Saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Ornette Coleman, along with pianist Cecil Taylor, was one of the founding forces of the Free Jazz movement which took the music world by storm in the 1950s and 60s. His brilliance as an instrumentalist at first positioned him as a polarizing figure, but eventually brought him recognition as an American original and international jazz treasure.Jazz drummer Michael Stephans explores the personal challenges Coleman faced, the...

In Experiencing Jazz: A Listener’s Companion, writer, teacher, and renowned jazz drummer Michael Stephans offers a much-needed survey in the art of listening to and enjoying this dynamic, ever-changing art form. More than mere entertainment, jazz provides a pleasurable and sometimes dizzying listening experience with an extensive range in structure and form, from the syncopated swing of big bands to the musical experimentalism of small combos. As Stephans illustrates, listeners and jazz ar...

Nesta obra poderemos compreender que os seres humanos já nascem permeados de talentos que gradativamente podem ser lapidados. Ocorre que no decorrer de sua existência, podem se deslumbrar com tantas "facilidades" e "descobertas" do mundo, que acabam por obscurecer a sua própria essência. Em decorrência disso se veem em um beco sem saída e "tentam" se arrastar em um ambiente de lama, de maneira totalmente retorcida. De outro modo, compreende-se que não precisamos permanecer entulhados. Toda...

This book develops a theory of picture perception and aesthetic response, arguing that images can generate in us a complex pattern of mental changes, or transformations. It is essential reading to those seriously involved in linking the arts and cognitive sciences.

In On the Way to the Sky: Remembering Bob Brookmeyer, author Michael Stephans has created a rich, multifaceted paean to jazz icon Bob Brookmeyer, the much beloved musical genius who passed away in 2011, four days short of his 82nd birthday. On the Way to the Sky is a hybrid book in that it’s part memoir, part biography, with over a dozen essays by such luminaries as Maria Schneider, Jim McNeely, John Mosca, Darcy James Argue, Dave Rivello, John Hollenbeck, and the late Terry Teachout, as w...

“[This new edition of] The Scramble for Africa uses tools of international political economy to clarify the challenges of development in today’s Africa from managing mounting demand for the region’s natural resources and land, to navigating the turbulence of global capital and trade flows. It critically analyses the sources and sustainability of the current African growth path and explains why they are crucial for South Africa’s foreign and economic policy debates.”As the title of ...

The Flats is a delightful, humorous romp through the lives of a coal miner’s patchwork family in the early 1950s. Tucked away in a secluded area of Pennsylvania’s majestic Allegheny Mountains, Michael Stephanic learns to navigate the many obstacles of a dysfunctional family. Together with his stepfather John, his mother Julia and his sister Turtle, life is nothing less than one amazing adventure after another. Even when dark clouds gather and dangerous, physical and emotional storms roll i...

Unique et mythique Michael Jackson ! De l'Indiana au cimetière de Forest Lawn, de 1958 à 2009, de I want you back " à " This is i t", cet ouvrage retrace cinquante ans d'une existence exceptionnelle, heureuse et chaotique. Il s'agit surtout, ici, de retracer un parcours hors normes, et de comprendre pourquoi et comment un petit Afro-Américain a pu devenir la plus grande idole de la musique pop. La disparition tragique de Michael Jackson en juin 2009 n'a en rien mis un terme à sa légende. L...

Stephan Martin tells us that ninety-six percent of the universe is dark matter we can't see and don't understand. He sat down with leading physicists, spiritual leaders, and cultural creatives to get their insights on what we do know-and what we believe. In this riveting conversation he shares insights from every perspective-the questions that arise from the creativity of the universe itself.

NIGHTWATCH, Book 7FIONA STREET is back as the US government's most dangerous black ops agent! She's saved a nation from political gangsters. She's helped save a foreign universe from destruction. Now the government's most super of super-spies builds a special ops team to grapple with menaces no one can imagine. But those enemies aren't sleeping. A terrible entity from beyond our universe sows doubt through Fiona's spy network, leading it to distrust and hunt her. Fiona's own people...

« Ici, comme dans les autres ghettos, pas d'artifice à la Marilyn, ni de mythe à la Kennedy. Ici, c'est la réalité. Celle qui macère, mendie et crève. »Enlisés au Vietnam, les États-Unis traversent une crise sans précédent : manifestations, émeutes, explosion des violences policières. Vingt millions d'Afro-Américains sont chaque jour livrés à eux-mêmes, discriminés, harcelés. Après l'assassinat de Malcolm X, la communauté noire se déchire entre la haine et la non...

Eine Familie, vier Generationen, schicksalhaft verbunden mit den Wäldern Kanadas – und unserer ZukunftJacinda Greenwood weiß nichts über ihre väterliche Familie, deren Namen sie trägt. Sie arbeitet als Naturführerin auf Greenwood Island, doch die Namensgleichheit, so glaubt sie, ist reiner Zufall. Bis eines Tages ihr Ex-Verlobter vor ihr steht. Im Gepäck hat er das Tagebuch ihrer Großmutter. Jahresring für Jahresring enthüllt sich für Jacinda endlich ihre Familieng...