A hilarious book, and one that's exactly what it promises in the title – a huge compendium of once-popular advertisements that are now pretty darn creepy by today's standards! Almost all the ads are from old magazines, presented here in both color and black and white – depending on the original source – and they're about as sexist, racist, and misguided as you might imagine – filled with bad advice, false claims, surprising images, and all sorts of goofy stuff that makes the book as funny as it is historical. 166 pages, color, softcover. Book

A really beautiful story of a life well-lived in jazz – the autobiography of our hometown hero Ramsey Lewis, done in collaboration with jazz writer Aaron Cohen – who really helps bring a lot out of Ramsey's story! Lewis passed on before the book was finished, but managed to lay out some well-done passages about his life and music – a story that's maybe as much that of Chicago in changing years of 20th Century culture as it is that of the famous pianist himself – augmented with snippets of recollections from associates and contemporaries – never used too heavily, in the way that some books do to prop up flimsy writing – and instead, interspersed in just the right way, to bring some added spice to the tale. Ramsey was always one of the most articulate cats on the scene, and his presentation of the material is great – very straightforward, but also very thoughtful – and full from some of the overdone cliches that sometimes creep into music autobiography. Aaron Cohen provides a great introduction to the material, and after thoughts on notes and process – and this softcover edition has a small section of black and white photographs as well. Book

Peter Guralnick has written some mighty big, career-defining books on key figures in music – but from the start, we've always loved his shorter pieces the best – the kind of work we first fell in love with in books like Sweet Soul Music and Lost Highway! And if you dig his shorter pieces, there's plenty of those here – really wonderful essays on artists in a variety of genres – penned by one of the few figures who can balance an understanding of their music with a mixture of historical detail and unabashed fandom! Guralnick's writing has gotten better and better over the years – and it's great to have it focused back on his roots – in chapters that focus on artists who include Solomon Burke, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, Howlin Wolf, Tammy Wynette, and even the great country trucker Dick Curless! Hardcover book is 554 pages, with black and white illustrations throughout. Book

Writer Paul Steinbeck has already given us a great book on the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – but this time around, he looks at the larger scene from which they came, the groundbreaking AACM moment in jazz, which emerged in Chicago in the late 60s! Steinbeck provides some cultural and historical context, but also focuses in on key recordings that helped to define the special genius of AACM musicians and their united vision – with an approach that's build around different records on a chapter by chapter basis – even leading up to a few more recent recordings that show the continuing influence and growth of the organization. Along the way, Steinbeck provides some musical notations and deeper analysis of the sounds from his perspective as a musicologist – very illuminating to us, as we tend to have much more of a visceral response to these records – a lineup that includes Air Time by Air, Levels & Degrees Of Light by Muhal Richard Abrams, Sound by Roscoe Mitchell, Voyager by George Lewis, Nonaah by Roscoe Mitchell, Composition 76 by Anthony Braxton, Ten Freedom Summers by Wadada Leo Smith, and Mandorla Awakening II by Nicole Mitchell. The hardcover book features many charts and scores throughout – and is a total of 272 pages in length. Book