Books by Peter Townsend

If it's art that expresses a nation's essence best, then jazz set America's tempo and afforded an artistic pattern for modernism. In this book for the nonspecialist Peter Townsend shows how during an entire century jazz has appeared in a wide diversity of times and places and in many different cultural settings.

All aspects of music are evolving and driven by culture, experience, star performers, better instruments and concert halls, plus access to international musical styles offered by recordings and broadcasting. Musical expectations have risen and our appreciation is more diverse and flexible. Composition has matched these developments. Sounds of Music explores driving forces from new instrument designs, cult of personality, and the immense impact of electronics and recording. Each and every change means we never experience older music in the way that it was first heard. Even from the same CD. Musical experience is highly personal. It differs with mood, and seating in a concert hall or room. In addition to describing past changes and influential innovations, the book offers thoughts on where we are heading, electronic influences, and the reasons why current CD and MP3 formats may become obsolete, plus new instruments and styles that could appear.

A study of a crucial period in the life of American jazz and popular music. Pearl Harbor Jazz analyses the changes in the world of the professional musician brought about both by the outbreak of World War II and by long-term changes in the music business, in popular taste and in American society itself.

This was the year of the wedding of Charles and Diana, Ronald Reagan became the 40th President of the USA. On the railways the Tyne & Wear Metro opened, the HST network was expanding and loco-hauled passenger trains were on the decline.

This is a survey of the author's work on international poverty, covering his contribution to the debate on the conceptualization and measurement of poverty. The theoretical sections of the book are illustrated with empirical observations from Third and First World countries.