Biography & Autobiography : Composers & Musicians

Combines cultural theory, biography, and musical analysis to shed light on Monk's music and on the jazz canon itself. This book shows how the work of this nonconformist composer emerged from the jazz world's fringes to find a central place in its canon. It considers how Monk's stature has grown, from the narrowly focused wing of the avant-garde. more...

Price: $21.95

After years of failing to duplicate its album Dookie's success, punk-rocking Green Day seemed dead in the water. An undercurrent of critical disdain had always held that the band purveyed punk lite and was an aggregation of poseurs compared to legendary punk outfits the Clash and the Ramones. Then the group's eighth album, American Idiot, hit the top of the charts in 2004 and stayed there, catapulting Green Day back into public attention. Spitz, a senior writer for Spin, sympathetically limns the arc of the lads' career from East Bay, California, in informative if unchallenging style. more...

Price: $16.95

The acclaimed, bestselling rock-and-roll biographer delivers the first complete, unexpurgated history of the world’s greatest band. The saga of the Rolling Stones is the central epic in rock mythology. From their debut as the intermission band at London’s Marquee Club in 1962 through their latest record—setting Bridges to Babylon world tour, the Rolling Stones have defined a musical genre and experienced godlike adulation, quarrels, addiction, legal traumas, and descents into madness and death_while steadfastly refusing to fade away. more...

Price: $15.95

Ordinary Girl is legendary singer-songwriter Donna Summer’s delightfully candid memoir about her journey from singing in a Boston church to her unexpected reign as the Queen of Disco—and the tragedy and spiritual rebirth that followed. more...

Price: $24.95

An intimate biography of the great songwriter, this is also a deeply affectionate memoir by one of Johnny Mercer’s best friends. “Moon River,” “Laura,” “Skylark,” ”That Old Black Magic,” “One for My Baby,” “Accentuate the Positive,” “Satin Doll,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Something’s Gotta Give”—the honor roll of Mercer’s songs is endless. more...

Price: $27.50