The ideal companion to shed light on Lady DayOne of the most troubling, and troubled, artists in the history of jazz, Billie Holiday remains an enigma despite numerous attempts to eulogize, analyze, and criticize her life and career. This fifth entry in the Schirmer Books Companion Series draws on 26 diverse writers, and on Holidays own interviews and recordings, to provide an objective assessment of Lady Days life, her talent, and of her place among the legends of jazz.

Billie Holiday Companion: Seven Decades of Commentary

Biographies & Memoirs

Gourse, Leslie

Arts & Literature

Schirmer Trade Books

During a career spanning over 50 years, jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald won 13 Grammy Awards. This volume collects together interviews, articles and reviews, telling the story of Ella's orphan childhood, how she was discovered in Harlem, and her rise to the highest-paid jazz singer in the world.

The Ella Fitzgerald Companion: Six Decades of Commentary

Schirmer Books

Straight, No Chaser: The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk

Music/Jazz BiographyFirst English-language biography of a legendary and compelling jazz artist.Thelonious Monk was one of jazz's legendary figures, whose life story has yet to be told. Pianist and bandleader, he led the legendary jam sessions at Harlem's Minton's Playhouse where, along with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, he helped mold the nascent style of bebop. Monk's composition 'Round Midnight; Straight, No Chaser; Blue Monk; Misterioso; Rhythm-a-ning; and countless others have become classics in the jazz repertoire. Monk's piano playing was so unique that it has been widely emulated and praised, but never equaled. His personal life was also unique, including a long battle with depression and mental illness that finally led to his total withdrawal from recording and music making years before his tragic death. This book tells Monk's story based on first-hand interviews with the musicians who worked with him, along with the participation of his son, T.S., and other family members. It discusses both his musical and personal lives in frank detail, and illuminates one of the most important jazz player's of our time. Leslie Gourse is a well-known authority and writer on jazz. Her books have been widely praised, including Sassy: The Biography of Sarah Vaughan; Unforgettable: The Life and Mystique of Nat King Cole; and Madame Jazz. She has been awarded an ASCAP award for her journalism. Additionally, she writes regularly on jazz for both specialty journals and popular newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Village Voice, Boston Globe, Jazz Times, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, New York, Cosmopolitan, and many others. She has written liner notes for many jazz labels.

Schirmer Reference

Wynton Marsalis: Skain's Domain: A Biography

In the first full-length biography of this masterful trumpeter, composer, and co-founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center, author Leslie Gourse reveals the private side of one of the most talented and controversial figures in music today. Written with the full participation of Wynton Marsalis and based on hours of interviews with the artist, his family, friends, and musical associates.

Music Sales+ Corporation

Madame Jazz: Contemporary Women Instrumentalists

Nadine Jansen, a flugelhornist and pianist, remembers a night in the 1940s when a man came out of the audience as she was playing both instruments. "I hate to see a woman do that," he explained as he hit the end of her horn, nearly chipping her tooth. Half a century later, a big band named Diva made its debut in New York on March 30, 1993, with Melissa Slocum on bass, Sue Terry on alto sax, Lolly Bienenfeld on trombone, Sherrie Maricle on drums, and a host of other first rate instrumentalists. The band made such a good impression that it was immediately booked to play at Carnegie Hall the following year. For those who had yet to notice, Diva signaled the emergence of women musicians as a significant force in jazz. Madame Jazz is a fascinating invitation to the inside world of women in jazz. Ranging primarily from the late 1970s to today's vanguard of performance jazz in New York City and on the West Coast, it chronicles a crucial time of transition as women make the leap from novelty acts regarded as second class citizens to sought-out professionals admired and hired for their consummate musicianship. Author Leslie Gourse surveys the scene in the jazz clubs, the concert halls, the festivals, and the recording studios from the musicians' point of view. She finds exciting progress on all fronts, but also lingering discrimination. The growing success of women instrumentalists has been a long time in coming, she writes. Long after women became accepted as writers and, to a lesser extent, as visual artists, women in music--classical, pop, or jazz--faced the nearly insuperable barrier of chauvinism and the still insidious force of tradition and habit that keeps most men performing with the musicians they have always worked with, other men. Gourse provides dozens of captivating no-holds-barred interviews with both rising stars and seasoned veterans. Here are up-and-coming pianists Renee Rosnes and Rachel Z., trumpeter Rebecca Coupe Frank, saxophonist Virginia Mayhew, bassist Tracy Wormworth, and drummer Terri Lynne Carrington, and enduring legends Dorothy Donegan, Marian McParland and Shirley Horne. Here, as well, are conversations with three pioneering business women: agent and producer Helen Keane, manager Linda Goldstein, and festival and concert producer Cobi Narita. All of the women speak insightfully about their inspiration and their commitment to pursuing the music they love. They are also frank about the realities of life on the road, and the extra dues women musicians pay in a tough and competitive field where everybody pays dues. A separate chapter offers a closer look at women musicians and the continual stress confronting those who would combine love, marriage, and/or motherhood with a life in music. Madame Jazz is about the history that women jazz instrumentalists are making now, as well as an inspiring preview of the even brighter days ahead. It concludes with Frankie Nemko's lively evaluation of the West Coast jazz scene, and appends the most comprehensive list ever assembled of women currently playing instruments professionally.

Arts & Photography

Music

Oxford University Press

Nadine Jansen, a flugelhornist and pianist, remembers a night in the 1940s when a man came out of the audience as she was playing both instruments. "I hate to see a woman do that," he explained as he hit the end of her horn, nearly chipping her tooth. Half a century later, a big band named Diva made its debut in New York on March 30, 1993, with Melissa Slocum on bass, Sue Terry on alto sax, Lolly Bienenfeld on trombone, Sherrie Maricle on drums, and a host of other first rate instrumentalists. The band made such a good impression that it was immediately booked to play at Carnegie Hall the following year. For those who had yet to notice, Diva signaled the emergence of women musicians as a significant force in jazz. Madame Jazz is a fascinating invitation to the inside world of women in jazz. Ranging primarily from the late 1970s to today's vanguard of performance jazz in New York City and on the West Coast, it chronicles a crucial time of transition as women make the leap from novelty acts regarded as second class citizens to sought-out professionals admired and hired for their consummate musicianship. Author Leslie Gourse surveys the scene in the jazz clubs, the concert halls, the festivals, and the recording studios from the musicians' point of view. She finds exciting progress on all fronts, but also lingering discrimination. The growing success of women instrumentalists has been a long time in coming, she writes. Long after women became accepted as writers and, to a lesser extent, as visual artists, women in music--classical, pop, or jazz--faced the nearly insuperable barrier of chauvinism and the still insidious force of tradition and habit that keeps most men performing with the musicians they have always worked with, other men. Gourse provides dozens of captivating no-holds-barred interviews with both rising stars and seasoned veterans. Here are up-and-coming pianists Renee Rosnes and Rachel Z., trumpeter Rebecca Coupe Frank, saxophonist Virginia Mayhew, bassist Tracy Wormworth, and drummer Terri Lynne Carrington, and enduring legends Dorothy Donegan, Marian McParland and Shirley Horne. Here, as well, are conversations with three pioneering business women: agent and producer Helen Keane, manager Linda Goldstein, and festival and concert producer Cobi Narita. All of the women speak insightfully about their inspiration and their commitment to pursuing the music they love. They are also frank about the realities of life on the road, and the extra dues women musicians pay in a tough and competitive field where everybody pays dues. A separate chapter offers a closer look at women musicians and the continual stress confronting those who would combine love, marriage, and/or motherhood with a life in music. Madame Jazz is about the history that women jazz instrumentalists are making now, as well as an inspiring preview of the even brighter days ahead. It concludes with Frankie Nemko's lively evaluation of the West Coast jazz scene, and appends the most comprehensive list ever assembled of women currently playing instruments professionally.

Traces the life of the jazz and blues singer, examines the development of his vocal style, and discusses his career with the Count Basie Orchestra

Every Day: The Story Of Joe Williams

Da Capo Press

"A deeply felt portrait of an artist whose influence on a generation of vocalists was profound."--New York Times Book Review Sarah Vaughan possessed the most spectacular voice in jazz history. In Sassy, Leslie Gourse, the acclaimed biographer of Nat King Cole and Joe Williams, defines and celebrates Vaughan's vital musical legacy and offers a detailed portrait of the woman as well as the singer. Revealed here is "The Divine One" as only her closest friends and musical associates knew her. By her early twenties Sarah Vaughan was singining with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Billy Eckstine, helping them invent bebop. For forty-five years thereafter, she reigned supreme in both pop and jazz, with several million-selling hits (among them "Broken Hearted Melody," "Make Yourself Comfortable," and "Misty"). But life offstage was never smooth for Sarah Vaughan. Her voluptuous voice was matched by her exuberant appetite for excess: three failed marriages, financial difficulties through many changes in management, late-night jam sessions, liquor, and cocaine. In Sassy, though, we also see the feisty and unpretentious woman who worked hard all her life to support her parents and adopted daughter, and who came to savor the hard-won independence and worldwide acclaim she achieved as the greatest jazz singer of her generation.

Sassy: The Life Of Sarah Vaughan

Da Capo

Discusses Nat King Cole, whose satin voice belied his rough life, detailing his Alabama boyhood, his marriages, his revolutionary jazz piano style, and his struggles with prejudice and hatred

Unforgettable: The Life and Mystique of Nat King Cole

St Martins Pr

The satiny smooth voice of Nat King Cole is instantly recognizable on dozens of his signature songs--"Mona Lisa," "Nature Boy," "Route 66," and "Unforgettable." This riveting story tells of Cole's songs, times, triumphs, and tragedies. "A biography of the first order."--Down Beat. Photographs.

Humor & Entertainment

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gourse, Leslie. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gourse, Leslie

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gourse, Leslie. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Billie Holiday Companion: Seven Decades of Commentary

The Ella Fitzgerald Companion: Six Decades of Commentary

Straight, No Chaser: The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk

Wynton Marsalis: Skain's Domain: A Biography

Madame Jazz: Contemporary Women Instrumentalists

Madame Jazz: Contemporary Women Instrumentalists

Every Day: The Story Of Joe Williams

Sassy: The Life Of Sarah Vaughan

Unforgettable: The Life and Mystique of Nat King Cole

Unforgettable: The Life and Mystique of Nat King Cole