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Jones's career has spanned over sixty years, generating a substantial body of work with over five hundred compositions and arrangements. The author focuses on this material as well as many of Jones's accomplishments: performing as a young trumpeter in the bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, becoming the first African American to hold an executive position in the competitive white-owned recording industry, breaking racial barriers as a composer in the Hollywood film and television industries, producing the best-selling album of all time, and receiving numerous Grammy Awards.
The author also discusses many of Jones's compositions, arrangements, and recordings and his compositional study in France with legendary teacher Nadia Boulanger. In addition, details are provided about Jones's distinct ability as one of the most innovative composers and arrangers who incorporates many different styles of music, techniques, and creative ideas in his compositions, arrangements, and film scores. He collaborated with an array of musicians and groups such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Clifford Brown, Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, USA for Africa, and many others. Clarence Bernard Henry shows how Jones has, throughout his career, wholeheartedly embraced philosophies of globalization and cultural diversity in his body of work, collaborations, humanitarian projects, and musical creativity.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
October 7, 2013 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781628466188
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781628466188
- File size: 2040 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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September 1, 2013
Though probably best known for producing Michael Jackson's Thriller, Jones has seen major success and influence as a composer and an arranger of jazz, blues, gospel, soul, and classical music for more than 60 years. Along the way, Jones has drawn on black American musical tradition and made significant contributions to American music with more than 500 compositions and arrangements. Music scholar Henry chronicles Jones' career, from young trumpeter with the bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie to groundbreaking career as a recording industry executive to composer for Hollywood films. Jones, a multiple Grammy Award winner, has worked with iconic musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Ray Charles, and contributed his work to humanitarian causes. Jones' deep aesthetic appreciation and scholarly knowledge of the roots of black music are part of his own legacy as he has drawn on black music tradition while reinventing and pushing creative boundaries. Henry regards Jones as part of the canon of master musicians, including Bach, Beethoven, Copland, and Bernstein. Fans of Jones will appreciate this biography of the musical experience of an iconic musician.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)
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