Louis Armstrong. "Satchmo." To millions of fans, he was just a great entertainer. But to jazz aficionados, he was one of the most important musicians of our times--not only a key figure in the history of jazz but a formative influence on all of 20th-century popular music. Set against the backdrop of New Orleans, Chicago, and New York during the "jazz age," Collier re-creates the saga of an old-fashioned black man making it in a white world. He chronicles Armstrong's rise as a musician, his scrapes with the law, his relationships with four wives, and his frequent feuds with fellow...

Praised by the Washington Post as a "tough, unblinked critic," James Lincoln Collier is probably the most controversial writer on jazz today. With the publication of "Jazz: The American Theme Song," Collier does nothing to soften his reputation for hard-hitting, incisive commentary. Questioning everything we think we know about jazz-- its origins, its innovative geniuses, the importance of improvisation and spontaneous inspiration in a performance-- and the jazz world, these ten provocative essays on the music and its place in American culture overturn tired assumptions and will alternately...

All his life, Tim Meeker has looked up to his brother Sam. Sam's smart and brave -- and is now a part of the American Revolution. Not everyone in town wants to be a part of the rebellion. Most are supporters of the British -- including Tim and Sam's father. With the war soon raging, Tim know he'll have to make a choice -- between the Revolutionaries and the Redcoats . . . and between his brother and his father.

Young Tim Meeker is caught between his brother's patriotism and his father's Tory sympathies in this story of the American Revolution.

This biography of Benny Goodman's music and times attempts to recreate the colourful music world of the 1920s and 1930s, when Goodman was hailed the King of Swing. The author offers insights into the character and music of a man who helped transform the Depression years into the Swing Era.