Great music is a language unto its own, a means of communication of unmatched beauty and genius. And it has an undeniable power to move us in ways that enrich our lives-provided it is understood.If you have ever longed to appreciate great concert music, to learn its glorious language and share in its sublime pleasures, the way is now open to you, through this series of 48 wonderful lectures designed to make music accessible to everyone who yearns to know it, regardless of prior training or knowledge.

In How to Listen to Jazz, award-winning music scholar Ted Gioia presents a lively introduction to the art of listening to jazz. He tells us what to listen for in a performance and includes a guide to today's leading jazz musicians. From Louis Armstrong's innovative sounds to the exotic compositions of Duke Ellington, Gioia covers everything from the music's history to the building blocks of improvisation.

Ted Gioia's History of Jazz has been universally hailed as a classic - acclaimed by jazz critics and fans around the world. Now Gioia brings his magnificent work completely up-to-date, drawing on the latest research and revisiting virtually every aspect of the music, past and present. Gioia tells the story of jazz as it had never been told before, in a book that brilliantly portrays the legendary jazz players, the breakthrough styles, and the world in which it evolved. Here are the giants of jazz and the great moments of jazz history.

The piano is the most popular solo concert instrument in Western music. One of the key reasons is the fact that it has inspired many of the greatest masterpieces in the concert repertoire. To study these masterworks and to understand their genius and lasting appeal is to know one of the greatest accomplishments of Western culture, works that give great pleasure even as they deepen your insight into the meaning of music.

The 20th century was a hotbed of musical exploration, innovation, and transformation unlike any other epoch in history. Ranging across the century in its entirety, these 24 lectures present a musical cornucopia of astounding dimensions - a major presentation and exploration of the incredible brilliance and diversity of musical art across a turbulent century. Far more than simply a series of lectures, the program comprises a huge and many-sided resource for discovering the endless riches of 20th-century concert music across the globe.

Jazz - für viele ein Zauberwort, für manche vielleicht eine Drohung. Ein vielfach missbrauchtes Wort, nicht nur in unseren Tagen. Ein Sammelbegriff, unter dem man sich sehr Verschiedenes vorstellen kann: rhythmische Tanzmusik, wilde Klänge aus den schwarzen Ghettos amerikanischer Großstädte, fröhlichen Sound an einem warmen Sommerabend, coole Atmosphäre an der Bar zu später Stunde, laszive Begleitmusik zu schwüler Erotik, ausgeflippten Sound für schräge Typen, aber auch hochkonzentrierte Kammermusik für intellektuelle Ansprüche.

New Orleans, um die Wende zum 20. Jahrhundert der Schmelztiegel unterschiedlicher Kulturen im Südosten der Vereinigten Staaten, gilt einigermaßen unbestritten als der Geburtsort eines neuartigen Musikstils, der sich später unter der Bezeichnung Jazz in den USA verbreitete und in seinen mannigfaltigen Formen die zivilisierte Welt eroberte. Man muss allerdings unterscheiden: zwischen dem Entstehungsort - der ist in weiten Teilen der Südstaaten anzusiedeln - und dem Geburtsort, wo die neue Musik zum ersten Mal an die Öffentlichkeit gelangte.

Language defines us as a species, placing humans head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators. But it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries, allowing us to ponder why different languages emerged, why there isn't simply a single language, how languages change over time and whether that's good or bad, and how languages die out and become extinct.

"Things To Come" - so war eine Aufnahme des Trompeters Dizzy Gillespie mit seiner Big Band vom Juli 1946 benannt: "Die Dinge, die da kommen sollten", das war nicht bloß ein beliebiger Titel, sondern eher schon eine programmatische Ansage. Der neue musikalische Stil, den man Bebop nannte, bedeutete den Aufbruch in eine neue Ära des Jazz. Dessen waren sich die namhaften Vertreter dieser Stilrichtung sehr wohl bewusst.

Most of us have a limited understanding of the powerful role economics has played in shaping human civilization. This makes economic history - the study of how civilizations structured their environments to provide food, shelter, and material goods - a vital lens through which to think about how we arrived at our present, globalized moment. Designed to fill a long-empty gap in how we think about modern history, these 48 lectures are a comprehensive journey through more than 600 years of economic history.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a well-tested collection of practical techniques for managing moods and modifying undesirable behaviors through self-awareness, critical analysis, and goal-oriented change. CBT illuminates the links between thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and physical health and uses those connections to develop concrete plans for self-improvement. In 24 engaging half-hour lectures, you'll build a robust and effective self-improvement toolkit with the expert guidance of Professor Satterfield of the University of California, San Francisco.

Have you ever wondered how the lives of great composers-especially when set against the social, political, and cultural context of their world-influences their music?After listening to this perceptive series of eight lectures on the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven, you will likely find that you hear his work in an entirely different way, your insight informed by new knowledge of how Beethoven was able to create masterpieces from the crises of his life.You'll learn about the years of progressive hearing loss-ultimately to produce total deafness-and the understandable agony and rage such a fate would bring upon a composer. About his deep depression over the end of his relationship with the woman he calls his Immortal Beloved. About his pathological hatred of authority, his persecution complex, even delusional behaviors.But you'll also learn how each of these crises, and many others, served to drive Beethoven inward, to reinvent himself and redeem his suffering through art, creating disruptive works of profound passion and beauty that reinvented the nature of musical expression in the Western world.

Written by award-winning jazz historian Ted Gioia, this comprehensive guide offers an illuminating look at more than 250 seminal jazz compositions. In this comprehensive and unique survey, here are the songs that sit at the heart of the jazz repertoire, ranging from "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Autumn in New York" to "God Bless the Child," "How High the Moon," and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love." Gioia includes Broadway show tunes written by such greats as George Gershwin and Irving Berlin, and classics by such famed jazz musicians as Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and John Coltrane.

Eating is an indispensable human activity. As a result, whether we realize it or not, the drive to obtain food has been a major catalyst across all of history, from prehistoric times to the present. Epicure Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said it best: "Gastronomy governs the whole life of man."

Am Anfang der zwanziger Jahre war der beste Jazz eindeutig in Chicago zu hören, und doch war New York bereits im Begriff, der "Toddling Town" den Rang abzulaufen. Was New York den Musikern zu bieten hatte, war nicht so sehr musikalischer, sondern eher organisatorischer Natur. Hier waren die großen Konzertagenturen zuhause, von hier aus starteten die Tourneen durch die Staaten und hierher kehrten sie zurück.