If your mother rocks like a … well, mother, maybe she would appreciate a Mother’s Day present highlighted by a book about Mama Cass, classic jazz icons, Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Denver, Taylor Swift or some of the other topics on next week’s reading list. Hey, anything’s gotta be better than standing in line for brunch:
My Mama, Cass: A Memoir
By Owen Elliot-Kugell
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “To the rest of the world, Cass Elliot was a rock star; a charismatic, wisecracking singer from the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame-inducted band, The Mamas & The Papas; A legend of Laurel Canyon, decked out in her custom-made muumuus, glittering designer jewelry, blessed with a powerful, instantly identifiable singing voice which helped define the sound of the 1960s counterculture movement. But to Owen Elliot-Kugell, she was just Mom. In the nearly 50 years since her untimely death at the age of 32, rumors and myths have swirled about, shading nearly every aspect of her life. In her long-awaited memoir, Elliot-Kugell shares the groundbreaking story of her mom as only a daughter can tell it.”
The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong & Count Basie Transformed America
By Larry Tye
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “From the New York Times bestselling author, a sweeping and spellbinding portrait of the longtime kings of jazz — Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie — who, born within a few years of one another, overcame racist exclusion and violence to become the most popular entertainers on the planet. This is the story of three revolutionary American musicians, the maestro jazzmen who orchestrated the chords that throb at the soul of 20th-century America. Ellington, the grandson of slaves who was christened Edward Kennedy Ellington, was a man whose story is as layered and nuanced as his name suggests and whose music transcended category. Armstrong was born in a New Orleans slum so tough it was called The Battlefield and, at age seven, got his first musical instrument, a 10-cent tin horn that drew buyers to his rag-peddling wagon and set him on the road to elevating jazz into a pulsating force for spontaneity and freedom. Basie, too, grew up in a world unfamiliar to white fans — the son of a coachman and laundress who dreamed of escaping every time the traveling carnival swept into town, and who finally engineered his getaway with help from Fats Waller. What is far less known about these groundbreakers is that they were bound not just by their music or even the discrimination that they, like nearly all Black performers of their day, routinely encountered. Each defied and ultimately overcame racial boundaries by opening America’s eyes and souls to the magnificence of their music. In the process they wrote the soundtrack for the civil rights movement. Based on more than 250 interviews, this exhaustively researched book brings alive the history of Black America in the early-to-mid 1900s through the singular lens of the country’s most gifted, engaging, and enduring African-American musicians.”
Red Hot Chili Peppers: The Biography
By United Library
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This biography of Red Hot Chili Peppers invites readers into the vibrant and enduring world of the iconic American rock band. Formed in Los Angeles in 1982, the quartet of Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith and John Frusciante has left an indelible mark on the music landscape. With a musical palette that blends alternative rock, funk, punk, hard rock, hip hop, and psychedelic influences, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have defined genres such as funk metal, rap metal, rap rock, and nu metal. Boasting over 120 million records sold worldwide, they stand as one of the top-selling bands of all time. Their numerous achievements include holding records for the most number-one singles, cumulative weeks at No. 1, and top-10 songs on the Billboard chart. This comprehensive biography traces the band’s evolution from their early days with Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons to their major breakthrough with albums like Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Californication. The narrative explores the highs and lows, Grammy wins, Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction, and the personal struggles with drug addiction that marked their journey. From the pinnacle of success to lineup changes and solo pursuits, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ story is a testament to their resilience, musical innovation, and enduring impact.”
Snapshots of Forgotten Adventures: Rediscovering the Piano Music of Philippa Schuyler
By Sarah Masterson
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “She performed her compositions for royalty and mingled with dignitaries and revolutionaries across Africa… yet today’s audiences have rarely even heard her name. Famous from a young age, Harlem’s Philippa Schuyler (1931-1967) fearlessly traveled the globe, performing in nearly eighty countries and developing a second career in freelance journalism before her tragic early death in the Vietnam War. The biracial child prodigy, concert pianist, composer, war correspondent, and humanitarian documented her unique life through her musical compositions, which fell into obscurity after her untimely passing in 1967. Throughout her unconventional childhood, failed romances, and personal struggles, Schuyler searched for identity and belonging through her music, continuing to write pieces in the midst of world tours and war zones. Schuyler’s diverse musical inspirations included Haitian Vodou melodies, medieval French folk tunes, Ugandan hunting songs, and even an oratorio about Catholic martyrs in Africa. Combining these varied materials with tales from local history and her own systems of encryption, Schuyler created complex musical mosaics and miniatures — snapshots depicting a forgotten life of adventure. Based on years of research into Schuyler’s unpublished manuscripts, sketches, letters, personal audio recordings, and other documents, Snapshots of Forgotten Adventures: Rediscovering the Piano Music of Philippa Schuyler introduces audiences to the music of this fascinating yet overlooked composer.”
Taylor Swift: Superstar – The Illustrated Biography Album by Album
By Carolyn McHugh
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Her record sales top 200 million worldwide and she is the most streamed female artist on Spotify. Her 2022 album Midnights added to her many billions of streams by amassing a record 184.69 million streams in its first 24 hours. Along the way, every one of her 10 studio albums has topped the charts. Her latest worldwide tour, the Eras Tour, is her most ambitious yet — a three-hour, 44-song set split into 10 acts, each celebrating one of her albums. Universally acclaimed, critics and audiences alike marveled at Taylor’s vocals and musicianship as she headed up the strenuous and inventive all-stadium shows which sold out in seconds. As testament to her talents, she has won 11 Grammys, including three for Album Of The Year, and is the most awarded artist in the history of the American Music Awards with an unprecedented 40 trophies. Among many other accolades and prizes she was named Woman of the 2010s by Billboard and Artist of the 2010s by the AMA. So what better way to tell her incredible story than through the musical development shown in her albums?”
Rocky Mountain Highway: Stories and Photos of My 25 Years Traveling with John Denver
By Lowell Norman
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The award-winning country star John Denver was once described as a complicated man who wrote simple songs. In Rocky Mountain Highway, close friend and videographer Lowell Norman reveals rare stories and never-before-seen photos of a Denver that are at turns familiar and shockingly unexpected. He recounts the emotional live performances and the challenges of shooting such a big star. He describes in harrowing detail the frightening experience of being harassed by gun wielding soldiers with Denver on his tours of Africa for The Hunger Project. He tells the riveting story of dangling from a helicopter with a video camera while the intrepid singer tried to swim with humpback whales in the Pacific Ocean. Rocky Mountain Highway is a celebration of a young man following the dreams of a talented artist who was misunderstood by many and gone before his time.”
A Light In The Darkness: The Music And Life Of Joaquín Rodrigo
By Javier Suárez-Pajares
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Joaquín Rodrigo (1901–1999) is best known as the composer of one of the most popular works of music in the 20th century — the Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra. It’s been featured in movies and television commercials and remains a staple of concert programs for orchestras around the world. Miles Davis said, “After listening to it for a couple of weeks… I couldn’t get it out of my mind,” and he used it as inspiration for his album Sketches of Spain. But as Javier Suárez-Pajares and Walter Aaron Clark reveal in this musical biography — the first complete study in English — Rodrigo’s work and influence extend far beyond that singular composition. Rodrigo’s life and career spanned a period of great tumult in Spain, and he had to navigate strong, shifting political and cultural currents — before, during, and after Franco. An authoritative life of one of the 20th century’s great musical geniuses, A Light in the Darkness becomes a stunning tale of how art gets made under even the most challenging circumstances.”
Futuromania: Electronic Dreams, Desiring Machines, and Tomorrow’s Music Today
By Simon Reynolds
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Simon Reynolds’ first book in eight years is a celebration of music that feels like a taste of tomorrow. Sounds that prefigure pop music’s future — the vanguard genres and heroic innovators whose discoveries eventually get accepted by the wider mass audience. But it’s also about the way music can stir anticipation for a thrillingly transformed world just around the corner: a future that might be utopian or dystopian, but at least will be radically changed and exhilaratingly other. Starting with an extraordinary chapter on Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer, taking in illuminating profiles of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Boards of Canada, Burial and Daft Punk, and arguing for Auto-Tune as the defining sound of 21st century pop, Futuromania shapes over two dozen essays and interviews into a chronological narrative of machine-music from the 1970s to now. Reynolds explores the interface between pop music and science fiction’s utopian dreams and nightmare visions, always emphasizing the quirky human individuals abusing the technology as much as the era-defining advances in electronic hardware and digital software. A tapestry of the scenes and subcultures that have proliferated in that febrile, sexy, and contested space where man meets machine, Futuromania is an enthused listening guide that will propel readers towards adventures in sound. There is a lifetime of electronic listening here.”
Shake It Up, Baby!: The Rise of Beatlemania and the Mayhem of 1963
By Ken McNab
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Beatles broke up more than half a century ago, yet millions around the globe are still drawn to the legacy of four lads from Liverpool. From the carefree innocence of A Hard Day’s Night to the experimental psychedelia of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, their message of love, peace, and hope still resonates. In Shake It Up, Baby! we go back to the start — to 1963, when they went from playing in small clubs in the remote Scottish Highlands to four number one singles, two number one albums, three national tours, and being besieged by thousands of fans at gigs all over Britain.”
