Music Related Books

poppachubby

Boo Yaka! Boo Yaka!
Welcome to the AK Music Book thread. This first post will serve as a table of contents (sort of), with links to navigate the thread more easily. I will be tabulating the suggestions as they come in, and when there's a few pages worth - I will summarize them into one post, and link it from here.

By all means, please share anything that you think is relevant... enjoy!!!

Members with 15 or more suggestions will be considered bookish enough to have their own link. I will of course keep their tallies updated as well...

AK Member Suggestions - The "Gen Pop" List

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

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The V.I.P. Member Lists
"So Bookish It Hurts"

The acdalek Book List 1
The acdalek Book List 2

The chicks Book List 1
The chicks Book List 2

The bobsvinyl Book List

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The poppachubby Essential Reading List

If you want to have a clear (or clearer) understanding of how modern music came to be, these books will be for you. With a particular focus on early rock, I will try to share with you the books which paint a full picture. After reading even half just of these, your knowledge of music history will be superior - knowing the key people and places in modern music's development. You'll be the life of any party (not! Besides, how you gonna party having to read all of this??!!?)

Of course, there are plenty of other books on this topic so I encourage you to check em out. Then post your findings here!!

The Landscape: Regions, Labels, Cross Pollenation
Part 1, Part 2
 
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Good idea for a thread. :yes:

I tend to be a global or abstract thinker so I'm currently taking a closer look at the philosophy of music (which falls under the heading of aesthetics in philosophy; the term aesthetics derives from the Greek word aisthanomai, which means, roughly, perception by means of the senses).

To that end I recently purchased "The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Music" (2011, 680 pages) which is, like all the other Routledge Companions I own (along with Cambridge and Oxford companions), so far excellent, serving as both an introduction and comprehensive overview of the subject matter (with plenty of listed sources for reading more in depth).

http://www.amazon.com/Routledge-Companion-Philosophy-Music-Companions/dp/0415486033

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For the curious, an introduction to the philosophy of music can be read online here:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/music/


I'm also reading "Arts & Humanities Through the Eras: Renaissance Europe (1300-1600)" which has a chapter on dance as well as music.

http://www.amazon.com/Arts-Humanities-through-Eras-Renaissance/dp/0787656968

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Finally, I recently picked up "The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to World Music" since I know little about this category of music and have been recently exploring it more.

http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Listeners-Guide-World-Music/dp/0399530320/ref=pd_sim_b_4

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I am a big collector(220 pounds of muscle) I have autobiographys of John Coltrane,Buddy Guy,Townes,Steve Earle,Joni Mitchell ,Ian and Sylvia,Tom waits and Van Morrison just to name a few.
 
Good idea for a thread. :yes:

I tend to be a global or abstract thinker so I'm currently taking a closer look at the philosophy of music (which falls under the heading of aesthetics in philosophy; the term aesthetics derives from the Greek word aisthanomai, which means, roughly, perception by means of the senses).

To that end I recently purchased "The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Music" (2011, 680 pages) which is, like all the other Routledge Companions I own (along with Cambridge and Oxford companions), so far excellent, serving as both an introduction and comprehensive overview of the subject matter (with plenty of listed sources for reading more in depth).

I have these...

Your Playlist Can Change Your Life - Galina Mindlin
The Universal Sense - Seth S. Horowitz
Musicophilia - Oliver Sacks

PLAYLIST_-FINAL_BOOK_COVER_PHOTO_300DPI.jpg
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I'm sure this book has been talked about on AK.
http://daniellevitin.com/publicpage/books/this-is-your-brain-on-music/
I mention this only because it's a lot better than Oliver Sacks's book, which ain't too shabby either.
I also enjoyed the Richard Thompson biography "A Strange Affair" (and used the cover pic as an avatar for a while). It may not be that great of a read unless you're an RT fan. He is not as "forthcoming" as, say, Keef Riffhard.
http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Thompson-Biography-Fairport-Convention/dp/0863699936
 
Ok...

I just finished reading Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music by Ted Gioia in preparation for a trip to Memphis and the Mississippi Delta that my wife and I took a couple of weeks back. Very interesting and highly recommended.

Gioia also wrote a book on the history of jazz. I think it is supposed to be even more definitive than his book on the blues.

... now we're talkin'. Yes Gioia's book on Jazz was definitive. I have read countless books on the dirday Sowf. Most recently...

I'd Rather Be The Devil - Stephen Calt
Feel Like Goin Home - Peter Guralnick
Blues People - Leroi Jones

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Yes, great idea for a thread.

Tighten up! The History of British Reggae (plus fine compilation CD)
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/988688.Tighten_Up_

Thanks. I haven't seen this one but the subject matter is up my alley. earlier this year I read this...

Bass Culture - Lloyd Bradley

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I'm sure this book has been talked about on AK.
http://daniellevitin.com/publicpage/books/this-is-your-brain-on-music/
I mention this only because it's a lot better than Oliver Sacks's book, which ain't too shabby either.
I also enjoyed the Richard Thompson biography "A Strange Affair" (and used the cover pic as an avatar for a while). It may not be that great of a read unless you're an RT fan. He is not as "forthcoming" as, say, Keef Riffhard.
http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Thompson-Biography-Fairport-Convention/dp/0863699936

Y'know I may have one or two other books along these lines, but most were gifts. That said I will keep an eye out for this one. It's not that I don't enjoy the subject matter, but it's not something that I reach for when i am at the shelf.
 
Well, great response!!. I am going to put together my short list for essential music reading. Perhaps I will have it up in the next day or so.
 
I just finished reading Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music by Ted Gioia in preparation for a trip to Memphis and the Mississippi Delta that my wife and I took a couple of weeks back. Very interesting and highly recommended.

Gioia also wrote a book on the history of jazz. I think it is supposed to be even more definitive than his book on the blues.

Was just about to pull the trigger on a used copy of his book on West Coast jazz, but have a pile of music books from the thrifts still half-read.

Scott Yannow's The Jazz Singers - The Ultimate Guide is my goto reference for my favorite genre. Also Will Friewald's Jazz Singing and A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers. Will's writing is always enjoyable, and he never pulls his punches.

The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Popular Standards and William F. Lee's Jazz Singers - A Biographical Dictionary are far less useful to me than those above.

The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter is always fun; there simply was no greater lyricist, nor will there ever be, most likely.

Some more reference books I haven't spent a lot of time perusing include George Simon's The Big Bands, Jazz - The Rough Guide, and Scott Yannow's Swing.

Coffee table books include the big and gorgeous Images of Music by Erich Auerbach and John Fordham's Jazz - history, instruments, musicians, recordings.

Lastly, browsed but still to be read, Tony Bennett's (with Will Friewald) The Good Life and Rosey. Clooney's autobiography, which I can't immediately recall the name of. (Girl Singer?) There's also a bio of John Lennon here somewhere, which I found at a thrift, but have little interest in reading. Impulse buy, I guess.
 
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Not sure if this is the sort of thing you're after.... I suggested this one in another thread:

Life - Keith Richards
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I'm not after anything, post what you like. I just thought it would be cool to have a place with good music books posted. That said I have read that one!
 
For pop music, I listen to it, especially big band music of the 30s and 40s and jazz of the 30s through 50s, but don't have any books to recommend. I'll probably try to track down some of the books listed by chicks.

For biographies, the most enjoyable one that I've read about a musician is "Gustav Mahler" by Bruno Walter.

For the history and substance of "classical" music, my two favorite books are:

(1) "A History of Western Music" by Donald Jay Grout.

(2) "An Introduction to Music" by Martin Bernstein and Martin Picker.

The book by Grout, often referred to simply as "Grout," is the best single volume I know of for any serious student of Western music. It has a good glossary; a detailed bibliography; a chronology that spans (in my 1973 edition) 800 B.C. to 1972 A.D., covering musical events, political events, and representative works; and a good index. It covers the music of Middle Ages and the Renaissance in more detail than the Bernstein & Picker book, which might be good or bad depending on your interests.

Note: many public libraries will have a copy of "Grout."

The second book, by Bernstein and Picker, is more fun and entertaining. It has a good index, and a separate index of musical examples. If you don't care for Renaissance and earlier music, its shorter coverage of music before 1600 is an advantage.

It has good, concise chapters on musical instruments, rhythm and melody, polyphony and harmony, and form. It also has separate chapters on the composers J.S. Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Weber, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms, Debussy, Stravinsky, Bartok, Schoenberg, and (one chapter) Berg and Webern.

Finally, do scores count? My favorites are the Beethoven String Quartets. With only four parts, they're easier to follow than full orchestral scores. :)
 
For biographies, the most enjoyable one that I've read about a musician is "Gustav Mahler" by Bruno Walter.

For the history and substance of "classical" music, my two favorite books are:

(1) "A History of Western Music" by Donald Jay Grout.

(2) "An Introduction to Music" by Martin Bernstein and Martin Picker.

Your input will be much appreciated by me at least. Classical is an area I am very unknowledgable in. However we can trade insight as I am well versed in jazz. You should of course read bios on Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Diz, Bird and Billy Holiday. As for books which paint the landscape, Ted Gioia's is a great one. Gotta run and deal with my kids... I will suggest more for you.
 
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