A really amazing look at the secret art and language of gang culture in Chicago – the most detailed book we've ever seen to examine the words on the street during the 60s, 70s, and 80s! Chicago had a very special sort of language to communicate gang activity and culture during the heyday of the city's big gangs – graffiti that was filled with codes and symbols, and which really predated major street art in New York – plus a network of patches, business cards, and other objects that conveyed a special sort of numerology and message – sometimes harmless words about parties and events, sometimes essential details about the criminal underworld. This book is fascinating on so many different levels – not just a prurient true crime story, but instead a very detailed examination of gang culture in terms of linguistics, visual media, and representation. Yet all that detail doesn't make things too dry, either – as the book is overflowing with photos and images – examples of street graffiti, countless business cards, patches, portraits, and more – even some maps at the back. The whole thing is a massive 375 pages, full color throughout, and very beautifully done! Book

A stunning book – even more amazing than we were expecting, and we were really expecting a lot! This is a heavy, hardcover, full color volume that takes a deep dig into the world of British jazz during some crucial modern years – presented with oversized images throughout, in the manner of some hefty art book from Taschen or one of those other fancy publishers! Author Richard Morton Jack presents listings for hundreds of crucial albums – each with both front and back cover artwork reproduced in full, in a size that's about a square 9" for most of the records, on pages that are much larger, with text at the bottom on each record, and even inner label reproductions! If you love Brit jazz from this period as much as we do, you'll find plenty to love – as the book contains listings for crucial records by giants like Joe Harriott, Stan Tracey, Graham Collier, Mike Westbrook, John Stevens, Don Rendell, and dozens of others – not just familiar albums, but really rare ones we've never seen before – work on the Lansdowne series on Columbia, and other labels that include RCA, EMI, Argo, and CBS – plus smaller indies too. The book is as beautiful as having an original pressing of one of these gems in your hands – and given that most of the originals go for hundreds of dollars, if/when you can find them, the book is a hell of a deal. Hardcover, 372 pages, and in full color throughout. Book

We're not normally ones to stock urban fire books here at Dusty Groove – but as you probably know, our hometown is Chicago, a city with a pretty incredible history – part of which is a fantastic fire that burned the whole place to the ground back in the 19th century! This huge book dives into great detail about the fire – its origins, its too-long burnout, initial failed efforts to stop it, and the surprisingly quick rise from the ashes that Chicago experienced as a result – as the city turned the tragedy into a way of rethinking and modernizing itself, which made it very well-poised to become a global powerhouse in years to come! Carl Smith tells the tale with a nicely narrative voice, while also showcasing the long research that went into the project – and this hardcover edition is 374 pages, with some black and white images. Book

A really cool book of rare jazz posters – most of them from the 70s, with images of posters from the US, EU, and Japan! The collection within is great – and there's so many unusual images that differ nicely from more iconic album covers – which are then mixed with more familiar shots, but restructured for use in posters – some with special information about new release records, concerts, and other events – some presented with spare images on their own! There's promo posters from labels like ECM or Three Blind Mice – and the book also has sections on spiritual jazz, free jazz, Japanese jazz, Brazilian jazz, jazz funk, and other topics related to jazz – including New York, movies, and concerts. The softcover book is 375 pages, and mostly images – presented in their original colors, or black and white if applicable – and there's a few short essays in both English and Japanese. Book

A great book that looks not just at the music of Sun Ra, but also the theory behind it – the special take on reality, and interstellar philosophy that made Ra as important a thinker as he was a musician! The music is approached from a theoretical framework that's extremely illuminating – especially if you only know some of the Arkestra records at face value, and not in the larger context of Sun Ra's ideas – and the author includes plenty of history to illuminate the ideas, but in ways that are nicely different than some of the previous books on the subject. The whole thing is a really great look at the transformative power of the music of Ra – that quality that's always made him far more than just another avant jazz musician, and instead a figure of inspiration and social change to decades of listeners who have followed his sound. Very well researched, with copious notes. Paperback, 372 pages. Book