HIP-HOP (AND OTHER THINGS), which was an instant New York Times bestseller upon its publication, is the third and final book in the (AND OTHER THINGS) series. It's 32 chapters long. And every chapter is a different rap question that needs to be answered...

By the bestselling author of Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll and Last Train the Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, this dazzling new book of profiles is a culmination of Peter Guralnick’s remarkable work, which from the start has...

A beautiful genre-bending tribute to the larger-than-life blues singer Bessie Smith. Scotland’s National Poet blends poetry, prose, fiction, and nonfiction to create an entirely unique biography of the Empress of the Blues.There has never been anyone...

“Reggae’s chief eyewitness, dropping testimony on reggae’s chief prophet with truth, blood, and fire.” —Marlon James, Man Booker Prize–winning authorRenowned reggae historian Roger Steffens’s riveting oral history of Bob Marley’s life draws on four...

Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution: An Oral History is the very first comprehensive overview of the movement that defied both the music underground and the LGBT mainstream community--queercore. Through exclusive interviews with protagonists like Bruce...

Washington Post national arts reporter Geoff Edgers takes a deep dive into the story behind “Walk This Way,” Aerosmith and Run-DMC's legendary, groundbreaking mashup that forever changed music. The early 1980s were an exciting time for music. Hair metal...

Some pieces of music survive. Most fall into oblivion. What gives the ten masterpieces selected for this book their exceptional vitality?In this penetrating volume, Harvey Sachs, acclaimed biographer and historian of classical music, takes readers into...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A Washington Post Notable Book Excerpted in The New YorkerA work of unparalleled candor and splendorous beauty, The Lyrics celebrates the creative life and the musical genius of Paul McCartney through 154 of his most...

The National Book Award-winner Patti Smith updates her treasure box of a childhood memoir about "clear unspeakable joy" and "just the wish to know" with a radiant new afterword, written during the pandemic and reflecting on current times. This expanded...

Many different possibilities for harmonizing the same melody are illustrated and analyzed, using techniques by such influential arrangers and composers as Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Oliver Nelson, Gil Evans, and Clare Fischer. Techniques of melody...

An updated new edition of Ted Gioia's acclaimed compendium of jazz standards, featuring 15 additional selections, hundreds of additional recommended tracks, and enhancements and additions on almost every page. Since the first edition of The Jazz...

A deluxe photographic celebration of the unsung hero of guitar music—the effects pedal—featuring interviews with 100 musicians including Peter Frampton, Joe Perry, Jack White, and Courtney Barnett.Ever since the Sixties, fuzz boxes, wah-wahs, phase...

Learn how to better appreciate music in this guide--from one of the most trusted names in continuing education--that will unlock the knowledge you need to understand "the most abstract and sublime of all the arts." Whether you're listening in a concert...

An invaluable collection of scale, chord, arpeggio and cadence studies in all major and minor keys. Each key is presented in a unique two page format: the left hand page presents the scale in parallel motion, contrary motion, and parallel motion in...

Alex Ross, renowned New Yorker music critic and author of the international bestseller and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Rest Is Noise, reveals how Richard Wagner became the proving ground for modern art and politics—an aesthetic war zone where the Western...

“Electrifying. Remain in Love is possibly the most uxorious rock ’n’ roll memoir ever written...” —Wall Street Journal One of the most dynamic groups of the ‘70s and ‘80s, Talking Heads, founded by drummer Chris Frantz, his girlfriend Tina Weymouth, and...

One of the music world’s pre-eminent critics takes a fresh and much-needed look at the day Dylan “went electric” at the Newport Folk Festival, timed to coincide with the event’s fiftieth anniversary.On the evening of July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan took the...

Bringing together reception history, music analysis and criticism, the history of music theory, and the philosophy of music, Beethoven Hero explores the nature and persistence of Beethoven's heroic style. What have we come to value in this music, asks...

This first biography of Jimmy McHugh captures a lively and significant contributor to American songwriting. Creator of favorite tunes such as "I'm in the Mood for Love" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street," McHugh was a one-man history of...

A modern take on a classical icon: this “luminous book” (Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Library Book) tells the story of when, where, and how Chopin composed his most famous work, uncovering many surprises along the way and...