The Oxford Companion to Popular Music (Oxford Quick Reference)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.52 (625 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0192800043 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 752 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-02-09 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
But this wrist-wrenching book covers the other bases, too, with copious material on jazz, blues, reggae, country, folk, and even light opera. (Complaint: Leith Stevens and Shakin' Stevens made the cut, but somehow Cat has been omitted.) . Okay, it's the Oxford Companion, which explains why so much space is devoted to English music-hall perennials such as Al Bowlly or Ray Noble. A superb reference, a browser's delight, and one of the very few places you can read about Grand Funk Railroad, Stephane Grappelli, and the Grand Ole Opry on a single page
This authoritative and comprehensive volume offers a matchless tour of the popular music world, providing a balance between substantial information and a concise assessment of the subject.. And throughout, Gammond includes generous cross-referencing as well as helpful bibliographies for the larger entries. There are hundreds of biographical entries on such diverse figures as John Philip Sousa and Ma Rainey, Fred Astaire and Joan Baez, Josef Lanner (the Father of the Viennese Waltz) and Mistinguett, Otis Redding and Prince. It covers rock groups from The Beatles, to Led Zeppelin, to Talking Heads; jazz figures such as Fats Waller, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Bix Beiderbecke, and Louis Armstrong; folk singers such as Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, and Arlo Guthrie; and country western figures such as Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Merle Haggard, and Johnny Cash. The great Broadway writers, performers, and musicals (including plot outlines) are all here: Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern; "South Pacific," "West Side Story," "Show Boat," "Porgy and Bess"; Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Fanny Brice, Robert Preston. Not the least important feature is the many informative essays on particular genres of popular music, from operetta and waltz, to vaudeville and blues, to brass band and gospel. The Oxford Companion to Popular Music encompasses in one alphabetic sequence all that is notable within th
"Allright for its time, but?" according to John P. Shea. The Oxford Companion to Popular Music: great as far as it goes, but so many, many omissions ---of musicians active in the sixties and seventies. Where is the Sir Douglas Quintet (or Doug Sahm, at least)? Where is the inestimable Dr. John? Or Cat Stevens (a/k/a Yusuf Islam)? Boz Scaggs is also missin. "A BOOK YOU CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT" according to ALAIN ROBERT. When i first bought this book ten years ago, i was already an old rock fan but i didn't know much about JEROME KERN and IRVING BERLIN even if their names were familiar;this book made me aware of them.Plots,songs and original cast of all the classic musicals from SHOWBOAT to the present time are incl