Why am I passionate about this?

I can’t imagine going through a day without listening to music. I remember buying my first Beatles album at eight years old. I saw Elvis on his last tour, Whitney Houston on her first, and Barbra Streisand on her comeback tour—twice. I remember listening to “Kind of Blue” the first time. I remember seeing Ella Fitzgerald late in her career at a club in Houston; her body was failing her—she had to sit in a chair to sing—but her voice was as beautiful as ever. Of all the artists I’ve admired over the years, the one whose work has consistently spoken to me most profoundly is Billie Holiday.


I wrote

Book cover of Bitter Crop: The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday's Last Year

What is my book about?

After listening to her music for years, I wanted to document what I felt about Billie Holiday. My book is…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Lester Leaps in: The Life and Times of Lester "Pres" Young

Paul Alexander Why did I love this book?

Billie Holiday’s musical soul mate was Lester Young, the iconoclastic tenor saxophone player who had a sound like no one else in his generation. His sound was so unique he had a profound influence on future saxophonists; he called his disciples “my children.”

In this book, Douglas Henry Daniels has written a well-researched, beautifully rendered portrait that captures the essence of Young, the musician with whom Billie Holiday most loved to sing. The end of the book, showing the culmination of a life of substance abuse and societal conflict, is especially poignant.

By Douglas H. Daniels,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lester Leaps in as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Life and Times of Lester "Pres" Young

The acclaimed biography of the legendary tenor saxophonist

"Lester Leaps In jumps off the page with authenticity and insight. The Prez was an amazing creator with a uniquely wicked sense of humor, and this book captures it all."
—Quincy Jones

"Twenty years in the making, this is the most thorough and penetrating book on the President of the Tenor Saxophone to date."
—Publishers Weekly

"A provocative book, presenting Lester Young in a novel, even controversial light while opening new avenues of possible investigation into one of the most tantalizingly enigmatic of all…


Book cover of What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years

Paul Alexander Why did I love this book?

Throughout her career, Billie Holiday always gave credit for her unique singing style to Louis Armstrong, not just the way he played the trumpet, which clearly influenced her, but the vernacular approach he had to singing.

Armstrong’s musicality allowed him to enjoy a one-of-a-kind career in show business, which Ricky Riccardi lovingly captures in his book, at least the part covering the final years of Armstrong’s life. Riccardi is particularly good on “Hello Dolly!,” Armstrong’s swan song.

By Ricky Riccardi,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked What a Wonderful World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Prodigiously researched and richly detailed, this is a comprehensive account of the remarkable final twenty-five years of the life and art of one of America’s greatest and most beloved musical icons.
 
Much has been written about Louis Armstrong, but the majority of it focuses on the early and middle stages of his long career. Now, Ricky Riccardi—jazz scholar and musician—takes an in-depth look at the years in which Armstrong was often dismissed as a buffoonish, if popular, entertainer, and shows us instead the inventiveness and depth of expression that his music evinced during this time.
 
These are the years (from…


Book cover of Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist, from Cafe Society to Hollywood to HUAC

Paul Alexander Why did I love this book?

One of the treasures of American show business is Hazel Scott. A child prodigy on piano who attended Julliard, a headliner at Café Society thanks to Billie Holiday’s mentorship, and eventually the wife of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., she was the first African American to host her own television show, “The Hazel Scott Show,” in 1950.

A confrontation with the House Un-American Activities Committee prompted the cancellation of her network show, which led her to go into a kind of exile in Paris where she set up a salon that saw as guests everyone from Lester Young to the Beatles.

Karen Chilton vividly documents the life and times of the singer in this book. I love the book because it captures the artistry of a true original. In the future, more attention should be paid to Hazel Scott, who has become show business history’s forgotten genius.

By Karen Chilton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hazel Scott as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Hazel Scott was an important figure in the later part of the Black renaissance onward. Even in an era where there was limited mainstream recognition of Black Stars, Hazel Scott's talent stood out and she is still fondly remembered by a large segment of the community. I am pleased to see her legend honored. ---Melvin Van Peebles, filmmaker and director""This book is really, really important. It comprises a lot of history---of culture, race, gender, and America. In many ways, Hazel's story is the story of the twentieth century."" ---Murray Horwitz, NPR commentator and coauthor ofAin't Misbehavin'""Karen Chilton has deftly woven…


Book cover of The Street That Never Slept: New York's Fabled 52nd Street

Paul Alexander Why did I love this book?

Starting in the 1930s and going through the 1950s, one of the centers of jazz in the United States was in Manhattan on 52nd Street between Fifth and Seventh avenues. Clubs like the Famous Door, Three Deuces, Onyx, Kelly’s Stable, and Club 18 would become legendary in jazz circles. Jazz royalty, from Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie to Coleman Hawkins and Billie Holiday, played in these clubs.

In his chronicle of 52nd Street, Arnold Shaw provides a fly-on-the-wall account of what it was like to play and visit the clubs based on interviews (some of them quoted at length) from musicians who worked the clubs to entertainment figures who frequented them. Billie Holiday is a presence throughout the book from her early beginnings when she was not accepted because of her singing style to eventually becoming one of The Street’s main draws.

By Arnold Shaw,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Street That Never Slept as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Shoddy, bawdy and boozy,"" 52nd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, before the strip joints and the concrete office buildings, was New York's answer to Bourbon Street, Beale Street, Sunset Boulevard and Montparnasse. Shaw, songsmith and musician's friend, was a devoted habitue who knew the passwords to the speakeasies (the street had 38 during Prohibition); the hot horns from the cool; and who dined with whom at Jack and Charlie's 21. From the Onyx, to Leon and Eddie's to Kelly's Stable, Jimmy Ryan's and the Famous Door he offers a guided tour and brings on former customers, proprietors, performers --…


Book cover of From Satchmo To Miles

Paul Alexander Why did I love this book?

One of the important figures in the world of jazz for many years was Leonard Feather. He started his career as a jazz writer—writing the first profile of Billie Holiday—but eventually became a songwriter and producer. He produced Billie Holiday’s highly successful 1954 European Tour called Club USA.

Well into his career, he collected this book of essays about the jazz figures he knew well: Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Ray Ellis, among others. I really like his essay on Billie, whom he knew so well she became his daughter’s godmother because he was able to relate events about which he knew because he was in the room with her when they happened.

If you want to meet jazz luminaires first-hand, trust Leonard Feather to provide the introduction. 

By Leonard Feather,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked From Satchmo To Miles as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Norman Granz, Oscar Peterson, Ray Charles, Don Ellis, and Miles Davis,these are the dozen jazz figures whom Leonard Feather chose to describe the development of jazz. This is the first Feather book to examine in-depth the innovative figures who have led the way throughout the music's history. As composer, producer, and for almost half-a-century one of its leading critics, Feather has a unique perspective of these jazz immortals. He has worked with and known all of them. "These are portraits of human beings first, analyses of…


Explore my book 😀

Book cover of Bitter Crop: The Heartache and Triumph of Billie Holiday's Last Year

What is my book about?

After listening to her music for years, I wanted to document what I felt about Billie Holiday. My book is not a conventional biography but an intimate portrait that allows the reader to spend time with her in the rooms in which she lived and worked so that by the end of the book, you feel as if you know her. Flashbacks provide necessary background material.

The goal of the book, which is why I focus on her last year, is to create a close-up depiction of Billie to reveal who she actually was: An ambitious, formidable woman who overcame challenges—an impoverished youth, brushes with authorities, and substance abuse—to become the consummate jazz singer and, over time, an American icon.

Book cover of Lester Leaps in: The Life and Times of Lester "Pres" Young
Book cover of What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years
Book cover of Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist, from Cafe Society to Hollywood to HUAC

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Locked In Locked Out: Surviving a Brainstem Stroke

By Shawn Jennings,

Book cover of Locked In Locked Out: Surviving a Brainstem Stroke

Shawn Jennings Author Of Locked In Locked Out: Surviving a Brainstem Stroke

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Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Shawn's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

Can there be life after a brainstem stroke?

After Dr. Shawn Jennings, a busy family physician, suffered a brainstem stroke on May 13, 1999, he woke from a coma locked inside his body, aware and alert but unable to communicate or move. Once he regained limited movement in his left arm, he began typing his story, using one hand and a lot of patience. 

With unexpected humour and tender honesty, Shawn shares his experiences in his struggle for recovery and acceptance of his life after the stroke. He affirms that even without achieving a full recovery life is still worth…

Locked In Locked Out: Surviving a Brainstem Stroke

By Shawn Jennings,

What is this book about?

Can there be life after a brainstem stroke?

After Dr. Shawn Jennings, a busy family physician, suffered a brainstem stroke on May 13, 1999, he woke from a coma locked inside his body, aware and alert but unable to communicate or move. Once he regained limited movement in his left arm, he began typing his story, using one hand and a lot of patience.

With unexpected humour and tender honesty, Shawn shares his experiences in his struggle for recovery and acceptance of his life after the stroke. He affirms that even without achieving a full recovery life is still worth…


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