Swing Street was the name given to 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan in New York City, where there were more jazz clubs and bars per square block than anywhere else in the world, all showcasing the finest jazz musicians of the era. This illustrated book offers a history of Swing Street and presents the greats who played the clubs there in capsule biographies, vintage photos, and rare memorabilia. On Swing Street you were guaranteed to experience an evening of unforgettable jazz on a nightly basis, seven nights a week, until the wee hours of the morning; stopping into Club Downbeat to catch a set of Billie Holiday, or dropping by the Three Deuces to hear Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie playing bebop. On any given night you could hear other iconic jazz artists such as Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Count Basie, Art Tatum, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and many others.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 128

Dimensions: 203 x 203 mm

Publication Date: 28-06-2020

This beautiful and remarkable behind-the-scenes study of dancers, musicians and onlookers offers a social and narrative dimension to the everyday life at the legendary Bolshoi Ballet. “Gusov’s photographs are lightning fissures, apertures, openings. They are neat as the bullet marks made in the moving target of time by a master of the craft, and the weird and hopeless dawn that streams through these tightly clustered pinholes is the light of future.” —Andrei Navrozov Sasha Gusov specializes in portraiture, classical music, ballet and dance photography. He moved to England in 1989, where he got a job with printer Roy Snell who, when not working, allowed him access to the dark room. In 1993 his self-commissioned photographic project Images of the Bolshoi Ballet, published by the British Journal of Photography, earned him international recognition. Gusov’s work has since been widely published throughout the world. Photographic books include 25 years in Photography, 2014; Belarus: Terra Incognita, 2010; Royal Parks, 2011; Locusts, 2008; Italian Carousel, 2003 and Shooting Images, 2001.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 180

Dimensions: 240 x 320 mm

Publication Date: 20-10-2017

The Who were a mass of contradictions. They brought intellect to rock but were the darlings of punks. They were the quintessential studio act yet were also the greatest live attraction in the world. They perfectly meshed on stage and displayed a complete lack of personal chemistry offstage.Along with great live shows and supreme audio experiences, the Who provided great copy. During the 1960s and '70s, Pete Townshend, messianic about contemporary popular music and its central importance in the lives of young people, gave sprawling interviews in which he alternately celebrated and deplored what he saw in the "scene." Several of these interviews have come to be considered classic documents of the age. Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, and John Entwistle joined in. Even when the Who were non-operational or past their peak, their interviews continued to be compelling: changes in allegiances and social mores left the band members freer to talk about sex, drug-taking, business, and in-fighting.By collecting interviews with Who members from across fi ve decades, conducted by the greatest rock writers of their generation—Barry Miles, Jonathan Cott, Charles Shaar Murray, John Swenson, and Greil Marcus among them—The Who on The Who provides the full, fractious story of a fascinating band.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 416

Dimensions: 153 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 20-09-2017

One of a handful of artists to emerge from Andy Warhol’s celebrity-focused Interview magazine, Matthew Rolston is a well-established icon of Hollywood photography. Alongside such luminaries as Herb Ritts and Greg Gorman, Rolston was a member of an influential group of photographers (among them, Bruce Weber, Annie Leibovitz, and Steven Meisel) who came from the 1980s magazine scene. Rolston helped define the era’s take on celebrity imagemaking, gender bending, and much more. Edited by long-time Los Angeles–based gallerist and curator David Fahey, this book—Rolston’s fourth monograph—presents a stunning array of portraits that beautifully and succinctly capture the decade and its myriad talents. From Michael Jackson and Madonna, to Prince, George Michael, and Cyndi Lauper, the selection of images reflects a seamless blend of style, skill, and scintillation. This volume features over 100 mesmerizing photographs selected from Rolston’s extensive body of work, centering on his unforgettable portraits of the era’s most famous personalities. With essays by authors Pat Hackett, Andy Warhol’s longtime biographer and diarist; Colin Westerbeck, noted photographic curator and expert on American photographer Irving Penn; and Charles Churchward, longtime creative director of Vogue magazine and author of The Golden Hour, a definitive biography of Herb Ritts, Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, paints a fascinating picture of an indelible imagemaker and the movie stars, models, and artists he immortalized during this period. Rolston’s photographs recall the glamour of Old Hollywood with postmodern irony, helping to point the way towards the cult of fame we live with today.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 278

Dimensions: 279 x 380 mm

Publication Date: 01-08-2017

A passionate tribute to vinyl, spotlighting rock’s most influential records — from The Beatles’ 1963 debut Please Please Me, through the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks (1977) — 101 Essential Rock Records celebrates the “Golden Age.” A thoughtful essay on each album accompanies the original vinyl cover artwork, with rare variations from around the world. Also included are provocative interviews with musicians discussing the albums and artists who changed their lives. David Bowie speaks eloquently about the Velvet Underground’s influence, noting his band, Buzz, performed “I’m Waiting For The Man” at their last gig, and that “it was the first time a Velvet song had been covered by anyone, anywhere in the world. Lucky me.” Susanne Vega, Peter Buck (REM), Johnny Marr (The Smiths), Nels Cline (Wilco), Devendra Banhart, Robyn Hitchcock and more contribute original texts. Pictorial explorations of Jimi Hendrix’s personal record collection, and a survey of censored album covers from throughout the rock era are also featured. The sales of vinyl LPs have been growing rapidly while other physical mediums continue to wither, a trend driven in no small part by classic re-issues and the advent of record store day in 2008. 101 Essential is the perfect accompaniment and guide to digging in the bins for that quintessential vinyl experience.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 260

Dimensions: 250 x 300 x 30 mm

Los Angeles in the 1960s gave the world some of the greatest music in rock 'n' roll history: "California Dreamin'" by the Mamas and the Papas, "Mr. Tambourine Man" by the Byrds, and "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys, a song that magnificently summarized the joy and beauty of the era in three and a half minutes.But there was a dark flip side to the fun fun fun of the music, a nexus between naive young musicians and the hangers-on who exploited the decade's peace, love, and flowers ethos, all fueled by sex, drugs, and overnight success. One surf music superstar unwittingly subsidized the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr. The transplanted Texas singer Bobby Fuller might have been murdered by the Mob in what is still an unsolved case. And after hearing Charlie Manson sing, Neil Young recommended him to the president of Warner Bros. Records. Manson's ultimate rejection by the music industry likely led to the infamous murders that shocked a nation.Everybody Had an Ocean chronicles the migration of the rock 'n' roll business to Southern California and how the artists flourished there. The cast of characters is astonishing—Brian and Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, eccentric producer Phil Spector, Cass Elliot, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, and scores of others—and their stories form a modern epic of the battles between innocence and cynicism, joy and terror. You'll never hear that beautiful music in quite the same way.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 432

Dimensions: 153 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 25-04-2017

Few American superstar stories are richer, wilder, or more excessive than Rick James's. He played in a band with Neil Young, spent years in jail, produced his first album (which was then picked up by Motown) with money from shadowy sources, crossed rock and funk to come up with one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s, became one of the biggest pop star of the era, turned a young white woman named Teena Marie into an R&B superstar, displayed an outrageously sex and drug-filled lifestyle, was tried and found guilty of assaulting and imprisoning a young woman, went on to record new music that was compared to the Beatles' White Album, and ended his life as a punch line for Dave Chappelle. And along the way, he scored a large number of major hits, sold tens of millions of albums and became intimate with dozens of big-name celebrities. Rick James attempted to tell his own story—in two different books—but left out many incidents that showed what he was really like. Nobody has written the full truth about his life. Now, based on court records, newspaper archives, and extensive interviews with dozens of family members, band members, friends, and lovers, here is the definitive biography of Motown's most controversial superstar.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 384

Dimensions: 153 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 20-03-2017

This illustrated survey celebrates the panoramic holdings and colorful history of the Archivio Storico Ricordi, one of the world’s most important musical archives. This comprehensive and captivating book follows the evolution of Milan’s Ricordi archive, from its founding in 1808 by publisher Giovanni Ricordi to its present-day holdings of thousands of scores, letters, libretti, sketches of opera scenery and costume design, photographs, and Art Nouveau and Art Deco posters. In addition, the original manuscripts of nearly all of the operas written by Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Paganini are preserved inside its hallowed vaults. The book contains an overview of the archive’s entire collection whilst also examining rare autographs, the often-unacknowledged significance of the libretto, and the phenomenon of Italian opera and its important contributions to the world of music and culture. Revealing fascinating stories of uncovered secrets and biographical insights into the composers this book is a treasure trove of musical ephemera which pays tribute to the glorious, dynamic, and colorful history of making, presenting, promoting, and preserving music for the ages.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 216 x 275 mm

Publication Date: 10-02-2017

The drummer is usually the least well-known member of any band. Yet behind every frontman is the person keeping the beat, and often acting as the music’s driving force. In these incredible portraits, Deirdre O’Callaghan places drummers squarely in the spotlight. Photographing her subjects in their private rehearsal spaces and residences—from studios, bedrooms and basements to garages and gardens—allows her to capture the true essence of their personalities and lifestyles. She has photographed almost 100 celebrated musicians for the book, including Ringo Starr, Questlove, Janet Weiss, Dave Grohl, Bobbye Hall, Lars Ulrich, Jack White, and Leah Shapiro. Each image is accompanied by excerpts from O’Callaghan’s personal conversations with the drummers. The result is a fascinating look at a truly diverse world made up of men and women from every walk of life, united by a single, emphatic passion.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 256

Dimensions: 280 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 13-09-2016

When he first started working on Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson said that he was going to write "the greatest rock album ever made." That album, released in 1966, fifty years ago, changed the face of popular music. From conception and composition to arrangement and production, Pet Sounds was the work of one extraordinary man. Turning his back on the protest songs and folk rock of his contemporaries and even on the bright surf sound of his own creation, Brian Wilson reached deep within himself to make music that struck an emotional chord and touched people's souls. Embracing the rapidly advancing recording technology of the time, he expertly created an original studio sound that would inspire generations of listeners and musicians. Featuring a detailed track-by-track analysis of the songs and extensive interviews with key personalities, this unique book reveals the influences--musical, personal, and professional--that together created this groundbreaking album. Now revised to include new information and recent developments, this is the definitive book on one of the greatest albums ever made.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 272

Dimensions: 140 x 217 mm

Publication Date: 20-10-2016