Bøker av Gregg Akkerman

Playing keyboards is your passion......but could it be your career?Absolutely! And Dr. Gregg Akkerman will show you exactly how in this collection of three books from his successful "Music Is Your Business" series. Let's admit it-keyboardists are usually the most intricate participant in any music presentation. Be it rehearsing with singers, directing a praise group, arranging songs for a band, being a solo act, producing tracks in a home studio, and so much more, the keyboardist is always in high demand. That's why keyboardists deserve their own career guidance written just for them! And professional keyboardist/educator/author Gregg Akkerman delivers by sharing all his hard-won knowledge learned both "on the street" and from decades of study. Akkerman's "Music Is Your Business" series has been so well received by readers and critics that it should be considered required reading for any keyboardist seeking a career. And for the first time, his three most popular titles are now available under one cover. This collection includes: The Keyboardist's Career Guide: Your 10-step Plan to Success in the Music Business that lays out all the opportunities for work, how much you'll be paid, and what you need to do to get the gig.How to Perform as a Piano Bar Entertainer on Cruise Ships in which Akkerman reveals every conceivable detail about one of the most lucrative and exciting careers a keyboardist will ever have.So Good, So Good, So Good: Confessions of the Piano Dude where all the nitty gritty stories about succeeding as a working musician come to life in this Cohen Brothers meets Jimmy Buffett memoir.Whether you're a fledgling keyboardist or a salty pro, you'll find all you could hope to learn about kicking butt in the music business, staying focused on goals, and living the dream life where your passion becomes your career. Order your copy today to get started!

In Experiencing Led Zeppelin: A Listener's Companion, musician and writer Gregg Akkerman looks behind the curtain of "rock gods" sensationalism at this performing act's musical legacy. Putting readers right where the band was performing its iconic numbers, Akkerman is the guide for anyone intent on understanding how Led Zeppelin's music works.

Just after recording with John Coltrane in 1963, baritone singer Johnny Hartman (19231983) told a family member that ';something special' occurred in the studio that day. He was right the album, containing definitive readings of ';Lush Life' and ';My One and Only Love,' resides firmly in the realm of iconic; forever enveloping listeners in the sounds of romance. In The Last Balladeer, author Gregg Akkerman skillfully reveals not only the intimate details of that album but the life-long achievements and occasional missteps of Hartman as an African-American artist dedicated to his craft.This book carefully follows the journey of the Grammy-nominated vocalist from his big band origins with Earl Hines and Dizzy Gillespie to featured soloist in prestigious supper clubs throughout the world. Through exclusive interviews with Hartman's family and fellow musicians (including Tony Bennett, Billy Taylor, Kurt Elling, Jon Hendricks, and others), accounts from friends and associates, newly discovered recordings and studio outtakes, and in-depth research on his career and personal life, Akkerman expertly recollects the Hartman character as a gentleman, romantic, family man, and constant contributor to the jazz scene. From his international concerts in Japan, Australia, and England to his steady presence as an American nightclub singer that spanned five decades, Hartman personifies the ';last balladeer' of his kind, singing with a sentiment that captured the attention of Clint Eastwood, who brought Hartman's songs to the masses in the film The Bridges of Madison County.In the first full-length biography and discography to chronicle the rhapsodic life and music of Johnny Hartman, the author completes a previously missing dimension of vocal-jazz history by documenting Hartman as the balladeer who crooned his way into so many hearts. Backed by impeccable research but conveyed in a conversational style, this book will interest not only musicians and scholars but any fan of the Great American Songbook and the singers who brought it to life.