Lou Reed made it his mission to rub people the wrong way, whether it was with the noise rock he produced with the Velvet Underground in the late 1960s or his polarizing work with Metallica that would prove to be his swan song. On a personal level, too, he seemed to take pleasure in insulting everyone who crossed his path. How did this Jewish boy from Long Island, an adolescent doo-wop singer, rise to the status of Godfather of Punk? And how did he maintain that status for decades?

From the moment Patti Smith burst onto the scene, chanting "Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine," the irreverent opening line to Horses, her 1975 debut album, the punk movement had found its dissident intellectual voice. Yet outside the recording studio—Smith has released eleven studio albums—the punk poet laureate has been perhaps just as revelatory and rhapsodic in interviews, delivering off-the-cuff jeremiads that emboldened a generation of disaffected youth and impart...

Winner of the American Book Award (2023)Longlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award (2023)The long-awaited first full biography of legendary jazz saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins.Sonny Rollins has long been considered an enigma. Known as the “Saxophone Colossus,” he is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz improvisers of all time, winning Grammys, the Austrian Cross of Honor, Sweden’s Polar M...

Sonny Rollins has long been considered an enigma. Known as the "Saxophone Colossus," he is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz improvisers of all time. His seven-decade career has been well documented, but the backstage life of the man once called "the only jazz recluse" has gone largely untold—until now.Based on more than 200 interviews with Rollins himself, family members, friends, and collaborators, as well as Rollins' extensive personal archive, Saxophone Coloss...

This book not only covers the highlights of Lou Reed's career, but explores lesser-known facets of his work, such as his first recordings with doo-wop group the Jades, his key literary influences, the impact of Judaism upon his work, and his engagement with the LGBT movement. Drawing from original interviews with many of his artistic collaborators, friends, and romantic partners, as well as from archival material, concert footage, and unreleased bootlegs of live performances, Dirty Blv...

Sonny Rollins is one of the towering masters of American music, a virtuoso of the saxophone, and an unequaled improviser whose live performances are legendary and who has reshaped modern jazz over the course of a career lasting more than sixty years. A turning point in that legendary career came in 1959, when Rollins stepped back from performing and recording to begin a new regime of musical exploration. This was also the moment when he started the notebook that would become a trusted comp...

**A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • An autobiography of one of the towering figures of contemporary American music and a powerful meditation on history, race, capitalism, and art.A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, NPR*, The New Yorker***Henry Threadgill has had a singular life in music. At 79, the saxophonist, flautist, and celebrated composer is one of three jazz artists (along with Ornette Coleman and Wynton Marsalis) to have won a Pu...

**The rock legend tells the story of his wild ride with Martin Scorsese—as friends, adventure-seekers, and boundary-pushing collaborators—with all the heart of his New York Times bestselling memoir Testimony.“A tender portrait of shared adventure and an unflinching reflection on brotherhood, loss and redemption.”—The New York Times**For four decades, Robbie Robertson produced music for Martin Scorsese's films, a relationship that began when Robert...

**Nominated for the National Book Award for Nonfiction • A New Yorker Best Book of the Year"Revelatory . . . the definitive single volume . . . fresh and indelible." —Oprah Daily"A rounded portrait of a gifted, complex, and sometimes tortured man." —The Boston GlobeAn enthralling and groundbreaking new biography of one of modern America’s most fascinating and consequential political figures, drawing on important new sources, by an award-wi...

The warmly welcomed memoir by one of the most influential and beloved musicians of our timeIn Herbie Hancock: Possibilities, the legendary jazz musician and composer reflects on an extraordinary life and a thriving career that has spanned seven decades. A true innovator who has spent a lifetime exploring a range of musical genres, and enriching each of them, Hancock has had an enormous influence on acoustic and electric jazz, R&B, funk, and hip-hop.

From the premiere Beatles biographer—author of the New York Times bestseller John Lennon: The Life and Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation—a rare and “absorbing biography” (Wall Street Journal) of George Harrison, the most misunderstood and mysterious Beatle, based on decades-long research and unparalleled access to inside sources.Despite being hailed as one of the best guitarists of his era, George Harrison, particularly in ...

**Once upon a time, if you wanted to know if a movie was worth seeing, you didn’t check out Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB.You asked whether Siskel & Ebert had given it “two thumbs up.”**On a cold Saturday afternoon in 1975, two men (who had known each other for eight years before they’d ever exchanged a word) met for lunch in a Chicago pub. Gene Siskel was the film critic for the Chicago Tribune. Roger Ebert had recently won the Pulitzer Prize—the first ever awa...