Louisiana Music: A Journey From R&b To Zydeco, Jazz To Country, Blues To Gospel, Cajun Music To Swamp Pop To Carnival Music And Beyond
Koster, journalist and author of Texas Music, has assembled a dizzying amount of information on the music and musicians of Louisiana, past and present. Because he covers blues, traditional jazz, rap, rock, pop, Cajun, Creole, zydeco, country, traditional folk, carnival, and voodoo music not to mention modern jazz, classical, gospel, and brass band music in fewer than 400 pages, the book suffers at times from overgeneralization. Some influential musicians (e.g., Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton) also receive short shrift. But everyone from Buddy Bolden to Britney Spears is here; and as long as the reader doesn't mind Koster's too frequent corny one-liners and use of very wide and somewhat biased brushstrokes in painting his picture of one of the most important musical regions in America, this is a serviceable overview. The bibliography includes information on contemporary artists' web sites, which hints at Koster's emphasis on modern music in the text. As a general-interest book, this is recommended for public libraries, especially those with patrons interested in travel and/or popular and folk-based musical styles. It may also be of some interest to academic libraries, but they certainly would do better with other more in-depth studies of individual musicians and genres associated with Louisiana. James E. Perone, Mount Union Coll., Alliance, OHCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.