Novelty Masterpieces of the Gershwin Era

Novelty Masterpieces of the Gershwin Era
Author: Peter Mintun
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2014-11-19
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0486490920

Original collection of piano tunes from the 1920s and '30s features Kitten on the Keys, Dizzy Fingers, Dream of a Doll, Spring Fever, A Stately Mansion, and many other old-time favorites.

Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings

Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings
Author: Steve Sullivan
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 1027
Release: 2013-10-04
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0810882965

From John Philip Sousa to Green Day, from Scott Joplin to Kanye West, from Stephen Foster to Coldplay, The Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volumes 1 and 2 covers the vast scope of its subject with virtually unprecedented breadth and depth. Approximately 1,000 key song recordings from 1889 to the present are explored in full, unveiling the stories behind the songs, the recordings, the performers, and the songwriters. Beginning the journey in the era of Victorian parlor balladry, brass bands, and ragtime with the advent of the record industry, readers witness the birth of the blues and the dawn of jazz in the 1910s and the emergence of country music on record and the shift from acoustic to electrical recording in the 1920s. The odyssey continues through the Swing Era of the 1930s; rhythm & blues, bluegrass, and bebop in the 1940s; the rock & roll revolution of the 1950s; modern soul, the British invasion, and the folk-rock movement of the 1960s; and finally into the modern era through the musical streams of disco, punk, grunge, hip-hop, and contemporary dance-pop. Sullivan, however, also takes critical detours by extending the coverage to genres neglected in pop music histories, from ethnic and world music, the gospel recording of both black and white artists, and lesser-known traditional folk tunes that reach back hundreds of years. This book is ideal for anyone who truly loves popular music in all of its glorious variety, and anyone wishing to learn more about the roots of virtually all the music we hear today. Popular music fans, as well as scholars of recording history and technology and students of the intersections between music and cultural history will all find this book to be informative and interesting.

Sing for Your Supper

Sing for Your Supper
Author: Ethan Mordden
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2015-04-07
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1466893478

In the 1930s, Broadway's lights still burned brightly. Ethan Mordden completes his history of the Broadway musical by taking a look at this forgotten era. Shows like Anything Goes brought the glitter of Cole Porter and Merman's brass to the public. Innovations in dance were pioneered by Balanchine and others. Scenic advancements made Astaire's The Band Wagon move across the stage in novel ways. Gershwin's revolutionary Porgy and Bess entered the canon of American Classics. And The Cradle Will Rock and Johnny Johnson took the American political temperature. With his trademark wit and style, Ethan Mordden shines the spotlight on Broadway's forgotten decade.

Rhapsody in blue

Rhapsody in blue
Author: George Gershwin
Publisher: Donald Hunsberger Wind Library
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1998
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780769269924

The wind accompaniment to George Gershwin's popular piano solo, Rhapsody in Blue, is based upon the 1924 and 1926 Grofe editions for jazz band and theatre orchestra. Donald Hunsberger has scored this edition for 23 players which produces a leaner and more muscular version to serve as a companion to Thomas Verrier's setting for full concert band or wind ensemble. (See Verrier listing above under Grade IV-V.)

Zez Confrey at the Piano

Zez Confrey at the Piano
Author: Richard Dowling
Publisher: Alfred Music
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9780739093375

This collection represents a cross-section of Confrey's works and encompasses the broad range of his styles. Besides his famous 1920s novelty works (including "Kitten on the Keys"), there are many wonderful, lesser-known gems of remarkable quality included here from later in his career. Appearing for the first time in print are transcriptions of one of his disc recordings ("Poor Buttermilk") and two of his player piano roll arrangements ("My Pet" and "Humorestless"). Many of Confrey's later works have long been out of print and are included here for the first time in decades.

World's Greatest Classic Themes

World's Greatest Classic Themes
Author: Allan Small
Publisher: Alfred Music
Total Pages: 148
Release:
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781457407376

A superb collection of 58 popular "light" classics arranged for intermediate piano. Includes Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," Debussy's "Clair de lune," Joplin's "The Entertainer" and many more. Also includes chord symbols and fascinating information on each piece.

Swing to Bop

Swing to Bop
Author: Ira Gitler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 1985-11-07
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0198020708

This indispensable book brings us face to face with some of the most memorable figures in jazz history and charts the rise and development of bop in the late 1930s and '40s. Ira Gitler interviewed more than 50 leading jazz figures, over a 10-year period, to preserve for posterity their recollections of the transition in jazz from the big band era to the modern jazz period. The musicians interviewed, including both the acclaimed and the unrecorded, tell in their own words how this renegade music emerged, why it was a turning point in American jazz, and how it influenced their own lives and work. Placing jazz in historical context, Gitler demonstrates how the mood of the nation in its post-Depression years, racial attitudes of the time, and World War II combined to shape the jazz of today.

A First Book of Bach

A First Book of Bach
Author: David Dutkanicz
Publisher: Courier Corporation
Total Pages: 50
Release: 2013-01-31
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0486171531

Students of all ages will delight in these 26 simple piano arrangements of familiar melodies such as Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring and Wachet Auf, plus other fun-to-play pieces.

George Gershwin

George Gershwin
Author: Howard Pollack
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 938
Release: 2007-01-15
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0520933141

This comprehensive biography of George Gershwin (1898-1937) unravels the myths surrounding one of America's most celebrated composers and establishes the enduring value of his music. Gershwin created some of the most beloved music of the twentieth century and, along with Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter, helped make the golden age of Broadway golden. Howard Pollack draws from a wealth of sketches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, books, articles, recordings, films, and other materials—including a large cache of Gershwin scores discovered in a Warner Brothers warehouse in 1982—to create an expansive chronicle of Gershwin’s meteoric rise to fame. He also traces Gershwin’s powerful presence that, even today, extends from Broadway, jazz clubs, and film scores to symphony halls and opera houses. Pollack’s lively narrative describes Gershwin’s family, childhood, and education; his early career as a pianist; his friendships and romantic life; his relation to various musical trends; his writings on music; his working methods; and his tragic death at the age of 38. Unlike Kern, Berlin, and Porter, who mostly worked within the confines of Broadway and Hollywood, Gershwin actively sought to cross the boundaries between high and low, and wrote works that crossed over into a realm where art music, jazz, and Broadway met and merged. The author surveys Gershwin’s entire oeuvre, from his first surviving compositions to the melodies that his brother and principal collaborator, Ira Gershwin, lyricized after his death. Pollack concludes with an exploration of the performances and critical reception of Gershwin's music over the years, from his time to ours.

The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals

The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals
Author: Dan Dietz
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2014-07-02
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1442235055

The Broadway musical came of age in the 1950s, a period in which some of the greatest productions made their debuts. Shows produced on Broadway during this decade include such classics as Damn Yankees, Fiorello!, Guys and Dolls, The King and I, Kismet, The Most Happy Fella, My Fair Lady, The Pajama Game, Peter Pan, The Sound of Music, and West Side Story. Among the performers who made their marks were Julie Andrews, Bob Fosse, Carol Lawrence, and Gwen Verdon, while other talents who contributed to shows include Leonard Bernstein, Oscar Hammerstein II, Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe, Cole Porter, Jerome Robbins, Richard Rodgers, and Stephen Sondheim. In The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals, Dan Dietz examines in detail every musical and revue which opened on Broadway during the 1950s. In addition to providing details on every hit and flop that debuted during the decade, this book includes revivals, and one-man and one-woman shows. Each entry contains the following information: Opening and closing dates Plot summary Cast members Number of performances Names of all important personnel including writers, composers, directors, choreographers, producers, and musical directors Musical numbers and the names of performers who introduced the songs Production data, including information about tryouts Source material Critical commentary Tony awards and nominations Details about London and other foreign productions Besides separate entries for each production, the book offers numerous appendices, such as a discography, film and television versions, published scripts, Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and lists of productions by the New York City Center Light Opera Company, and the New York City Opera Company. A treasure trove of information, The Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals provides readers with a complete view of each show. This significant resource will be of use to scholars, historians, and casual fans of one of the greatest decades in musical theatre history.