Will Friedwald

Stardust Melodies

a singer's art

Sinatra! the song is you

An extensive biographical and critical survey of more than 300 jazz and popular singers is comprised of provocative, opinionated essays that incorporate the views of peers, fans and critics while assessing key movements and genres.

A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers

Tony Bennett

Frank Sinatra was the greatest entertainer of his age, invigorating American popular song with innovative phrasing and a mastery of drama and emotion. Drawing upon interviews with hundreds of his collaborators as well as with "The Voice" himself, this book chronicles, critiques, and celebrates his five-decade career. Will Friedwald examines and evaluates all the classic and less familiar songs with the same astute, witty perceptions that earned him acclaim for his other books about jazz and pop singing. Now completely revised and updated, and including an authoritative discography and rare photos of recording sessions and performances, Sinatra! The Song Is You is an invaluable resource for enthusiasts and an unparalleled guide through Sinatra's vast musical legacy.

A Singer's Art

Sinatra! The Song Is You

One of the most popular and memorable American musicians of the 20th century, Nat King Cole (1919-65) is remembered today as both a pianist and a singer, a feat rarely accomplished in the world of popular music. Now, in this complete life and times biography, author Will Friedwald offers a new take on this fascinating musician, framing him first as a bandleader and then as a star. In Cole's early phase, Friedwald explains, his primary task of keeping his trio going was just as much of a focus for him as his own playing and singing, always a collective or group performance. In the second act, Cole's collaborators were more likely to be arranger-conductors like Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins, rather than his sidemen on bass and guitar. In the first act, his sidemen were equals, in the second phase, his collaborators were tasked exclusively with putting the focus on him, making him sound good, while being largely invisible themselves. Friedwald brings his full musical knowledge to bear in putting the man in the work, demonstrating how this duality appears over and over again in Cole's life and career: jazz vs. pop, solo vs. trio, piano vs. voice, wife number one (Nadine) vs. wife number two (Maria), the good songs vs. the less-than-good songs, the rhythm numbers vs. the ballads, the funny songs and novelties vs. the "serious" songs of love and loss, Cole as an advocate for the Great American Songbook vs. Cole the intrepid explorer of other options: world music, rhythm & blues, country & western. Cole was different from his contemporaries in other ways; for roughly ten years after the war, the majority of hitmakers on the pop charts were veterans of the big band experience, from Sinatra on down.

The Life and Music of Nat King Cole

Straighten Up and Fly Right

The stories of fifty-seven jazz and pop albums that have become benchmarks by which subsequent records have been measured.

The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums

Jerry Beck

Warner Bros has opened up its archives for official researchers to trace the history of its most famous characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Taz, Sylvester, Tweety Pie, Porky Pig and Yosemite Sam, as well as detailing more contemporary creations such as the animated Batman, Tiny Toons and Animaniacs.

The Characters, the Creators, the Limited Editions

Warner Bros. Animation Art

The rantings and ravings of two enthusiastic young fans who, in an era before fanzines and web pages, wrote about the cartoons they loved in the spirit of their humor.

The Warner Brothers Cartoons

The legendary singer and recording artist shares his life story including his many triumphs and tragedies.

The Good Life

Examines the influence of Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby and other legendary singers who helped make jazz music a permanent part of America's cultural vocabulary

America's Great Voices from Bessie Smith to Bebop and Beyond

Jazz Singing

America's Great Voices From Bessie Smith To Bebop And Beyond

Examines twelve poular songs, providing a complete history of the song, including the circumstances under which it was written and performed, how the song became famous, and the lyrical and musical content of each song.

The Biography of Twelve of America's Most Popular Songs

A musical biography documents Frank Sinatra's legacy through seven decades, from the 1930s to the present

Sinatra! the Song is You

Will Friedwald’s illuminating, opinionated essays—provocative, funny, and personal—on the lives and careers of more than three hundred singers anatomize the work of the most important jazz and popular performers of the twentieth century. From giants like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland to lesser-known artists like Jeri Southern and Joe Mooney, they have created a body of work that continues to please and inspire. Here is the most extensive biographical and critical survey of these singers ever written, as well as an essential guide to the Great American Songbook and those who shaped the way it has been sung. The music crosses from jazz to pop and back again, from the songs of Irving Berlin and W. C. Handy through Stephen Sondheim and beyond, bringing together straightforward jazz and pop singers (Billie Holiday, Perry Como); hybrid artists who moved among genres and combined them (Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé); the leading men and women of Broadway and Hollywood (Ethel Merman, Al Jolson); yesterday’s vaudeville and radio stars (Sophie Tucker, Eddie Cantor); and today’s cabaret artists and hit-makers (Diana Krall, Michael Bublé). Friedwald has also written extended pieces on the most representative artists of five significant genres that lie outside the songbook: Bessie Smith (blues), Mahalia Jackson (gospel), Hank Williams (country and western), Elvis Presley (rock ’n’ roll), and Bob Dylan (folk-rock). Friedwald reconsiders the personal stories and professional successes and failures of all these artists, their songs, and their performances, appraising both the singers and their music by balancing his opinions with those of fellow musicians, listeners, and critics. This magisterial reference book—ten years in the making—will delight and inform anyone with a passion for the iconic music of America, which continues to resonate throughout our popular culture.

Will Friedwald

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