Stevie Wonder By John Swenson

America’s most widely used introduction to jazz, it teaches the chronology of jazz by showing students how to listen and what to notice in each style.

Secondhand paperback original book  in OK cond (without cd)

Rare salsa on Fania. Original vinyl, has sleeve wear

Truly seminal work, first published in 1977 by writer and photographer Valerie Wilmer, that details the incredible energy and characters behind the African-American revolution in jazz of the 60's and early 70's. As well as placing the 'new' music in its political and social context, there is also reference to the role of women, recording and getting the music heard, and entire chapters devoted to the following musicians: John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler and Chicago's AACM. If you're at all interested in the 'new thing' jazz or African-American politics of the 60's then you really do need to read this book! Seriously...

Hip-hop fans of all ages will delight in this gripping tale of sex, drugs and rock n'rap. Secondhand USA paperback book ex library w/stamps.

Second-hand ex-library hardback book

Hard to find soul LP. Orig. USA 1969 Cotillion/Atlantic Records

New book from The Small Axe Crew, Collecting interviews with Soul Defenders, Leroy Sibbles, Larry Marshall, Earl 'Bagga' Walker, Cedric Im Brooks and many more.

USA HARDBACK IMPORT BOOK 60% OFF. ESSENTIAL BOOK ON NEW ORLEANS by John Swenson

At its most intimate level, music heals our emotional wounds and inspires us. At its most public, it unites people across cultural boundaries. But can it rebuild a city? That's the central question posed in New Atlantis, journalist John Swenson's beautifully detailed account of the musical artists working to save America's most colourful and troubled metropolis: New Orleans.

The city has been threatened with extinction many times during its three-hundred-plus-year history by fire, pestilence, crime, flood, and oil spills. Working for little money and in spite of having lost their own homes and possessions to Katrina, New Orleans's most gifted musicians - including such figures as Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, "Trombone Shorty," and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux - are fighting back against a tidal wave of problems: the depletion of the wetlands south of the city (which are disappearing at the rate of one acre every hour), the violence that has made New Orleans the murder capital of the US, the waning tourism industry, and above all the continuing calamity in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (or, as it is known in New Orleans, the "Federal Flood"). Indeed, most of the neighbourhoods that nurtured the indigenous music of New Orleans were destroyed in the flood, and many of the elder statesmen have died or been incapacitated since then, but the musicians profiled here have stepped up to fill their roles. New Atlantis is their story.

Wicked photogrpahy book.

This book of striking black and white photographs forms a fascinating time capsule. The photos, taken during the mid 1970s, depict life in the aging North Side Chicago neighborhood called Uptown. More than 250 evocative photographs comprise a portrait of this neighborhood in transition. The author's photos allow the reader to experience the conflicts and ironies of life in one of Chicago's poorest, most diverse and densely populated neighborhoods. 

Afro-Disco Boogie Funk

Original Nigerian Vinyl VG surface marks plays fine/Sleeve G ONLY
+High-end Audio Desk Systeme Pro Machine Utrasonic cleaned+
100% Guarantee on this and all Original Vinyl at Sounds Of The Universe - 'if you're not happy we're not happy' or your money back!

The More Axe series continues with edition No.4 that concentrates on the early rootsy dancehall scene 1979 onwards in Jamaica. Not only did the music change, the rhythms of bands like The Roots Radics and The High Times Band slowed it down again. This time the emphasis was on the power of the Bass line. With killer features on Sugar Minott, I Roy, Barrington Levy. Ranking Joe, Mikey Dread and many more.

Killer book on the evolution of Jungle and Drum and Bass in the UK. The raves, the shops, the djs, the mcs. Essential!

"The Definitive book on Jungle". GROOVERIDER

Rare independent Nigerian boogie funk.

Original Nigerian vinyl.
Vinyl G only , sleeve Fair only so cheap £40 to £10
+High-end Audio Desk Systeme Pro Machine Utrasonic cleaned+

Quality album of Igbo highlife.
Rare Original Nigerian vinyl.
Vinyl VG, sleeve F (wear)
+High-end Audio Desk Systeme Pro Machine Utrasonic cleaned+

Nice Study book about Barrio life.

S/hand hardback book.

Rhythm and Blues in New Orleans is a comprehensive history documenting the rise and development of a unique musical form. Originally published in Great Britain under the title Walking to New Orleans, this revised edition has more than 100 new pages of interviews and information chronicling the careers and music of the major R&B artists. Broven has included the important peripheral activity of the New Orleans music industry in the areas recording studios, clubs, and record companies.

Much of the material comes firsthand from the musicians who helped create R&B as a musical genre. The authors original interviews have been augmented by fresh research and new conversations with the artists. Broven completely covers the dramatic rise and fall of the Golden Age of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues from the 1940s through 60s and now adds the legacy to date of this powerful and influential regional sound.

Import USA Paperback edition book

From Two Live Crew's controversial comedy to Ice Cube's gangsta styling and the battle rhymes of a streetcorner cypher, rap has always drawn on deep traditions of African American poetic word-play, In Talking About Your Mama, author Elijah Wald explores one of the most potent sources of rap: the viciously funny, outrageously inventive insult game known as "the dozens." So what is the dozens? At its simplest, it's a comic chain of "yo' mama" jokes. At its most complex, it's an intricate form of social interaction that reaches back to African ceremonial rituals. Wald traces the tradition of African American street rhyming and verbal combat that has ruled urban neighborhoods since the early 1900s. Whether considered vernacular poetry, aggressive dueling, a test of street cool, or just a mess of dirty insults, the dozens is a basic building block of African-American culture. 

Original Cuban vinyl!

Vinyl VG , sleeve G
High-end Audio Desk Systeme Pro Machine Utrasonic cleaned+

Rare Zimbabwe boogie

Import USA Paperback edition book 40% Off Original price!

The Last Sultan is the definitive biography of a man who changed popular culture throughout the world. As the founder and head of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun signed and/or recorded many of the greatest musical artists of all time, among them Ruth Brown; Big Joe Turner; Ray Charles; Bobby Darin; Sonny and Cher; Eric Clapton; Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Led Zeppelin; the Rolling Stones; Bette Midler; and Kid Rock. Working alongside his older brother, Nesuhi, one of the pre-eminent jazz producers of all time, and the legendary Jerry Wexler, who produced great soul artists like Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, and Aretha Franklin, Ertegun transformed Atlantic Records from a small independent record label into a hugely profitable multinational corporation. In successive generations, he also served as a mentor to record-business tyros like Phil Spector, David Geffen, and Lyor Cohen. With supporting characters like Steve Ross, Henry Kissinger, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jann Wenner, and a host of others, The Last Sultan is the fascinating story of a man who always lived by his own rules.