacular failures—and even a few improbable successes.
Clemson: Where the Tigers Play is the most comprehensive book ever written on Clemson University athletics. This book chronicles over 100 years of Tiger athletics, listing yearly accounts of statistics, records, bowl and tournament appearances, and historical moments. Read about the legends that put the Clemson Tigers on the map, including Banks McFadden, John Heisman, Rupert Fike, Frank Howard, Fred Cone, Bruce Murray, Bill Wilhelm, and I. M. Ibrahim. Also included are vignettes on some of Clemson’s greatest moments—the 1981 national football championship and the 2015 national championship game appearance, the 1984 and 1987 national championship soccer seasons, College World Series appearances, the Frank Howard era, and the inaugural running down the hill in Death Valley. Other vignettes include career sports records; players in the NFL, the major leagues, and the NBA; and Tiger Olympic medalists. This newly revised edition offers the ground breaking accomplishments and victories that countless teams have had at this university. Clemson: Where the Tigers Play is a must-have for any library of every loyal Clemson fan. This book examines the rich history and tradition of the Clemson Tigers, and the coaches and players who made it happen!
Overtime is about the politics of time, and specifically the amount of time that we spend labouring within capitalist society. It argues that reactivating the longstanding demand for shorter working hours should be central to any progressive trajectory in the years ahead. This book explains what a shorter working week means, as well as its history and its political implications. Will Stronge and Kyle Lewis examine the idea of reducing the time we all spend labouring for other on both a theoretical and political level, and offer an analysis rooted in the radical traditions from which the idea first emerged. Throughout, the reader is introduced to key theorists of work and working time alongside the relevant research regarding our contemporary 'crisis of work', to which the authors' proposal of a shorter working week responds.
100+ recipes, photos, and memories from a Martha's Vineyard landmark “The Home Port embodies summertime on Martha’s Vineyard. It’s where it resides.” --James Taylor “Today, when I turn an eye inward, I see the Home Port hanging in the memory halls of my mind, welcoming, soothing, and filled with fun and light." --Judy Belushi Pisano “Now that Will has finally decided to share his many culinary secrets with the rest of the world, I not only look forward to kicking off the summer with an amazing dinner at the Home Port, but having a little piece of it with me all year long.” --Michael J. Fox “I can’t help but smile when I think about the Home Port. To me, it’s the very best of Vineyard hospitality, serving up the perfect summer meal to satisfy everyone’s taste. You’ll have to provide your own sunset and the briny ocean scent that whets my appetite every time I head to Menemsha, but this book will welcome you to the Holthams’ table and let you feast with them as we have done for many happy years.” --Linda Fairstein ** A Martha’s Vineyard institution since 1931, the Home Port is the place to go locally for traditional New England–style, fresh-off-the-boat seafood. In this book, former chef/owner Will Holtham shares stories and culinary secrets from his forty years at the helm. Among the more than 100 recipes are featured menu items such as the award-winning Quahog Chowder, Broiled Swordfish, Baked-Stuffed Lobster, and Key Lime Pie, along with seafood cooking techniques and tips on buying and preparing fish. Full-color food photos are complemented by restaurant ephemera from Will’s private collection as well as charming watercolor illustrations by artist Susan Tobey White. Will Holtham has been a chef and restaurateur for more than forty years. He also owned the Square Rigger restaurant and legendary Bite Clam Shack, both on Martha’s Vineyard. He divides his time between Maine and South Carolina.
Abandoned junk to some, the rusty old steel shells of vehicles are treasures to others, holding memories of a bygone era, or the promise of a pristinely restored, radically customized automobile. Automotive photographer Will Shiers has captured these dreams on film for over ten years, and this volume collects his images between two covers for the first time. Here are the beautiful husks Shiers has found in the United States fields and barns, shops, and salvage yards across States. Divided into five categoriesGeneral Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Independents, and Special Vehiclesthese wrecks and relics from 1910 to the 1970s come equipped with all the relevant information: history, model, location. The most comprehensive and beautifully photographed collection of abandoned cars ever published, this volume preserves for all time the exquisite skeletons of American automotive might.
Will Croft Barnes (1858–1937) first came to Arizona as a cavalryman and went on to become a rancher, state legislator, and conservationist. From 1905 to 1935, his travels throughout the state, largely on horseback, enabled him to gather the anecdotes and geographical information that came to constitute Arizona Place Names. For this first toponymic encyclopedia of Arizona, Barnes compiled information from published histories, federal and state government documents, and reminiscences of "old timers, Indians, Mexicans, cowboys, sheep-herders, historians, any and everybody who had a story to tell as to the origin and meaning of Arizona names." The result is a book chock full of oddments, humor, and now-forgotten lore, which belongs on the night table as well as in the glove compartment. Barnes' original Arizona Place Names has become a booklover's favorite and is much in demand. The University of Arizona Press is pleased to reissue this classic of Arizoniana, which remains as useful and timeless as it was more than half a century ago.
These journals also provide insight into Dodge's character, with reports of his official duties as a military man and of several landmark events in his family life. Extensive commentaries and notes by Wayne R. Kime provide further detail, including a history of Cantonment North Fork Canadian River, a six-company post Dodge established and commanded in the region."--BOOK JACKET.
A vivid, dramatic account of how half a dozen kinds of modern music--punk rock, art rock, disco, salsa, rap, minimalist classical--emerged in new forms and cross-pollinated all at once in the middle seventies in NYC. Punk rock and hip-hop. Disco and salsa. The loft jazz scene and the downtown composers known as Minimalists. In the mid-1970s, New York City was a laboratory where all the major styles of modern music were reinvented—block by block, by musicians who knew, admired, and borrowed from one another. Crime was everywhere, the government was broke, and the infrastructure was collapsing. But rent was cheap, and the possibilities for musical exploration were limitless. Will Hermes's Love Goes to Buildings on Fire is the first book to tell the full story of the era's music scenes and the phenomenal and surprising ways they intersected. From New Year's Day 1973 to New Year's Eve 1977, the book moves panoramically from post-Dylan Greenwich Village, to the arson-scarred South Bronx barrios where salsa and hip-hop were created, to the lower Manhattan lofts where jazz and classical music were reimagined, to ramshackle clubs like CBGB and the Gallery, where rock and dance music were hot-wired for a new generation.
This third volume of The Papers of Will Rogers documents the evolution of Rogers's vaudeville career as well as the newlywed life of Will and Betty Blake Rogers and the birth of their children. During these years, the Rogerses moved to New York City, and after many years of performing with Buck McKee and horse Teddy, Rogers began a solo act in vaudeville as a talking, roping cowboy. He appeared on the same playbill with such performers as Fred Stone, Eddie Cantor, and Houdini, and his stage career expanded to include an appearance in the Broadway musical comedy "The Wall Street Girl." Volume Three ends with Rogers's successful transition from vaudeville to Broadway, on the brink of his breakthrough as a star of the Ziegfeld Follies.
When Surveyor-General Thomas Hutchins drove a stake into the ground to mark a “point of beginning” for the 1785 establishment of Seven Ranges of townships on the west bank of the Ohio River, he had to have sensed that he was initiating something larger than a survey. After all, he was working for the newly formed United States, and the purpose of his work was to impose a grid of ideal squares on hill country to make it ready for sale—something that had never been done before. But Hutchins couldn’t by any stretch of the imagination have known that the public survey system he was testing would soon extend all the way to the Pacific or that the land on which he worked would soon become the staging ground for other, similarly revolutionary innovations like strip mining, Pentecostalism, the gaming industry, and tools for emancipating multi-national corporations. In this book, Will Hoyt details the arrival and eventual impact of these eastern Ohio products, and by framing the story of their development within the story of his own decision to move from California to eastern Ohio, he secures a glimpse of our country’s DNA. Readers will close this book with a firm grasp of three things: the grandeur of the American project, the extent to which that project is now at risk, and what we all must do to ensure its survival.
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