A great book! Laid out well, and superbly written! I completely enjoyed this book! I learned a lot too!

This was a wonderful addition to the current collection of inspiring icons that exist. If something is not broken then there's no need to fix it and it sticks with the tried and tested method of the previous books. A really inspiring and enjoyable read.

The 40 names mentioned in this collection are a mixed bag of artists specializing in blues, jazz, hip hop, soul, R&B and rap music. About half of the artists introduced here are from the post 90's era that dominated by hip hop, pop and rap music while the first half dedicated to musicians ranging from the 30's to 80's. African American music underwent a great metamorphism between those 50 years. From various kinds of jazz, to early R&B, disco, hip hop, standards and pop music, the brief introduction of the 20 artists to cover those 50 years seems inadequate. Not to mention the omission of few renown African American classical musicians is a slight let down. Nonetheless, "Black Music Greats" is still a fun book to read. Some of the artists I have limited knowledge of, the book helps me to get acquainted with their accomplishments.

The book talks about the signature styles, genres, mini bios, their best known albums/singles, important life events and etc. of the musicians. Amazing illustrations, as always, that well captured the artists' overall impressions.

Albeit I enjoyed reading "Black Music Greats" from the "40 Inspiring Icons" series, I am not sure this is the book for everyone. The information itself isn't enough to showcase the evolution of African American music effectively, at least not clear enough. Besides, the bios only point out the accomplishments but nothing inspirational (i.e. their perseverance, hard work and persistence etc.) To me, this book is either a hit or a miss depends on the readers' expectation. Overall is still a good read. Slightly less "educational" compare to other books in the series but certainly a fun and interesting one because of the subject matter.

I heard some of the artists in this book but I never knew that they are that remarkable not until I've read this, and one great example is Marvin Gaye. I never knew that he was one of the composers of the song What's Going On, which is one of his famous song that also had different versions.

Kids who are into music, especially those who like to listen to R&B, Reggae, Soul, Hip-hop, or Rap, will love this anthology of some of the great African-American artists. I'm not a huge fan of Black music, but I really love this book because I learned a lot and it introduced me to some other outstanding music artists that I should check out.

Black Music Greats is a book that looks over the history of music and focuses on black artists who have made a cultural impact. It looks at motown, rap, jazz, soul and many other subgenres. There are so many artists who are mentioned that you know and love that it makes you want to go and listen to their albums

My problem with the book Black Music Greats is that there is very little information given. There just doesn’t seem like enough about each artist. I felt that the above blurb has more narrative than the individual artists.

If I am honest, I was very disappointed.

Black Music Greats by Olivier Cachin is available now.

Beautiful book, I was very excited by the layout and illustrations. It had a lot of interesting factoids and information and it was fun to read.

This book is informative, full of passion and a must read for anyone with even a slight interest in music history. I hadn't realised there was such a clear progression from one genre to the other, or that some of the greatest people of colour had such strong musical roots to religion.
It was a joy to read and something that I will keep to had as a source of reference and something I will recommend to all.

Outstanding!!!! The pictures are actual artwork and are very good. Just enough information given to introduce you to the artist and enough information to help you decide if you would like to read more. The index is an added bonus. Very well put together and a quicker read. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review. By receiving the book in this manner, had no bearing on my review.

Great introduction to amazing music, with bold illustrations, great facts and well presented. This is a wonderful books for fans of decent music , real artists ! Wether a fan or trying to introduce someone to great music it’s a delight

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Great artwork. Like how there’s 40 people’s pictures on the index page. A fun book to read.

Nathan, age 8