Dave Liebman is one of the leading forces in contemporary jazz. Prominently known for performing with Miles Davis and Elvin Jones, he has exerted considerable influence as a saxophonist, bandleader, composer, author, and educator. In addition to his recent recognition as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, he has received the Order of Arts and Letters from France and holds an honorary doctorate from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. He has mentored many of today's most notable young jazz musicians worldwide and is a prolific writer on jazz.In What It Is: The Life of a Jazz Artist, friend, pianist, and noted jazz scholar Lewis Porter conducts a series of in-depth interviews with Liebman, who discusses his professional, personal, and musical relationships with Davis and Jones, as well as such notable musicians as Chick Corea, Richie Beirach, Michael and Randy Brecker, and many others. Through the interviews, Liebman discusses such personal matters as contracting polio as a child and the difficulties it caused as an adult during his rise as a jazz musician. He offers insights into the life of jazz performers of his generation, particularly the tumultuous period of the 1960s and 1970s. The book also features rare photos from Liebman's personal collection. A fascinating and witty storyteller, Liebman's stories in What It Is will appeal to jazz fans and scholars by providing a firsthand look into the creative life of one of America's leading jazz musicians.

Product Description: Nat Hentoff, renowned jazz critic, civil liberties activist, and fearless contrarian—“I’m a Jewish atheist civil-libertarian pro-lifer”—has lived through much of jazz’s history and has known many of jazz’s most important figures, often as friend and confidant...read more

Product Description: Praise for Lester Young:". . . a schematic of unparalleled insight and detail."---Down Beat"A monumental work."---Dizzy Gillespie". . . a major contribution to jazz scholarship . . . for its illumination of Lester Young's music and for setting the biographical record straight...read more

Product Description: A major new novel about sex and the citizen by the award-winning author of Being Dead The timid life of actor Felix Dern is uncorrupted by Hollywood, where his success has not yet been shackled with any intrusive fame. But in the theaters and the restaurants of his own city, "Lix" is celebrated and admired for his looks, for his voice, and for his unblemished private life...read more

Product Description: A major new novel about sex and the citizen by the award-winning author of Being Dead The timid life of actor Felix Dern is uncorrupted by Hollywood, where his success has not yet been shackled with any intrusive fame. But in the theaters and the restaurants of his own city, "Lix" is celebrated and admired for his looks, for his voice, and for his unblemished private life...read more

Looks at the life and musical practices of the influential jazz musician, drawing on interviews with Coltrane and his associates, and original documents

Product Description: Through primary documents, jazz historian Lewis Porter introduces the major topics in the history of jazz. Interviews, articles, and other writings explore the key issues in jazz over the past hundred years, including the struggle to define "jazz" and to locate its origins; race politics in the 1950s and 1960s; and the more recent debates over Traditionalism and Revivalism...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: A gold mine of photos, mostly unpublished. Musician, song title, and recording company indexes are included. Produced with the cooperation of the Coltrane family and of recording companies and researchers worldwide, this is the definitive reference on one of the great artists of our century...read more

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