With his pithy humour, Dick - the king of British blues saxophone - describes the revolutionary founding years of British R&B with wonderful anecdotes about Ginger Baker, Alexis Korner, Charlie Watts and the unforgettable Graham Bond. An extraordinarily entertaining book, Dick's unrelentingly honest account of his musical career also reflects on what it takes to be a full time musician and grapples with the racism and drug abuse endemic in the music industry. Included with the book is a CD featuring 25 minutes of unreleased tracks by Dick Heckstall-Smith.
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.45
Trade in Blowing the Blues: A Personal History of the British Blues for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.45, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Learn more
|
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
I guess I hit town as the most unfledged fledgling ever. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I guess I hit town as the most unfledged fledgling ever. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By Troggo
Format:Paperback
If you've not heard of Dick Heckstall-Smith, you're probably to young to remember the 70s band Colosseum. If you do remember them, this is a great book about the rise and fall of the band and the part that DHS played in it. Probably of more general interest, however, is the time DHS spent in the 60s, playing with Alexis Korner and Graham Bond at the same time as Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, and touring with Mayall's Bluesbreakers in the Mick Taylor era. There's a fascinating chapter on Graham Bond which is almost worth the price of the book by itself. The book also covers the problems of the jazz scene in Britain, which DHS was also active in. There's also a CD which contains unreleased material - it's jazz mostly, but with rock/blues overtones and some really great performances. If you're interested in how British blues/rock came to be, you couldn't do better than to buy this.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a great book and an excellent read for anyone interested in the British music scene of the 60's. Dick HS was a great instrumentalist and comes over as an honest and unpretentious bloke. The problem with this book is that it is in fact a reprint (and re-title) of DHSS autobiography "The Safest Place in the World". Now I really enjoyed this book when I bought and read it a number of years ago - so it was with some disappointment that I discovered that I had bought it again in this "revamped" version. Yes - there are some "extras" but it is basically exactly the same book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The burgeoning music scene in post war Britain , under the huge influences emanating from out of the West , was influenced by a relatively small number of men...and Dick Heckstall-Smith was one of them. A sympathetic tale of human relationships , post war economics and a love of music. As recommended by Amazon , buy all three - Ginger Baker's 'Hellraiser' and 'Jack Bruce Composing Himself: The Authorised Biography' by Harry Shapiro...it's how it all began for baby boomers.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews
4.6 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
CD details
There is an error in the description where it says the accompanying CD is 25 minutes long.
It is actually 65 minutes - and very good it is too. Read more
It is actually 65 minutes - and very good it is too. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Patrick Hurley
2.0 out of 5 stars
Probably one for the die hard fans
I love reading biographies and hearing anicdotes about the British Blues Boom in the '60s and was really looking forward to reading this one. Read more
Published on 7 July 2010 by TheHarv
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blowing the Blues
I read the original some years ago, "The Safest Place in the World", & this updated title with CD is just a great insight into the man, his music & being on the road in a band.
Published on 20 Sep 2009 by Barry W. Klarnett
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Film, Television & Music > Music > Blues
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > History of Film > Britain
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Music > Styles > Blues
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Communication Studies > Media & Communication Industries > Television
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
