Music & Movies

(Jazz Play Along). For use with all Bb, Eb and C instruments, the Jazz Play-Along Series is the ultimate learning tool for all jazz musicians. With musician-friendly lead sheets, melody cues and other split-track choices on the included CD, this...

Blues was once described as the devil's music. It eventually became some of the most beloved American music that was embraced by a global audience. Originating in African American communities in the South in the late 1800s, it was inspired by gospel and...

Raw, authoritative, and unflinching ... An elaborately detailed, darkly surprising, definitive history of the LA gangsta rap era. -- Kirkus, starred review A monumental, revealing narrative history about the legendary group of artists at the forefront of...

"They would transform your whole look into a superstar." -- -- Nas The exciting story about how the street wear pioneers Shirt Kings created a style that would define hip hop culture in the 1980s and beyond. Jamaica, Queens, New York in the mid 1980s...

Don't miss the inspirational biography behind the exciting new Lifetime movie Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, starring Alexandra Shipp as the extraordinary singer Aaliyah. Aaliyah Dana Haughton was that music business rarity: a teen idol who transformed...

An autobiography of one of the towering figures of contemporary American music and a powerful meditation on history, race, capitalism, and art. Henry Threadgill has had a singular life in music. At 78, the jazz saxophonist, flautist, and celebrated...

From one of rap's most evocative writers comes a stirring memoir and "masterpiece of a book" (Snoop Dogg) about how Boosie Badazz, one of the industry's most controversial figures, was able to overcome insurmountable odds to make his music dreams a...

Founder of the Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO) and the Philadelphia School of Dance Arts, Joan Myers Brown's personal and professional histories reflect the hardships as well as the advances of African-Americans in the artistic and social...

This book offers new essays and interviews addressing Wilson's work, ranging from examinations of the presence of Wilson's politics in his plays to the limitations of these politics on contemporary interpretations of Black aesthetics. Also includes an...

Award-winning actor, rapper, and producer Ice-T unveils a compelling memoir of his early life robbing jewelry stores until he found fame and fortune--while a handful of bad choices sent his former crime partner down an incredibly different path. Ice-T...

In September 2021, playwright/performersEisa Davis and Jillian Walker met to discuss Walker's performance ritual, SKiNFoLK: An American Show (forthcoming from 53rd State Press in March 2022). InJanuary 2022, they met again to discuss Davis's installation...

Now available in paperback, William C. Banfield's acclaimed collection of interviews delves into the lives and work of forty-one Black composers. Each of the profiled artists offers a candid self-portrait that explores areas from training and...

African American westerns have a rich cinematic history and visual culture. Mia Mask examines the African American western hero within the larger context of film history by considering how Black westerns evolved and approached wide-ranging goals. Woody...

A timely exploration of Oscar-nominated Black actors and the complicated legacy of the Academy Awards. In Black Oscars: From Mammy to Minny, What the Academy Awards Tell Us about African Americans, Frederick W. Gooding Jr. draws on American, African...

Named one of the best music books of 2017 by The Wall Street JournalA unique and kaleidoscopic look into the life, legacy, and electricity of the pop legend Prince and his wideranging impact on our cultureBen Greenman, New York Times bestselling author,...

Pittsburgh Jazz documents the almost forgotten magic created in the city of Pittsburgh by a host of artists, uptown inner city streets, and jazz joints that served patrons from a menu packed full of delightful music. The magical improvised songs,...