MORE RECOMMENDED MUSIC BOOKS

August Kleinzahler, MUSIC I—IXXIV (Pressed Wafer, $17.50)—A couple of weeks ago, one of my favorite music customers mentioned poet August Kleinzahler’s recent collection of short, wide-ranging essays on music. In fact, he was holding the beautifully designed paperback, published by a small press, Pressed Wafer, in Boston. I immediately ordered one, and am enjoying it immensely. Seventy four short takes on life and music (a very wide range of music from baroque to bop and blues) by a passionate listener, collector, veteran of used record stores—and a sometime jaunty, sometime acerbic writer. This will be my Christmas reading. 

Gary Giddins & Scott DeVeaux, JAZZ (Norton, $39.95)—If you have any interest in jazz, get this book—and order the additional accompanying 4-CD set; it’s great for both beginners and veterans alike. Giddins and DeVeaux trace the history with biographies of major players, trends, and, most importantly, second-by-second musical descriptions (in very easy-to-understand language) of 75 key works, from 1916 all the way up to the present. This is like going back to school with the hippest and most knowledgeable teachers to guide you.

Eric Siblin, THE CELLO SUITES: J. S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece (Grove/Atlantic, $24)—Sidlin—a newcomer to classical music—portrays the composer and the cellist, and his own search for the original manuscript of Bach’s suites of dances.