100 books like Wail

By Peter Pullman,

Here are 100 books that Wail fans have personally recommended if you like Wail. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Good Vibes: A Life in Jazz

Donald Clarke Author Of Billie Holiday: Wishing On The Moon

From my list on jazz biographies & autobiographies (from a jazz lover).

Why am I passionate about this?

I started buying records 70 years ago. I worked in a car factory for a decade, then landed a job in publishing, having written a couple of magazine articles, and finally got a chance to do what I was born to do: write about my favorite subject. Music has been the most important thing in the world to me ever since I heard the hits of the 1940s on the radio, playing on the kitchen floor while my mother did the ironing. I believe music is a mystery, more important than we can know, in every way: intellectual, psychological, emotional, philosophical. That is why it is such a big business, even if the business itself is often less than salubrious.

Donald's book list on jazz biographies & autobiographies (from a jazz lover)

Donald Clarke Why did Donald love this book?

Terry Gibbs played vibes (vibraphone) with several of the most famous big bands during the Swing Era, than formed his own small groups, then led big bands himself starting in 1956. Steeped in Swing, he also held his own with the modernists. Perhaps his most amazing accomplishment was putting together his Dream Band, which recorded at least 68 selections, arranged by all the best arrangers in the business, in four different clubs in Hollywood, mostly in 1959. It was a 'dream band' because although the big band era was over, all the best musicians on the West Coast wanted to play in this one because the music was so much fun. Gibbs was in his 90s when his book came out; he knew how lucky he had been, and his book is full of joy and love.

By Terry Gibbs, Cary Ginell,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Terry Gibbs, legendary jazz vibraphonist and bandleader, was 12 years old when he kicked off his career as a professional musician, winning first place in an amateur performance. Born and raised in the heart of Brooklyn and possessing tremendous musical talent, Gibbs learned the ins and outs of bebop from pioneers like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Bud Powell. In 1959 his ensemble, later dubbed The Dream Band, became the toast of Hollywood. Four decades, 65 albums, and 300 compositions later, his story is one of great substance-his foot-tapping music, revolutionary. Good Vibes is a rollicking autobiography that tracks jazz…


Book cover of Life In E-Flat: The Autobiography of Phil Woods

Donald Clarke Author Of Billie Holiday: Wishing On The Moon

From my list on jazz biographies & autobiographies (from a jazz lover).

Why am I passionate about this?

I started buying records 70 years ago. I worked in a car factory for a decade, then landed a job in publishing, having written a couple of magazine articles, and finally got a chance to do what I was born to do: write about my favorite subject. Music has been the most important thing in the world to me ever since I heard the hits of the 1940s on the radio, playing on the kitchen floor while my mother did the ironing. I believe music is a mystery, more important than we can know, in every way: intellectual, psychological, emotional, philosophical. That is why it is such a big business, even if the business itself is often less than salubrious.

Donald's book list on jazz biographies & autobiographies (from a jazz lover)

Donald Clarke Why did Donald love this book?

Phil Woods left these acerbic notes behind when he died, his personality in every word, hard on himself as on anybody, also sometimes very funny. He was known for having married Charlie Parker's widow after Parker died, and for possessing Parker's alto sax, but Woods was such a master of the instrument that he became almost as influential as Parker. At a Billy Joel recording session in 1977, he casually tossed off a solo on "Just The Way You Are" that made the record a hit. He also recorded with Steely Dan and Paul Simon, toured the world with Quincy Jones, Russia with Benny Goodman, toured with his European Rhythm Machine, then with his own quintet for 20 years. The book has an elegiac tone because the incredibly rich mainstream jazz scene in New York that Woods had known in the 1950s-60s was gone forever.

By Phil Woods, Ted Panken,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Life In E-Flat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

2021 Book of the Year - Jazz Journalists Association

Phil Woods was an American original. One of the greatest saxophonists of all time, he was the first call for Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Oliver Nelson. His iconic improvisation on Billy Joel’s hit song "Just the Way You Are" is quite likely the most played instrumental solo in the world. His popularity soared while an expat in Europe during the cultural revolution of the late sixties and early seventies. Upon his return to the States, Woods formed a band that would perform together for four decades. Grammy Awards,…


Book cover of Hear Me Talkin' to Ya

Franz Douskey Author Of Sinatra and Me: The Very Good Years

From my list on the roots of social change through popular music.

Why am I passionate about this?

More has been accomplished by music to wake us up that any marches, speeches, injustice, and/or wealth. In the beginning, music and its many forms I followed were an accident. Now I see that music is vital for social expression, intimacy, solitude. The walls in my writing room are covered with photos, CDs, 78s, and most certainly live recordings and books. I feel sorry for the soul(s) who will have to pick through this history when I’ve gone to that Upper Room.

Franz's book list on the roots of social change through popular music

Franz Douskey Why did Franz love this book?

This is a story of Jazz by the musicians who made it. Hear Me Talkin' to Ya is a wide study of the Jazz at its source (New Orleans) through the era of Big Bands and into Modern Jazz, from Kid Ory to Dave Brubeck. This book doesn’t have a narrative or authors’ opinions. This book features passages quoted by Billie Holiday, Mary Lou Williams, Lil Harden Armstrong, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Othello Tinsley, Dizzy Gillespie, and a hundred other musicians.

We’ve entered a second era of inclusion. Women now play an essential role in creating music. Add Lizzie Miles, Anita O’Day, Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Mary Ann McCall, Alberta Hunter, and Leora Henderson and we get a different perspective of the evolution of music culture.  

By Nat Shapiro, Nat Hentoff,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Hear Me Talkin' to Ya as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Hear Me Talkin' to Ya (Dover Books On Music: History)

"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." — Charlie Parker
"What is jazz? The rhythm — the feeling." — Coleman Hawkins
"The best sound usually comes the first time you do something. If it's spontaneous, it's going to be rough, not clean, but it's going to have the spirit which is the essence of jazz." — Dave Brubeck
Here, in their own words, such famous jazz musicians as Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, Bunk Johnson,…


Book cover of Black and Blue: The Life and Lyrics of Andy Razaf

Donald Clarke Author Of Billie Holiday: Wishing On The Moon

From my list on jazz biographies & autobiographies (from a jazz lover).

Why am I passionate about this?

I started buying records 70 years ago. I worked in a car factory for a decade, then landed a job in publishing, having written a couple of magazine articles, and finally got a chance to do what I was born to do: write about my favorite subject. Music has been the most important thing in the world to me ever since I heard the hits of the 1940s on the radio, playing on the kitchen floor while my mother did the ironing. I believe music is a mystery, more important than we can know, in every way: intellectual, psychological, emotional, philosophical. That is why it is such a big business, even if the business itself is often less than salubrious.

Donald's book list on jazz biographies & autobiographies (from a jazz lover)

Donald Clarke Why did Donald love this book?

Back when jazz was popular and popular music was jazz, Andy Razaf was born in Washington DC, a member of the royal family of Madagascar: one source says his name was Andriamanantena Paul Rezafinkarefo, his father a nephew of Queen Ranavalona III. Andy became one of the most successful lyricists of his era. By the time he and Fats Waller co-wrote the black broadway show Hot Chocolates in 1929, Louis Armstrong singing "Ain't Misbehavin'" from the pit, he was at the top of his game. He and Waller wrote "Honeysuckle Rose", "Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now", "Blue, Turning Grey Over You", "The Joint Is Jumpin'", and more; in the early years, they would sell their lead sheets to as many publishers as they could, knowing that the publishers were cheats too. But Razaf also wrote with Eubie Blake ("You're Lucky To Me", "Memories Of You"), James P. Johnson ("A Porter's…

By Barry Singer,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Chronicles the life and Prohibition-era times of the legendary songwriter whose lyrics include those for ""Honeysuckle Rose"" and ""Ain't Misbehavin'"" and whose musicals pioneered a distinctive African-American musical theater on Broadway.


Book cover of The Chitlin' Circuit: And the Road to Rock 'n' Roll

Richard J. Alley Author Of Five Night Stand

From my list on culture of mid-20th century music and musicians.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was born in 1970. From my earliest memory there was music. But it’s never been just about the music, I have a natural curiosity for the people who make that music. The artist on the album cover, but also the side musicians, the producers, engineers, and promoters. I’m also fascinated by the roadmap from blues to rock to Laurel Canyon to disco to punk and on and on. Real music infuses and informs the fiction I write — by reading real-life accounts and listening to the songs, I’m put in the world from which it was all born.

Richard's book list on culture of mid-20th century music and musicians

Richard J. Alley Why did Richard love this book?

Want to write about music and musicians? You’ll need to understand the world in which they live. And if you’re writing about jazz and rock ‘n’ roll in the middle of the last century, that means a segregated, ugly world where even the most talented were treated as less than human. This was the world of the Chitlin’ Circuit. A dangerous, exciting, lawless network of nightclubs and juke joints from Memphis to New Orleans, Houston to Indianapolis, this topography spawned the popular music we love today. And nobody brings it to life like Lauterbach, whose reporting and language are as intense and musical as the era itself.

By Preston Lauterbach,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Chitlin' Circuit as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For generations, "chitlin' circuit" has meant second tier-brash performers in raucous nightspots far from the big-city limelight. Now, music journalist Preston Lauterbach combines terrific firsthand reportage with deep historical research to offer a groundbreaking account of the birth of rock 'n' roll in black America.


Book cover of Outside the Jukebox: How I Turned My Vintage Music Obsession Into My Dream Gig

Mike Southon Author Of The Beermat Entrepreneur: Turn Your good idea into a great business

From my list on the hidden mysteries of business, science, and nature.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been an entrepreneur for over 40 years and now pass on that knowledge to mentees and university students. The key to success in business is being able to attract and then learn from mentors, who, in my opinion, always should provide their knowledge, wisdom, and connections free of charge. As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to go down ‘The Dark Side’, especially if the pursuit of money and power becomes overwhelming. Many famous billionaires are not especially nice people. But there are many nice businesspeople out there and I aspire to be one of those, hence my pursuit of a daily advancement in esoteric, hermetic, and other knowledge.

Mike's book list on the hidden mysteries of business, science, and nature

Mike Southon Why did Mike love this book?

Nobody really knows what makes a video go viral on social media. Scott Bradlee is a jazz pianist who turned his love of 20s music into a YouTube phenomenon with over 4Bn hits: Postmodern Jukebox. He explains how you can turn this (often unexpected) instant attraction into a series of robust business models.

By Scott Bradlee,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Outside the Jukebox as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the creator of the sensation Postmodern Jukebox--with millions of fans globally--comes an inspirational memoir about discovering what you love and turning it into a creative movement.

With student loan debt piling up and no lucrative gigs around the corner, Scott Bradlee found himself in a situation all too familiar to struggling musicians and creative professionals, unsure whether he should use the little income he had to pay the rent on his basement apartment on the fringes of New York City or to avoid defaulting on his loans.

It was in these desperate circumstances that Bradlee began experimenting, applying his…


Book cover of Noise Uprising: The Audiopolitics of a World Musical Revolution

David W. Stowe Author Of Swing Changes: Big-Band Jazz in New Deal America

From my list on the social history of jazz.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up hearing jazz thanks to my dad, a big swing fan who allegedly played Duke Ellington for me in the crib. My father couldn’t believe it when I developed a taste for “modern jazz,” bebop, even Coltrane, but he never threw me out. Fifty years later I still love to play jazz on drums and listen to as much as I can. But along the way, I realized the world might be better served by me writing about the music than trying to make a living performing it. I had the great privilege of studying jazz in graduate school and wrote about big-band jazz for my first book, which helped launch my career.

David's book list on the social history of jazz

David W. Stowe Why did David love this book?

Michael Denning was my dissertation advisor in grad school and one of the most impressive scholars of American culture that I know. What I like about Noise Uprising is that it gives us a whole new perspective on the beginnings of jazz. No longer is American jazz at the center of the universe. Instead, it’s a small piece of a larger mosaic of popular music that stretched from Havana and Rio to Seville, Cairo, Jakarta, and Honolulu. Before reading this book I had no idea that musical recording even went on in all these far-flung places, beginning in 1925, even before the great wave of recordings appeared from Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Jelly Roll Morton. We learn about the origin and first recordings of such major genres as samba, son, tango, flamenco, tarab, kroncong, and hula. All of these styles were deeply embedded in the social and political struggles…

By Michael Denning,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

In a handful of years between the development of electrical recording in 1925 and the outset of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, the soundscape of modern music unfolded in a series of relatively unnoticed recording sessions around the world. These included the recording of tango in Buenos Aires, son in Havana, and samba in Rio; of hula in Honolulu, shidaiqu in Shanghai, and kroncong in Jakarta, and; of taraab in East Africa and marabi in Johannesburg. In this ground-breaking study, Michael Denning draws a global map of a musical revolution that had more profound consequences than the "modern"…


Book cover of Blues People: Negro Music in White America

Paul Rekret Author Of Take This Hammer: Work, Song, Crisis

From my list on popular music and capitalism.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a lecturer in the School of Media and Communication at the University of Westminster. I write regularly on popular music and culture in scholarly form and as a critic in various publications. I am convinced that popular music can gesture at utopia despite its emergence from within a capitalist market society.

Paul's book list on popular music and capitalism

Paul Rekret Why did Paul love this book?

This book was actually written before Baraka’s turn to Marxism, but as a social history of African American music, it is more than exemplary of a style of writing that takes the relationship of cultural form to its conditions seriously.

How Baraka moves between the music and the social conditions of Black musicians changed what I thought engaged musical analysis could be.

By Leroi Jones,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Blues People as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A must for all who would more knowledgeably appreciate and better comprehend America's most popular music." — Langston Hughes

"The path the slave took to 'citizenship' is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen's music—through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel development, jazz... [If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music."

So says Amiri Baraka (previously known as LeRoi Jones) in the Introduction to Blues…


Book cover of Jazz Baby

Bruce A. Borders Author Of Over My Dead Body

From my list on entertaining a restless mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

While the subject matter of the books on my list may vary, the thing that ties them together is the suspenseful tension that builds and keeps the reader on edge. The unexpected twists and turns are the "secret sauce"  that adds flavor and fervor. I like the way each of these books keeps your mind from wandering by combining vivid imagery with a compelling storyline. As an author myself, I am always fascinated by those who make it look so easy and effortless. And as an avid reader, I constantly search for these kind of books; the kind that make you feel as if you just have to keep reading.

Bruce's book list on entertaining a restless mind

Bruce A. Borders Why did Bruce love this book?

Jazz Baby is one of the best books I've read in a while. It easily takes the reader back in time to the days of prohibition and speakeasies. Emily Ann, Jazz Baby, just wants to sing. That's all. But it seems everything and everyone is against her. Family, friends, and the culture of the day conspire to keep her from her dream. On the other hand, Emily Ann is not really innocent in the matter. She constantly flirts with danger, embraces it, and even thrives on it. And in the end... sorry, can't give that away.


By Beem Weeks,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

While all of Mississippi bakes in the scorching summer of 1925, sudden orphanhood wraps its icy embrace around Emily Ann "Baby" Teegarten, a pretty young teen.

Taken in by an aunt bent on ridding herself of this unexpected burden, Baby Teegarten plots her escape using the only means at her disposal: a voice that brings church ladies to righteous tears, and makes both angels and devils take notice. "I'm going to New York City to sing jazz," she brags to anybody who'll listen. But the Big Apple--well, it's an awful long way from that dry patch of earth she'd always…


Book cover of The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds

Matt Cost Author Of Velma Gone Awry: A Brooklyn 8 Ballo Mystery

From my list on where history and mystery merge.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a former history major and teacher who has always loved to read histories and mysteries and then went on to write them as well. I have two mystery series of four books each (so far), the Mainely Mystery and Clay Wolfe/Port Essex series. I’ve also written three historical fiction books about the diverse topics of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution, Joshua Chamberlain and the Civil War, and New Orleans during Reconstruction. I’ve decided to combine my passion for histories and mysteries into a historical PI mystery set in 1923 Brooklyn, Velma Gone Awry

Matt's book list on where history and mystery merge

Matt Cost Why did Matt love this book?

This is a fun-filled mystery set in 1920s London. Cozies are not usually my thing, but I recently gave this a go as I am also writing a series in that exact time period and thought I’d see how Kinsey set about it. The historical beautifully captures the exuberance of the time period after World War I. Women have emerged from behind closed doors to interact on equal status as men, jazz music parades the pages with wild abandon, and the slang of the characters is spot on. The twists, turns, and action are blended in with the rich description to make this a delightful read.  

By T E Kinsey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Missing diamonds. Mysterious deaths. And all that jazz.

London, 1925. With their band the Dizzy Heights, jazz musicians Ivor 'Skins' Maloney and Bartholomew 'Barty' Dunn are used to improvising as they play the Charleston for flappers and toffs, but things are about to take a surprising turn.

Superintendent Sunderland has had word that a deserter who stole a fortune in diamonds as he fled the war is a member of the Aristippus private members' club in Mayfair-where the Dizzy Heights have a residency. And the thief is planning to steal a hoard of jewels hidden there under the cover of…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in jazz, bipolar disorder, and popular music?

Jazz 136 books
Bipolar Disorder 41 books
Popular Music 56 books