Listening for America: Inside the Great American Songbook from Gershwin to Sondheim [Hardcover]

Finalist The Marfield Prize [National Award for Arts Writing] [An] enlightening study.... Rob Kapilow may be contemporary Americas most passionate evangelist for the quaint discipline known as 'music appreciation'... a winning combination of Leonard Bernstein and Bill Nye the Science Guy, an infectiously enthusiastic explainer of the inner mechanical workings of music.... A nifty companion website for the book includes helpful, easy-to-grasp audible demonstrations and vocals, as does the e-book version. For me at least, this digital crib-sheet was a vital tool for appreciating Kapilows arguments.... It is a testament to the depth and catholicity of Kapilows knowledge that he can effortlessly compare the sweet-sour takes on love in Rodgers and Harts I Wish I Were in Love Again with Stephen Sondheims Being Alive. He writes engagingly of Irving Berlins astonishing journey from a Russian village and Manhattans Lower East Side to the heights of fame, [and] astutely surveys the radical changes in popular taste in the 1960s and 70s that dislodged the Broadway musical.... But it is the analysis of the songs that is the meat of the book  and something like its soul as well.... [Kapilow] rewards those patient enough to hold his hand as he walks them through just what makes these songs great. Infectiously readable.... A carefully thought-out act of selection that gives you a starting point for your journey through the Great American Songbook. Who could ask for anything more? [Kapilow] recounts the 20th-century history of American popular music in lyrical prose.... [his] melodious writing hums with the vibrant music of American history and American popular culture. [A] lively and highly informative look at what makes musical show tunes great.... A seamless blend of music, history, and biography. The Great American songbook is a national treasure, and in this engaging and instructive guide, composer, conductor, and music commentator Kapilow unlocks its riches.l“B