Music Biography/Autobiography

Berry, Chuck. Chuck Berry The Autobiography. Fireside, 1988. First edition thus. ISBN: 9780671671594. Fine. Paperback.straightforward autobiography of the guy that invented rock ‘n’ roll songwriting (#30)    $7.50

Gordy, Berry. To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown An Autobiography. New York: Warner, 1994. First printing. ISBN: 9780446515238. 432pp, B&W photographs. As New in fine dust-jacket. Hardcover.Autobiography of Motown founder Gordy. (#499) $20.00

Sounes, Howard. Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan. Grove , 2001. First printing. small coffee stain on small part of back dj and on bottom of side text block, does not touch text on pages or margin. Very Good in fine dust-jacket. Hardcover.”The full, fascinating story of the life and work of Bob Dylan is revealed as never before,a compelling new book that will surely be seen as the definitive biograph of this American music legend.” (#31) $11.00

Brocken, Michael Bacharach Maestro! the Life of a Pop Genius. Chrome Dreams, 2003. First edition.ISBN: 9781842402191. 320 pp. Fine. Paperback. Bacharach-David wrote stunningly original, musically sophisticated pop masterpieces and most of Dionne Warwick’s hits. English edition (#32)$9.00


Gray, Marcus. An R.E.M. Companion It Crawled from the South. New York: Da Capo, 1993.ISBN: 9780306805004. Very Good. Paperback. All about the pride of Athens, Georgia (#33)  $4.00

Norman, Philip. John Lennon The Life. Ecco Pr, 2008. First printing. ISBN: 9780060754013. 851 pp.Fine in fine dust-jacket. Hardcover.From the man who wrote the definitive biography on the Beatles, “Shout!,” comes a masterly biography of John Lennon that takes a fresh and penetrating look at every aspect of Lennon’s much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into a near-secular saint.  16 pages of photos. 851 pages. Published at $34.95. ISBN 006075401X (#34)  $12.00

Lennon, John. In His Own Write & A Spaniard In The Works. Signet, 1980. Later printing. 175pp, cover has creases, wear on spine, bumped corners but book is tight, clean and unmarked. Good. Paperback. Both books by Lennon in one edition. Classic humor. (#270)  $6.00

Kozinn, Allan. The Beatles. New York: Phaidon, 1995. ISBN: 9780714832036. 240pp, pictorial wraps, black and white photos and drawings. As New. All about the Mop Tops (#271) $10.00

Milkowski, Bill. Jaco : The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius. Miller-Freeman Books, 1995. Third printing. ISBN: 9780879303617. Fine in fine dust-jacket.all about the tragic story of this musical genius, one of the best bass players ever. (#35)         $8.00

Emerson, Ken. Always Magic in the Air The Bomp And Brilliance of the Brill Building Era. Penguin Group USA, 2005. First printing. ISBN: 9780670034567. 334 pp. previous owner’s bookplate. Fine in fine dust-jacket. Hardcover.the songwriters who wrote the hits of the ’50s and ’60s: Leiber and Stoller, Bacharach-David, Sedaka-Greenfield, Mann-Weill, Goffin-King, Barry-Greenwich, Pomus-Shulman (#36) $7.50

Block, Geoffrey Holden. Richard Rodgers. Yale Univ Pr, 2003. First printing. ISBN: 9780300097474. 304 pp. previous owner’s bookplate. Fine in as new dust-jacket. Hardcover.the man they called a Melody Factory…wrote countless standards (#38)             $4.50

Fleetwood, Mick and Davies, Stephen. Fleetwood My Life and Andventures in Fleetwood Mac. William Morrow, 1990. First edition. 286pp. Very Good. Hardcover.no dj (#39) $3.00

Blaine, Hal. Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew. Mix Books, 1989. First printing. ISBN: 0918371010. 142pp, previous owner’s name stamp on inside cover and half-title page, some page wrinkling, slight roughness on bottom of cover. Boldly AUTOGRAPHED BY HAL BLAINE on half-title page in blue marker: “Hi, Keep up the Good Playing!! Hal Blaine.” Very Good. Paperback. The story of the “world’s most recorded musician,” who played drums on thousands of hit songs including hits by Phil Spector, the Beach Boys, Tijuana Brass and more. (#102)   $22.50

Coleman, Rick. Blue Monday Fats Domino And the Lost Dawn of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Perseus Books Group, 2006. First printing. ISBN: 9780306814914. 364 pp. small 1/2″ piece of dj missing at bottom of spine, mylar dj cover. Fine in good dust-jacket. Hardcover.first ever biography of Antoine “Fats: Domino…one of the architects of early rock ‘n’ roll (#40) $12.00

Jones, Liz. Purple Reign The Artist Formerly Known as Prince>. Carol Publishing, 1999. First edition thus. Fine. Paperback. clean tight paperback bio of Prince (#45)            $4.75

Woideck, Carl. Charlie Parker Companion. Simon & Schuster, 1998. ISBN: 9780028647142. 294pp. Near Fine. Paperback. Articles about “Bird” by Gary Giddins, Leonard Feather, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Crouch; thirty more interviews, reviews and articles.previous owner’s bookplate, one or two underlines in text (#46)   $5.75

Nisenson, Eric. The Making of Kind of Blue Miles Davis and His Masterpiece. New York: St Martins Pr, 2000. First printing. ISBN: 9780312266172. 236 pp.blue cloth w/silver lettering, bookplate on ffe, dj has wear on back upper right corner, some pages wrinkled, overall good. Good + in fine dust-jacket. Hardcover. The making of the best-selling jazz record of all time, 1959’s Kind of Blue, ” with Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans. (#144)       $11.00

Gourse, Leslie. Straight, No Chaser : The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk. New York: Schirmer, 1997. First printing. ISBN: 9780028650326. good reading copy, complete, bookplate on inside cover, small remainder mark bottom text block, Good +. Paperback. The “tragic life and creative genius of Thelonious Monk. Based on scores of interview with his family, friends and compatriots, along with voluminous research, gives insights into the elusive and eccentric man who wrote “Round Midnight” and many classic jazz standards.”  (#76)   $12.00

Wald, Elijah. Escaping The Delta Robert Johnson And The Invention Of The Blues. Amistad Press, 2005. First printing. ISBN: 9780060524272. 342 pp.Copy is like new with accompanying CD. Fine+. Paperback.This is a very unbiased book that looks across the color line and pays tribute to a truly unique genre of American music! A good history, relating the Blues to other forms of American Roots. His opinion on Robert Johnson may be sacrilege to blues purists but he backs it up with solid research (#60)   $9.75

Russell, Ross. Bird Lives : High Life and Hard Times of Charlie “Yardbird” Parker. London: Quartet Books Limited, 1976. Later printing. ISBN: 9780704330948. 404pp photo of Bird on cover playing sax. Slight wear to bottom right corner of cover, otherwise a clean, near-new copy. Previous owner inscription on inside of front cover. Fine+. Paperback. This is one of the most interesting and well-written musical biographies of all time. Ross Russell managed and recorded Charlie Parker and owned Dial Records. An amazing story, long out of print and recently reissued. (#69)             $7.00

Davis, Stephen; Helm, Levon. This Wheel’s on Fire Levon Helm and the Story of the Band. New York: Harpercollins, 1993. First printing. ISBN: 9780688109066. “Perhaps the most important band of the 60s, first as Bob Dylans 1965 backup band and then on their own. Follows Helm from his itinerant roadhousebar band years to his appearance with a reformed version of The Band at Bill Clinton’s inaugural…” Dark green cloth spine with gilt lettering, tan speckled boards. 320 indexed pages, 9-1/2×6-3/8″ (24.1×16.2cm) As New in as new dust-jacket. Hardcover.gift-quality condition of this interesting story of a great band by a great singer/drummer. (#88) $22.50

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Classical Biographies

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Ivry, Benjamin. Francis Poulenc. First edition. ISBN: 9780714835037. 240pp, prev.owner’s bookplate on half-title page, clean beautifully illustrated book about the man who composed “Trois Mouvements Perpetuels.” Fine. Paperback. The French composer Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) is often dismissed as the lightweight composer of short, clever pieces, lumped in with the rest of “Les Six.” In this volume–one of Phaidon’s 20th-Century Composers series–author Benjamin Ivry argues for more consideration and respect for the man who wrote Dialogues of the Carmelites. As is the rule with Phaidon’s series, the book is rich in photographs and integrates the composer’s life and work in a relatively brief (240 pages, including index), very accessible form; there are no musical examples, although they might be helpful. Mr. Ivry approaches his task with more humor than some of his colleagues, and he is open throughout about Poulenc’s homosexuality and its effect on the composer’s work and personal life. (#79)                $21.00

Nichols, Roger. The Life of Debussy. Cambridge Univ Pr, 1998. First edition. ISBN: 9780521578875. 184 pp. a few bent page corners and page wrinkling, slight wrinkling on back cover, prev. owners bookplate. Near Fine. Paperback. Great bio on this amazing composer who created “impressionist” music and was a master at orchestration,  a staunch French nationalist and anti-Wagnerite whose harmonic language was fresh and revolutionary. (#80) $14.00

Orenstein, Arbie. Ravel Man and Musician>. New York: Dover Pubns, 1991. Later printing. ISBN: 0486266338. 293pp some shelf wear and a couple wrinkled pages, otherwise fine. Fine. Paperback. Classic study of this great French composer, whose “Bolero” is the most played French classical composition. Covers bio, cultural background, musical aesthetics, Creative process, catalog of works, historical recordings (#81)                $14.00

Goss, Madeleine. Bolero: the Life of Maurice Ravel. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1940. First printing. ISBN: slight. red cloth with gold gilt lettering, no dj, very slight lightened area on spine, otherwise very tight, very clean copy. Very Good. Hardcover. beautiful photos and story of this amazing French composer of “Bolero” and many piano pieces, some of them the hardest in the piano canon. (#85)    $22.00

Nichols, Roger. Debussy Remembered. Faber and Faber, 1992. First edition. ISBN: 0571153586. 256pp. As New. Paperback.An anthology of vivid and revealing memoirs, includes items by a wide range of Debussy’s friends and colleagues, among them Collette, and other famous French artistes. Writer is expert on French composers (#82)    $10.00

Thompson, Oscar. Debussy: Man And Artist. New York: Dover. This was the first American biography of the gret French composer, Claude Debussy (1862 – 1914). Not only does it reveal the background to the composition of such works as Pelleas et Merlisande, La Mer, the Nocturnes, Iberia, and L’Apres-midi d’un faune – all now basic to the world’s concert repertoire – but it also makes vivid, through anecdotes, conversations, newspaper articles and letters, the world in which Debussy lived and the culture with which he became so identified as to be known as Claude de France. Includes an Index. ¶ 393 pages.  Very Good. Paperback. All about Debussy, one of the great French composers (#83) $8.50

Davies, Laurence. The Gallic Muse. London: J.M. Dent and Sons, 1967. First printing. 230pp blue cloth with gold letters, prev.owners bookplate, some corner wrinkles on page, otherwise very good copy. Fine in fine dust-jacket. Hardcover.the development of French music through the study of six composers:Faure, Duparc, Debussy, Satie, Ravel and Poulenc (#84)    $12.00

Corle, Edwin. Stravinsky. New York: Duell, Sloan, & Pierce, 1949. First printing. First Edition A collection of articles on Stravinsky by Jean Cocteau, Aaron Copland, Osbert Sitwell, Erik Satie, Robert Craft, et al. Octavo. 245 pp. Illustrations from the work of Picasso, Klee, Chagall, Edward Weston, et al. Black cloth with front cover and spine stamped in yellow. An as-new copy with complete dj, slight sunning on spine, mylar dj cover. As New in as new dust-jacket. Beautiful copy of this classic book, great graphics (#86) $34.00

Thompson, Oscar. Debussy: Man and Artist. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1937. First printing. 395pp, no dj but extremely clean covers, owners bookplate on inside cover, slight complete tear on edge of pp384-5 from separating pages. Fine. Hardcover.original publication of this bio on Debussy (#87) $9.00

Levas, Santeri. Sibelius: a personal portrait. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1973. First printing. ISBN: 838714110. 165pp, black boards with gilt lettering on spine, price-clipped dj w/photo of Sibelius. Fine in near fine dust-jacket. Hardcover. Rare biography on Sibelius by a close friend (#513) $13.50