Paul Steinbeck

Paul Steinbeck is an associate professor of music at Washington University in St. Louis. With Fred Anderson, he is co-author of Exercises for the Creative Musician (2010), a method book for improvisers. Steinbeck’s latest book, Message to Our Folks, examines the history and performances of the Art Ensemble, one of the most influential groups in jazz and experimental music. Message to Our Folks is available in English from the University of Chicago Press, in Italian from Edizioni Quodlibet, and in French from the Presses Universitaires du Midi (PUM). His next book, Sound Experiments: The Music of the AACM, is in production at the University of Chicago Press. Steinbeck is also a bassist, composer, and improviser.

Posts by Paul Steinbeck

Theme for Lester

            St. Louis trumpeter Lester Bowie was a traditionalist—and a rebel. His father, grandfather, and uncles all played brass instruments, and he continued the family tradition, taking up the trumpet at the age of five. Soon he was advanced enough to study with a classical trumpeter from the St. Louis […]

Page by Page: Book Reviews, Reviews

Bass Hits

To readers who are encountering the bassist for the first time, Conversations offers colorful (re)tellings of Haden stories that are now part of jazz’s folklore.

Page by Page: Book Reviews, Reviews

The Long-Suffering Soul Singer

Dreams to Remember is not without its redeeming features. Redding fans may appreciate Ribowsky’s enthusiasm for his subject, and the book is less inflammatory than a 2001 Redding biography so sensational it sparked a libel suit. Readers looking for new insights about Redding and 1960s soul music, however, should leave it on the shelf.