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 compositional techniques to working in a exclusive canon that has existed for a very long time. At the same time, Banfield draws on sociology, Western concepts of art and taste, and vernacular musical forms like blues and jazz to provide a frame for t...

When the chief is away, Donal the bard is called in to sort out suspicious deaths in a 16th century Irish townCruel Sister: A tragic accident ends a young woman's life, and her paramour and her sister find love in their shared grief. Or is there more to the story?Foxhunter's Jig: A rich and arrogant foreigner comes to town for the hunting, only to be found dead by his own crossbow.