VanHecke, Susan Raggin╙ Jazzin╙ Rockin╙

VanHecke, Susan. Raggin╙ Jazzin╙ Rockin╙  

Boyd's Mills      2011  129p  17.95   978-1-59078-574-4  

ms/hs             E-BN  

This book discusses the origins of eight musical instruments that are vital to American jazz and rock music.      

The scholarship in this book is astoundingly good ... lots of detail on the origins and evolution of eight popular instruments, including the piano, the guitar, the electric guitar, the Moog synthesizer, drums, the Hammond organ, and the cymbals. 

In each section, the people who invented and developed these instruments leap

off the page as interesting, intelligent individuals, each of whom had a vision

and the willingness to work to make that vision a reality.  The photographs and

diagrams are very instructive and match the text perfectly.  The side-bar

commentary adds a great deal as well.  Notes, source notes, web sites and photo

credits are included, along with a useful index.

The ways in which historical realities affected the livelihoods of these musical inventors and entrepreneus -- immigration, wars, the Great Depression, illness, marriages -- will show young readers that some of the things we take for granted today represent years of hard work and sacrifice on the part of people like ourselves.     Kennedy, Carol