If you’re looking at the list of new music books due this week and asking yourself, “Is that all there is?” — well, you’re probably somebody who can appreciate that new Peggy Lee biography. Now, let’s face the music and read:
Peggy Lee: A Century of Song
By Tish Oney
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Lee stood out among her peers as an exquisite singer possessing a cool vocal style, a songwriter frequently collaborating with leading composers of American jazz and film music, and a globally-loved entertainer with star quality. Tish Oney sheds new light upon this Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner’s impressive musical talents while guiding the reader through the best of Lee’s 50-plus albums, radio and TV performances, creative contributions to the film industry, and over half a century of finely-polished live performances. Oney focuses on the evolution of Lee’s recorded music, vocal development, artistic achievements, and contributions to American music while interviews with Lee’s family, friends, and music colleagues reveal new insights and memories of this musical icon. Peggy Lee: A Century of Song enables readers to discover a brilliant artist’s inimitable legacy in the history of American popular music.”
Pink Floyd: Scandinavia 1967-1972
By Søren Vangsgaard
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Right after Pink Floyd’s smashing debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (August 1967) the band was sent to Aarhus, Stockholm and Copenhagen on their first tour outside Britain. With their cutting-edge psychedelic music and shows they created something completely new and exciting wherever they went. This book follows them on their early tours at humble venues to their return in the following years as one of the biggest rock acts in the world. The Unseen Nordic Archives series has put together an extraordinary collection of unknown and rarely seen photos from these tours, added with new interviews from many of the key people involved and newspaper articles from local Danish and Swedish papers at the time. A must for Floyd fans!”
View from the Bottom: 50 Years of Bass Playing with Bob Dylan, The Doors, Miles Davis and Everybody Else
By Harvey Brooks
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Harvey Brooks first came to the public’s attention when he played on the classic Bob Dylan album Highway 61 Revisited, released in 1965 to great acclaim. Since then he has played with everyone from Miles Davis to Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Electric Flag, Al Kooper, John Cale and many others. This is his story, told from his own perspective, which includes first-hand accounts of such historical events as the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, as well as his esteemed career as a sought-after studio musician and staff producer for Columbia Records.”
