Stomping the Blues

Name: Stomping the Blues
Brand: NewSouth Books
SKU: 9781517903923
Price: 37.99 NZD
Availability: OutOfStock

By Albert Murray

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4.08

( 220 ratings, 21 reviews)

Summary

In Stomping the Blues, Albert Murray presents a masterful exploration of the blues, asserting that the genre is inherently uplifting despite its association with low spirits. He traces the history, influences, and development of the blues with lyrical prose, richly complemented by over two hundred vintage photographs that evoke the spirit and ambience of this quintessentially American music form.
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Format: Paperback / softback

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Stomping the Blues is ideal for readers interested in American music history, blues aficionados, cultural scholars, and anyone fascinated by the intersection of music, history, and social expression.

Description

In this classic work of American music writing, renowned critic Albert Murray argues beautifully and authoritatively that "the blues as such are synonymous with low spirits. Not only is its express purpose to make people feel good, which is to say in high spirits, but in the process of doing so it is actually expected to generate a disposition that is both elegantly playful and heroic in its nonchalance."

In Stomping the Blues, Murray explores its history, influences, development, and meaning as only he can. More than two hundred vintage photographs capture the ambiance Murray evokes in lyrical prose. Only the sounds are missing from this lyrical, sensual tribute to the blues.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The New Yorker praises Murray for his poetic language, novelist's sensibility, essayist's clarity, and the imaginative depth of a jazz musician and gospel singer. Newsweek calls the book a flamboyant and insightful examination of blues music's roots and mythology. The San Francisco Review of Books highlights it as a lyrical history revealing the central role of blues and jazz in American culture. Rolling Stone notes the book's beautiful illustrations and regard it as the pinnacle of Murray's work on the subject.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781517903923

Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 17 October 2017

Country: United States

Imprint: University of Minnesota Press

Illustration: 225 black and white illustrations

Contributors:

Introduction by Paul Devlin

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 38.0mm

Width: 171.0mm

Height: 247.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 272

Collections

Albert Murray Arts & Culture Non-Fiction

About the Author

Albert Murray (1916-2013) wrote thirteen books, including influential works such as The Omni-Americans and South to a Very Old Place. Minnesota has published Murray Talks Music: Albert Murray and Jazz and Blues, a collection of his previously uncollected/unpublished music writings and interviews, Rifftide, an autobiography of drummer Jo Jones as told to Murray, and republished Murray's and Count Basie's Good Morning Blues: The Autobiography of Count Basie. Murray's non-fiction is available from the Library of America and his fiction and poetry will be as well in early 2018. He cofounded Jazz at Lincoln Center in 1987.

Paul Devlin is the editor of Murray Talks Music: Albert Murray and Jazz and Blues,and Rifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones, as told to Albert Murray, a finalist for the Jazz Journalists Association's book award. He is the co-editor, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of the Library of America's volumes of Murray's work. He is Assistant Professor of English at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and is the book review editor of African American Review.