This indispensable book brings us face to face with some of the most memorable figures in jazz history and charts the rise and development of bop in the late 1930s and '40s. Ira Gitler interviewed more than 50 leading jazz figures, over a 10-year period, to preserve for posterity their recollections of the transition in jazz from the big band era to the modern jazz period. The musicians interviewed, including both the acclaimed and the unrecorded, tell in their own words how this renegade music emerged, why it was a turning point in American jazz, and how it influenced their own lives and work. Placing jazz in historical context, Gitler demonstrates how the mood of the nation in its post-Depression years, racial attitudes of the time, and World War II combined to shape the jazz of today.

Presents the essential elements of bop drumming demonstrated through concise exercises and containing ideas to help understand what to play and how to play it and why, as well as an explanation of how the drummer functions in a group.

Countless musicians have been inspired upon hearing Charlie Christian for the first time. In this exciting book, the author has compiled 39 precise solo transcriptions (in notation only), as well as a thorough analysis of each. There is also a complete "how to" section that is a book in itself. The author has recorded each transcription in slow and fast versions. The book contains some of Charlie's best work including the Jam Sessions at Minton's, John Hammond's Spirituals to Swing concert and the Celestial Express Blue Note Recordings. Charlie Christian was the first to popularize the use of the electric guitar in jazz. He was the pioneer who led the way. Includes access to online audio.

AN INTERACTIVE, SWING-ALONG PICTURE BOOK—WITH 12 SOUND CHIPS! Are you ready to swing? Discover the wonders of jazz: How to get in the groove, what it means to play a solo, and the joy of singing along in a call-and-response. In this interactive swing-along picture book with 12 sound chips, you’ll hear the instruments of jazz—the rhythm section with its banjo, drums, and tuba, and the leads, like the clarinet, trumpet, and trombone. And you’ll hear singers scat, improvising melodies with nonsense syllables like be-bop and doo-we-ah! Along the way, you’ll learn how this unique African American art form started in New Orleans, and how jazz changed over time as innovative musicians like King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday added their own ideas to it. Press the buttons to hear the band, the rhythms, and the singer calling out: “OH WHEN THE SAINTS—oh when the saints…”

(Signature Licks Guitar). Explore the riffs, solos and sounds of the original electric jazz guitar virtuoso with this comprehensive book/CD pack! Wolf Marshall uses excerpts from 15 of Christian's classics to demonstrate his groundbreaking techniques, including: Air Mail Special * Benny's Bugle * Good Enough to Keep (Air Mail Special) * Grand Slam * Honeysuckle Rose * I've Found a New Baby (I Found a New Baby) * Seven Come Eleven * Shivers * Solo Flight * Stardust * Wholly Cats * and more. Includes an introduction and foreword, and a Charlie Christian biography and axology.

(Berklee Guide). Master the rich and varied world of mainstream jazz guitar. These 47 lessons and etudes present a comprehensive course of study to facilitate rapid progress with harmonic sensibility, fingerboard scholarship, essential repertoire, and stylistic nuance. These gorgeous, performance-quality etudes are rooted in the timeless jazz swing tradition, for solo, duet, and soloing over ensemble. The accompanying recording demonstrates performances of the etudes. Traditional notation and tablature are included.

The richest place in America's musical landscape is that fertile ground occupied by jazz. Scott DeVeaux takes a central chapter in the history of jazz—the birth of bebop—and shows how our contemporary ideas of this uniquely American art form flow from that pivotal moment. At the same time, he provides an extraordinary view of the United States in the decades just prior to the civil rights movement. DeVeaux begins with an examination of the Swing Era, focusing particularly on the position of African American musicians. He highlights the role played by tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, a "progressive" committed to a vision in which black jazz musicians would find a place in the world commensurate with their skills. He then looks at the young musicians of the early 1940s, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk, and links issues within the jazz world to other developments on the American scene, including the turmoil during World War II and the pervasive racism of the period. Throughout, DeVeaux places musicians within the context of their professional world, paying close attention to the challenges of making a living as well as of making good music. He shows that bebop was simultaneously an artistic movement, an ideological statement, and a commercial phenomenon. In drawing from the rich oral histories that a living tradition provides, DeVeaux's book resonates with the narratives of individual lives. While The Birth of Bebop is a study in American cultural history and a critical musical inquiry, it is also a fitting homage to bebop and to those who made it possible.