Stomp and Swerve: American Music Gets Hot, 1843-1924 - Softcover

Wondrich, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 155652496X ISBN 13: 9781556524967

Publisher: A Cappella Books, 2003

Synopsis

The early decades of American popular music are, for most listeners, the dark ages. It wasn't until the mid-1920s that the full spectrum of this music -- black and white, urban and rural, sophisticated and crude -- made it onto records for all to hear. This book brings a forgotten music, hot music, to life by describing how it became the dominant American music -- how it outlasted sentimental waltzes and parlour ballads, symphonic marches and Tin Pan Alley novelty numbers -- and how it became rock 'n' roll. It reveals that the young men and women of that bygone era had the same musical instincts as their descendants Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and even Ozzy Osbourne. In minstrelsy, ragtime, brass bands, early jazz and blues, fiddle music, and many other forms, there was as much stomping and swerving as can be found in the most exciting performances of hot jazz, funk, and rock. Along the way, it explains how the strange combination of African with Scotch and Irish influences made music in the United States vastly different from other African and Caribbean music; shares terrific stories about minstrel shows, 'coon' a motley collection of performers heretofore unknown to all but the most avid musicologists and collectors.

About this title

Product Description:

Rare Book

Review:

"A cool book . . . bringing alive the deepest roots of American rock, R&B and rap." -- Discoveries

"A hot book about hot music . . . with a rare ear for its subject." -- Seattle Weekly

"A lovingly written account." -- Esquire

"Appealingly irreverent." -- Chicago Reader

"Entertaining and engaging" -- Library Journal

"Groundbreaking." -- Robert Christgau, The Believer

"Highly logical and entertaining . . . No other author has done a better job of putting all the pieces together." -- The New York Sun

"Music book of the year? Probably Stomp and Swerve." -- Austin American–Statesman

"Saucy." -- The Village Voice

"Wondrich’s own passion is infectious enough to make the reader retrieve the old marching band horn from the attic." -- Shepherd Express

About this edition

• Publisher: A Cappella Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 155652496X
• ISBN 13: 9781556524967
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256