Provides a history of popular music in the United States in the nineteen twenties with special emphasis on jazz and musicals (view table of contents)

Looks at popular music during the time of the Great Depression, covering jazz clubs, the big band boom, and major musical figures, including Burton Lane and Lionel Hampton

F. Scott Fitzgerald named it, Louis Armstrong launched it, Paul Whiteman and Fletcher Henderson orchestrated it, and now Arnold Shaw chronicles this fabulous era in The Jazz Age. Spicing his account with lively anecdotes and inside stories, he describes the astonishing outpouring of significant musical innovations that emerged during the "Roaring Twenties"--including blues, jazz, band music, torch ballads, operettas and musicals--and sets them against the background of the Prohibition world of the Flapper. The jazz age set the sound of popular music into the 1950s. It included the flowering of improvised music by such artists as Armstrong, Bix Benderbecke, and Duke Ellington; the maturation and Americanization of the Broadway musical theatre; the explosion of the arts celebrated in the Harlem Renaissance; the rise of the classical blues singers starting with Mamie Smith and climaxing with Bessie Smith; the evolution of ragtime into stride piano; the spread of "speakeasy" night life and the emergence of the Cabaret singers; the musical creativity of a whole range of composers and songwriters including Kern, Gershwin, Berlin, Youmans, Rodgers and Hart, and Cole Porter, whom Shaw calls Song Laureate of the Roaring 20s. Here is a lively account of all these significant developments and personalities. A bibliography, detailed discography, and two informative lists--songs of the 20s in Variety's Golden 100 and films featuring singers and songwriters of the era--round out the book.

A history of Black music looks at important styles, performers, and songwriters, and assesses its influence on modern popular music

A retrospective, biographical study of Frank Sinatra's long and mixed career and personal life evaluates his artistry and scope as an entertainer and is supplemented by photographs covering more than forty years

Explains terms and slang relating to American popular music, discusses its various musical styles, and surveys the careers of important figures in popular music

Recaptures the nighttime whirl of the clubs, theatres, and restaurants on Fifty-Second Street, recalling the entertainment and talented performers

Traces the development of rock music from its introduction in the mid-1950's to today's electronic forms and considers its social and psychological implications