Найти книгу: "Why Jazz Happened"

Why Jazz Happened is the first comprehensive social history of jazz. It provides an intimate and compelling look at the many forces that shaped this most American of art forms and the many influences that gave rise to jazz’s post-war styles. Rich with the voices of musicians, producers, promoters, and others on the scene during the decades following World War II, this book views jazz’s evolution through the prism of technological advances, social transformations, changes in the law, economic trends, and much more. In an absorbing narrative enlivened by the commentary of key personalities, Marc Myers describes the myriad of events and trends that affected the music's evolution, among them, the American Federation of Musicians strike in the early 1940s, changes in radio and concert-promotion, the introduction of the long-playing record, the suburbanization of Los Angeles, the Civil Rights movement, the «British invasion» and the rise of electronic instruments. This groundbreaking book deepens our appreciation of this music by identifying many of the developments outside of jazz itself that contributed most to its texture, complexity, and growth.

This is the story of a man looking for his way. New York did not satisfy his soul, so he moved to Estonia, with his crazy wife, a kid, and six suitcases. Within 24 hours he found a home and had to learn how to make a fire. It did not satisfy his soul for long. Soon he had a house with four furnaces, and was making fires around the clock.His crazy Estonian wife started a publishing house that turned out well. Too well. He decided to become an academic. It did not satisfy him for long, but at least he met a real elf who inspired him. Then he decided to dabble in diplomacy. It did not feel right either.And he got depressed. There were too many drunks and neo-Nazis in this country, not to mention all the mice, lice, and ice. Writing books – bestsellers! – about those problems seemed to satisfy his soul. He thought he had found his niche, as a writer in a small town teeming with cafes and characters.Then, overnight, it all collapsed.The action in Justin Petrone ?s new book takes place mostly in two Estonian towns, folksy Viljandi and teacherly Tartu. It takes place from the year 2007 (the Bronze Soldier riots) until 2013 (when Petrone left Estonia amid a national scandal).

A story about some curious coincidences in a modern woman’s life, her personal thoughts about that and unexpected way out. The author has used a fragment of his own picture in the book cover.

Updated for Christmas 2013!James King is tired of ‘Step Into Christmas’. He’s tired of ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’. He’s tired – if it’s possible – of ‘Fairytale of New York’. It’s time for a new Christmas Classic.‘It’s Chriiiistmaaaas’ is a festive journey through the decades via the most cherished seasonal songs of the last century – from ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ to ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas?’. But beneath the nostalgia, are serious questions: is it always ‘Last Christmas’ for the December charts? Has the music buying public become like Noddy Holder’s Gran, telling everyone the ‘old songs are the best’? In this, his manifesto, James King takes us through the grand history of the Christmas number one, proving, once and for all, that the charts are ready for a new Christmas hit.

2014 JERWOOD FICTION UNCOVERED PRIZE WINNERLONGLISTED FOR THE 2014 GORDON BURN PRIZEOctober 17th 1973: the greatest disaster in the history of English football.All England had to do was beat Poland to qualify for the World Cup.They didn’t.They could only draw.Left on the bench that night was a now forgotten genius, West Ham’s Billy Parks: beautiful, gifted and totally flawed.Fast-forward forty years, Billy’s life is a testament to wasted talent. His liver is failing and he earns his money selling football memories on the after-dinner circuit to anyone who’ll listen and buy him a drink. His family has deserted him and his friends are tired of his lies and excuses.But what if he could be given a second chance? What if he could go back in time and win the game for England? What if he was able to undo the pain he’d caused his loved ones?The Council of Football Immortals can give him that chance, just as long as he can justify himself, and his life, to them.This is the story of Billy Parks: a man who bore his genius like a dead weight and who now craves that most precious of things – the chance to put things right.