SHORT TAKES : Biography Gets Music Book Prize

“Standing in the Shadows of Motown: The Life and Music of Legendary Bassist James Jamerson,” a biography and song book by Allan Slutsky today was awarded the top prize in the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Awards.

This is the first of the yearly awards, named for the acclaimed jazz critic who co-founded Rolling Stone magazine, that will honor the year’s best book about music or musicians. The awards are sponsored by Rolling Stone, music licensing giant BMI and New York University.

Second place went to “Country: The Music and the Musicians,” by the Country Music Foundation, edited by Paul Kingsbury and Alan Axelrod. Gunther Schuller’s “The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz 1930-1945,” was third.