West Side Maestro Volume 1, "The Creative Spark " is exactly what it describes itself to be, "a musical memoir." It is an in depth personal examination of creative genius based upon not only the author's own experiences studying and working with one of the 20th century's most famous musicians, Leonard Bernstein, during the ten most formative years of his career but also to later include the memories of other distinguished and noted members of the music and theatre Arts and Sciences in its brief to encompass the essence of the Bernstein creative spark as conductor, composer, television guru, writer, teacher and innovative thinker. Humphrey Burton, author of "Leonard Bernstein" and director of over 170 Bernstein documentaries and filmed concerts, writes of West Side Maestro: "Robert Mandell's detailed analyses and level headed assessments of Bernstein's recorded legacy and of his equally extraordinary work as a teacher, (from The Young People's Concerts to the Norton Lectures), break new ground in Bernstein studies and will serve as the standard work for future generations: we owe him a huge debt of gratitude."