Washoe County Library System

Lyrical text explores how Blues have been part of everyday life throughout history, from its origins in the sounds of the earth, through slaves' voices singing of freedom, to today's greatest performers--and listeners.

Author Chet Falzerano writes "As we are about the same age, Charlie Watts and I probably discovered jazz at nearly the same time. It occurred to me that the one topic Watts loves to discuss, his favorite drummers, would provide an insightful perspective that defines the appraoch and style of the drummer for the 'Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World'." Drummers profiled in this book include: Art Blakey, Chico Hamilton, Ginger Baker, Jerry Allison,...

“Each of these chambers contains wonders of history, destiny, and mythology. Chamber Music is hip hop as race and class politics, as music and as poetry on the move. Through Ashons vibrant textured prose we watch in awe as these young men seize on whatever the culture has to offer, sampling leftovers and legacies, making themselves into ferocious artists” Margo Jefferson, award-winning author of Negroland. "Stylistically loaded, reckless, funny,...

Soundtrack for a Revolution tells the story of the American civil rights movement through powerful music. The film's soundtrack features new music from artists including The Roots, Wyclef Jean, Anthony Hamilton, and more.

Filmed in Chicago and finished in 1959, The Cry of jazz is fimmaker, composer and arranger Edward O. Bland's polemical essay on the politics of music and race - a forecast of what he called "the death of jazz". A landmark moment in black film, forecasting the civil unrest of subsequent decades, it also features the only known footage of visionary pianist Sun Ra from his beloved Chicago period. Features images of tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and...