Alex Jackson

Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson offer a candid and unfiltered look at America's pastime, discussing the art of pitching, the art of hitting, and all things baseball. Full of brush-backs, walk-off homeruns, high stakes, cold stares, epic battles, and a little chin music here and there, Sixty Feet, Six Inches is a baseball fan’s dream come true, a go to guide for how the game should be played. There is no part of the sport that these two titans do not discuss at length: big picture issues like how steroids have affected the game and handling the pressure of stardom, right next to exact descriptions of the mechanics of pitching and hitting.

The heir apparent to Chicago's legacy of amplified blues harmonica, William Clarke was the first original new voice on his instrument to come along in quite some time; he became a sensation in blues circles during the late '80s and early '90s, stopped short by an untimely death in 1996. A pupil and devotee of George Harmonica Smith, Clarke was a technical virtuoso and master of both the diatonic harp and the more difficult chromatic harp (the signature instrument of both Smith and Little Walter). Where many new harmonica players had become content to cop licks from the Chicago masters, Clarke developed his own style and vocabulary, building on everything he learned from Smith and moving beyond it. His four '90s albums for Alligator earned wide critical acclaim and remain his signature showcases.

Label-owner Art Rupe was a savvy businessman who knew the black jukebox industry and what made it tick when he started his Specialty label in the late-'40s. This sumptuous five-disc box set contains a bevy of highlights from this seminal R&B/rock … Full Description& roll label. Over the years, Rupe recorded a little bit of everything; early big band jump (the Liggins brothers), down-home blues and zydeco (Guitar Slim, Frankie Lee Sims, Clifton Chenier), gospel (early Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers), and doo wop (the Pentagons, Jesse Belvin). But with the discovery of the label's biggest star, Little Richard, in 1955, here is where the real story of rock & roll begins. A box set that no lover of the real thing can be without