Billy loves playing his trombone. The big problem is, the rest of his family can really blow, but he sucks. The Brass Soloists’ Competition is coming up and Billy feels excluded. Frustrated, he goes to practise in the hills, where he falls asleep. He wakes up and his luck is changed by some strange creatures. Will he get to play at the competition? Will he bring shame on his family? This is a must read for any youngster (even at heart) who loves a good story or is a brass player. Full of exciting twists and turns, and memorable characters, this story is a delightful first trip into the World of Musical Tales.
Just an ordinary boy with the usual likes and dislikes, Billy Bean’s favorite food is baked beans. One special day, Billy unknowingly eats a magic bean, and it changes his life forever. This first illustrated book in an exciting new children’s series introduces Billy, explains his story, and introduces all his new-found friends. The Adventures of Billy the Bean presents a new hero for children to follow and each story provides a challenge for Billy. It contains four separate stories with more to come.
When Ozzie Nelson died in 1975, he was no longer a household name. For a guy who had created the longest-running TV sitcom in history, invented the rock video, and fronted one of the most successful big bands of the 1930s, it's baffling that Nelson has faded so far from American media memory. Larger than life offscreen--an attorney, college football star, cartoonist, songwriter, major band leader--Ozzie created a smaller-than-life TV persona, the bumbling average Dad who became known to the rock generation (which included his teen idol son Rick Nelson) as the essence of blandness. But America also saw Ozzie as their iconic Dad: not a "father knows best," since his pontifications usually proved flawed by the end of each episode, but the father who tried his best. This book is the only full-length biography of Ozzie Nelson since he published his memoirs in 1973. It treats the big band and early TV icon with affection and hints that American pop culture may owe more to Ozzie than is generally acknowledged.
This is a Salinger, "Catcher in the Rye," type of story of a 12-year-old boy sent away from his home in Chicago, to live on a farm up in Wisconsin, with his Great-Grandmother--who he's only met once--which was enough. Also, of course, there's husband #4, an ex-sheriff, with his two young girls--one's a knockout, and the other can knock you out. And then there's slick Eddie, turned 17 and going into the Navy. Yeah, World War II is on, but 'Hey!' it's on the other side of the world. And then there's mean Ah-lex, the hired hand. He'll chew you up with or without salt and pepper just for kicks. But next week Richard gets out of Montifiore--which isn't a reform school but you have to be bad to get in. So he's coming up. And get this: he's my uncle even though he's only a year older than me. But, of course, I never-ever call him: Uncle Richard--unless he twists my arm into a pretzel. And then there was the 'haying' during a heatwave; 90's day-in and day-out under a blistering sun. The trick was to park your brain outside your body. Then when the rain finally came it forgot to leave. The creek became a river, and the river became a lake, and the lake an ocean with the cows trapped on the other side. And if cows don't get milked they explode or something. And there goes the farm. So we converted a sled into a raft and that took care of Ah-lex. I got dragged along by some barbed wire and ended up floating down the river in an inner tube at the mercy of the Demons. And that was just the beginning...
Timme Rosenkrantz (1911-1969) was a journalist, author, concert and record producer, broadcaster, and entrepreneur with a consuming passion for jazz and little head for business. He was the first European journalist to cover the jazz scene in Harlem from 1934 to 1969. In this English translation and adaptation of the original Danish-language memoir published in 1964, Harlem Jazz Adventures: A European Baron's Memoir, 1934-1969 recounts Rosenkrantz's happy stranding in New York City, where he would record jazz artists and bands in his midtown apartment, organize his own jazz band, and run a record shop with his life companion, the black journalist and singer Inez Cavanaugh. Jazz lovers and social historians interested in the intersection of race and the music business will find in Rosenkrantz's memoir an invaluable primary source on Harlem's social scene and its musical legacy.
Billy May was a self-taught musician and arranger. In 1938, he received his first big break arranging and playing trumpet; first, for the Charlie Barnet band, and in 1940, the band of Glenn Miller. Settling in Hollywood in 1943, his first of many big breaks in radio was playing in Ozzie Nelson's band for the Red Skelton Show. Shortly thereafter, May was asked by Nelson to be musical director to his new show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. He was also fortunate to play in the orchestra and write arrangements for John Scott Trotter on Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall. Billy May's earliest collaboration with Frank Sinatra produced Don't Fence Me In for broadcast on December 23, 1944. Capitol Records paired Billy May and Alan Livingston to initiate a series of children's recordings with arrangements and compositions such as Bozo the Clown and the exceedingly popular I Taut I Taw a Putty Tat. As a band leader and arranger, his signature included the prominent saxophone section glissando (sliding, or slurping) effect, and highly imaginative arrangements. His last great project was the documentation on record of swing era music, commissioned by Time-Life, and completed in 1973. The discography covers Billy May as arranger and composer from 1944-1998, as sideman and arranger for others, his work on radio, television, movies, and international appearances, his road band, recordings, both domestic and foreign, and his transcriptions. Data is cross-indexed by song title and artist.
