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Stan Kenton: This is an Orchestra!

Description: Stan Kenton (1911–1979) formed his first full orchestra in 1940 and soon drew record-breaking crowds to hear and dance to his exciting sound. He continued to tour and record unrelentingly for the next four decades. Stan Kenton: This Is an Orchestra! sums up the mesmerizing bandleader at the height of his powers, arms waving energetically, his face a study of concentration as he cajoled, coaxed, strained, and obtained the last ounce of energy from every musician under his control. Michael Sparke… more
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Date: May 15, 2010
Creator: Sparke, Michael
Partner: UNT Press

One Man's Music: the Life and Times of Texas Songwriter Vince Bell

Description: Texas singer/songwriter Vince Bell’s story begins in the 1970s. Following the likes of Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, Bell and his contemporaries Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, and Lucinda Williams were on the rise. In December of 1982, Bell was on his way home from the studio (where he and hired guns Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Johnson had just recorded three of Bell’s songs) when a drunk driver broadsided him at 65 mph. Thrown over 60 feet from his car, Bell suffered multiple lacerations to hi… more
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Date: April 15, 2009
Creator: Bell, Vince
Partner: UNT Press

Jade Visions: the Life and Music of Scott Lafaro

Description: Jade Visions is the first biography of one of the twentieth century’s most influential jazz musicians, bassist Scott LaFaro. Best known for his landmark recordings with Bill Evans, LaFaro played bass a mere seven years before his life and career were tragically cut short by an automobile accident when he was only 25 years old. Told by his sister, this book uniquely combines family history with insight into LaFaro’s music by well-known jazz experts and musicians Gene Lees, Don Thompson, Jeff Cam… more
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Date: September 15, 2009
Creator: LaFaro-Fernández, Helene; Ralston, Chuck; Campbell, Jeff & Palombi, Phil
Partner: UNT Press

Dennis Brain: a Life in Music

Description: The British horn player Dennis Brain (1921–1957) is commonly described by such statements as “the greatest horn player of the 20th Century,” “a genius,” and “a legend.” He was both a prodigy and popularizer, famously performing a concerto on a garden hose in perfect pitch. On his usual concert instrument his tone was of unsurpassed beauty and clarity, complemented by a flawless technique. The recordings he made with Herbert von Karajan of Mozart’s horn concerti are considered the definitive i… more
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Date: May 15, 2011
Creator: Gamble, Stephen & Lynch, William C.
Partner: UNT Press

Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley

Description: Living in the Woods in a Tree is an intimate glimpse into the turbulent life of Texas music legend Blaze Foley (1949--1989), seen through the eyes of Sybil Rosen, the woman for whom he wrote his most widely known song, “If I Could Only Fly." It captures the exuberance of their fleeting idyll in a tree house in the Georgia woods during the countercultural 1970s. Rosen offers a firsthand witnessing of Foley’s transformation from a reticent hippie musician to the enigmatic singer/songwriter who wo… more
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Date: October 15, 2008
Creator: Rosen, Sybil
Partner: UNT Press

A Deeper Blue: The Life and Music of Townes Van Zandt

Description: This is the first serious biography of a man widely considered one of Texas’—and America’s—greatest songwriters. Like Jimmie Rodgers, Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, Townes Van Zandt was the embodiment of that mythic American figure, the troubled troubadour. A Deeper Blue traces Van Zandt’s background as the scion of a prominent Texas family; his troubled early years and his transformation from promising pre-law student to wandering folk singer; his life on the road and the de… more
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Date: 2008
Creator: Hardy, Robert Earl, 1957-
Partner: UNT Press

The Original Guitar Hero and the Power of Music: the Legendary Lonnie Johnson, Music, and Civil Rights

Description: Lonnie Johnson (1894–1970) was a virtuoso guitarist who influenced generations of musicians from Django Reinhardt to Eric Clapton to Bill Wyman and especially B. B. King. Born in New Orleans, he began playing violin and guitar in his father’s band at an early age. When most of his family was wiped out by the 1918 flu epidemic, he and his surviving brother moved to St. Louis, where he won a blues contest that included a recording contract. His career was launched. Johnson can be heard on many … more
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Date: April 2014
Creator: Alger, Dean
Partner: UNT Press

All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music

Description: Historical account of musicians in Texas, grouped by region, describing "underappreciated" artists as well as some famous artists. Each chapter provides anecdotes and biographical information about an artist or musical group. Index starts on page 299.
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Date: May 2017
Creator: Corcoran, Michael
Partner: UNT Press

A Life in Music from the Soviet Union to Canada: Memoirs of a Madrigal Ensemble Singer

Description: The musical career of Alexander Tumanov extends from Stalinist and Soviet Russia through contemporary Canada, and as such provides an inspiring portrait of one person’s devotion to his art under trying circumstances. Tumanov was a founding member of Moscow’s Madrigal Ensemble of early music, which introduced Renaissance and Baroque music to the Soviet Union. The Ensemble enjoyed tremendous popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, despite occasional official disapproval by the Soviet bureaucracy. At t… more
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Date: May 2019
Creator: Tumanov, Alexander & Tumanov, Vladimir
Partner: UNT Press
open access

A Life in Music from the Soviet Union to Canada [Sound Files]

Description: The musical career of Alexander Tumanov extends from Stalinist and Soviet Russia through contemporary Canada, and as such provides an inspiring portrait of one person’s devotion to his art under trying circumstances. Tumanov was a founding member of Moscow’s Madrigal Ensemble of early music, which introduced Renaissance and Baroque music to the Soviet Union. The Ensemble enjoyed tremendous popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, despite occasional official disapproval by the Soviet bureaucracy. At t… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Tumanov, Alexander & Tumanov, Vladimir
Partner: UNT Press

The View From the Back of the Band: The Life and Music of Mel Lewis

Description: Mel Lewis (1929-1990) was born Melvin Sokoloff to Jewish Russian immigrants in Buffalo, New York. He first picked up his father’s drumsticks at the age of two and at 17 he was a full-time professional musician. The View from the Back of the Band is the first biography of this legendary jazz drummer. For over fifty years, Lewis provided the blueprint for how a drummer could subtly support any musical situation. While he made his name with Stan Kenton and Thad Jones, and with his band at the Vill… more
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Date: October 2014
Creator: Smith, Chris
Partner: UNT Press

A Day for Dancing: The Life and Music of Lloyd Pfautsch

Description: After earning his theology degree from Union Seminary in New York, Lloyd Pfautsch (1921–2003) found his true calling in church music. He was invited to Southern Methodist University in 1958 to start their graduate program in sacred music and remained there for 34 years. Outside the university, he formed the Dallas Civic Chorus and led it for 25 years. He was nationally known for his conducting and the quality of the musicians he produced as well as for his compositions, many of which are illust… more
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Date: 2014
Creator: Hart, Kenneth W.
Partner: UNT Press
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