Here you will find a few of Jimmy's personal recommendations. The first FIVE selections have stories documenting history and/or facts about Jimmy during his reign as the number 1 morning show host of the East Coast.
I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul (Hardcover)
'Others may have followed in my wake, but I was the one who turned racist minstrelsy into Black soul—and by doing so, became a cultural force.' So claims Brown in the opening pages of his garrulous, vernacular memoir written with the aid of Eliot (author of bios on the Eagles and Bruce Springsteen). And Brown makes a convincing argument, tracing his gutsy transformation from dirt-poor grade school dropout to gospel singer, legendary showman and musical innovator who broke the color barrier of 1950s and '60s pop by melding African-American rhythm and blues with gospel and rock to become the Godfather of Soul. Along with fascinating details about life in the music industry, Brown relates how soul music, which begins on the upbeat (traditional blues began on the downbeat) was a 'statement of race, of force, of stature, of stride' and 'the perfect marching music for the civil rights era.' The 'rock-a-soul' that Brown created (along with rockers Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and others) 'was not just about rebellion—it was the rebellion itself,' he says. Chronicling such peace-seeking yet controversial events as his 1968 U.S.O. tour of Vietnam and his landmark Boston Garden performance the day after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Brown cites his own example as a 'self-made and therefore self-owned Black man.' Though he sometimes attributes his legal, financial and political woes to a racist establishment too eager to judge a black man before his day in court, Brown remains a deeply positive force dedicated to the 'international language of music.' This is a fascinating memoir of a trailblazer in music and civil rights.
Sweet Soul Music:
Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom
Description: Nat Hentoff has called Peter Guralnick 'a national resource,' and for once this isn't a piece of hype. Guralnick may be a premiere chronicler of American popular music, which he writes about with brains, reverence, and a peculiar tenderness for dashed dreams. In this volume, he records the rise and fall of Stax Records--the Memphis powerhouse that produced a string of classics from the likes of Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Carla Thomas, Booker T. and the MGs, and Johnnie Taylor. The birth of modern rhythm-and-blues makes for a fascinating story. But there's another story behind that one--the racial tensions that eventually tore Stax apart--which makes the book richer, and sadder, than we have any right to expect.
Description: The climax of this humane account of 10 years in Boston that began with news of Martin Luther King's assassination, is a watershed moment in the city's modern history--the 1974 racist riots that followed the court-ordered busing of kids to integrate the schools. To bring understanding to that moment, Lukas, a former New York Times journalist, focuses on two working-class families, headed by an Irish-American widow and an African-American mother, and on the middle-class family of a white liberal couple. Lukas goes beyond stereotypes, carefully grounding each perspective in its historical roots, whether in the antebellum South, or famine-era Ireland. In the background is the cast of public figures--including Judge Garrity, Mayor White, and Cardinal Cushing--and the main broker of the deal itself, Jimmy 'Early' Byrd ...with cameo roles in this disturbing history that won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction.
Description: I feel that Gloria is the greatest jazz singer since Ella Fitzgerald. The same class as Nancy Wilson and Dinah Washington but she caught a bad break from poor management. Read about it all in this book
James Brown: The Godfather of Soul
Author: by James Brown, Bruce Tucker, Al Sharpton,
Description: This is one of the many books that pay tribute to Jimmy. His relationship with James goes well beyond the friendship and into the history books and they worked together to prevent rioting in Boston when Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated...
Description: The Amazing Secret History of Elmore James was originally a masters' thesis project for author Steve Franz, and as he points out in the book's preface, he consulted over 300 recordings in addition to researching the artist through close to a combined 500 articles, books, liner notes, newspaper clippings, interviews, and more. All told, nearly fifteen years of work were poured into what is now the finished product.
Description: THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT is A TRUE RAG TO RICHES AMERICAN SUCCESS STORY. Hal Jackson is a founder, owner and Group Chairman of Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, the largest privately held Black-owned broadcasting network in the nation, which includes: WBLS-FM 107.5 and WLIB in New York City, as well as fifteen other radio station outlets in major markets and cable television stations throughout the United States. Hal Jackson and his wife Debi B. Jackson host the HJ 'Sunday Classics' on WBLS (8:00A.M. - 4:00P.M.), a #1 rated show in New York City on Sunday, which has been the number one (1) FM weekend radio program nationwide for over a decade. During his broadcasting career, Harold 'Hal' Jackson has made numerous contributions to the African-American community. As an icon and an activist, Hal rose to the pinnacle of his profession by becoming one of the nation’s leading entertainment and broadcasting industry executives. Hal Jackson is the first African! -American inducted into the Broadcast Hall of Fame, the first African-American inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, a National Association of Black-owned Broadcasters honoree, and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Hal Jackson has been the executive producer and host of the Hal Jackson’s Talented Teens International Scholarship Competition (HJTTI) for more than thirty years, created through his Youth Development Foundation, Inc. to 'inspire leadership for the future.' This scholarship competition for young women with its local, regional and international programs has touched over 30,000 young ladies, helping to develop socially conscious young women as leaders, professionals and entertainers. THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT is about a remarkable man, whose determination and vision would make him one of the most significant figures in American radio and television history.
The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia
Description : This new edition of the ultimate reference book for blues lovers by renowned music authority Robert Santelli contains more than 650 entries profiling every important blues artist-from Bessie Smith to Koko Taylor, Charlie Patton to Robert Cray, Blind Willie McTell to Stevie Ray Vaughn. Each biographical sketch is concise and informative, going beyond basic biographical data and discographies to include a discussion of the artist's style, musical contribution, and 'essential listening'-the recordings you must go to if you want to hear that person's best work. Existing entries have been completely updated, and fifty new entries have been added. This one-of-a-kind, richly informative guide will be a beloved and much-used reference for blues aficionados and new listeners alike for years to come.
Moanin' at Midnight : The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf
Description : Billed as the first full-length biography of Howlin' Wolf, the strapping (six-foot-three and 300 pounds) bluesman with the lyrical growl, this engrossing study is a must-have for blues-concerned collections and, indeed, a worthy acquisition for any pop music collection. The Wolf (Chester Burnett offstage) stands with Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker among the giants in the blues pantheon. A student of Charlie Patton and the first Sonny Boy Williamson, he rose from the poor sharecropper's life that was pretty much obligatory for blacks in Mississippi's Delta region to stardom in first Memphis and then Chicago. He helped define the blues sound that many of the English-invasion rock bands of the 1960s based their styles on. A worthy shelf mate for Robert Gordon's Muddy Waters biography, Can't Be Satisfied (2002), Segrest and Hoffman's book is a distinctive survey of the Wolf's life and career and a valuable blues history resource in general by virtue of its limning of many of the Wolf's fellow bluesmen--Little Walter, Willie Dixon, and others. Down-home, gritty, and comprehensive.
Burn, Baby! Burn!: The Autobiography of Magnificent Montague (Music in American Life)
Description : With his dynamic on-air personality and his trademark cry of 'Burn, baby! Burn' when spinning the hottest new records, Magnificent Montague was the charismatic voice of soul music in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. In this memoir Montague recounts the events of his momentous radio career, which ran from the era of segregation to that of the civil rights movement; as he does so, he also tells the broader story of a life spent in the passionate pursuit of knowledge, historical and musical. Like many black disc jockeys of his day, Montague played a role in his community beyond simply spreading the music of James Brown, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, and other prominent artists. Montague served as an unofficial spokesman for his black listeners, reflecting their beliefs and acting as a sounding board for their concerns. Montague was based in Los Angeles in 1965 when the Watts rioters seized on his incendiary slogan, turning the shout of musical appreciation into a rallying cry for racial violence. In Burn, Baby! Burn Montague recalls these tumultuous times, including the personal struggle he faced over whether to remain true to his listeners or bend to political pressure and stop shouting his suddenly controversial slogan. Since the mid-1950s Montague had also expressed his passion for African American culture by becoming a zealous collector of artifacts of black history. He has built a monumental collection, taking time out from his collecting to become only the second African American to build his own radio station literally from the ground up. A compelling account of a rich and varied life, Burn, Baby! Burn gives an insider's view of half a century of black history, told with on-the-air zest by the DJ/historian who was there to see it unfold.
Dream Boogie : The Triumph of Sam Cooke (Hardcover)
Starred Review. There's no real substitute for the sound of Sam Cooke's music, but the detailed descriptions of his recordings throughout this masterful biography are the next best thing to wearing headphones while you read. Guralnick's first book after a two-volume bio of Elvis honors Cooke's (1931–1964) musical genius, especially his ability to grasp the changing music scene of the late 1950s and early '60s. For those who only know the singer through his pop hits—'You Send Me'; 'Twistin' the Night Away'—the extensive account of his childhood background in gospel music will prove fascinating, and the evocation of the harsh realities faced by African-American musicians touring the South a powerful reminder of just how explosive this music could be. Yet wide-ranging interviews reveal that behind Cooke's talent and energetic vocal style, many of his peers in the music biz saw a more troubling personality. The biography does not judge, but neither does it hold back on recounting Cooke's ruthless interactions with record companies or the deep rifts in his marriage to his former childhood sweetheart. Guralnick's revelation of the complicated man behind the music ultimately enables readers to rediscover songs like 'A Change Is Gonna Come' as even more remarkable than before
Description : Ray Charles: Man and Music is a complete biography of this seminal singer/pianist who has been active on the American music scene since the mid-'50s. Originally published in 1995 by Penguin Books, and universally hailed as the definitive biography, this new edition will bring Charles's life up to date, covering the last 7 years of his life.
Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye
