Inspired by a childhood fascination with jazz, Terkel uses firsthand interviews with artists such as Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker to tell the human stories behind the heroes that shaped this uniquely American music form.
Reissued with the original illustrations and discography, Giants of Jazz offers a unique glimpse into the lives of America's jazz greats. Told with masterful detail, the selected portraits weave together the stories of the individual jazz musicians' lives with the history of the jazz era, and jazz music's evoluation from the speakeasies of New York to the concert halls of the world's greatest cities. Details include Joe Oliver's favourite meal, Fats Waller's 1932 rendezvous in Paris with eminent organist Marcel Dupre, Dizzy Gillespie's trip as a child to the pawnshop to buy his first horn, and the origin of Billie Holiday's nickname. Other artists featured include Count Basie, Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, and Bessie Smith.
CONTENTS: 1. Joe Oliver, the King 2. Louis Armstrong, Ambassador of Jazz 3. Bessie Smith, Empress Of The Blues 4. Bix, Young Man With A Horn 5. Fats Waller, The Laughing Genius 6. Duke Ellington, Sounds Of Life 7. Benny Goodman, King Of Swing 8. Count Basie: “Jump For Joy" 9. Billie Holiday: “God Bless The Child." 10.Woody Herman, Leader Of The Herd 11. Dizzie Gillespie: Explorer Of New Sounds 12. Charlie Parker: Yardbird 13. John Coltrane, The Search Continues 14. Jazz Is The Music Of Many Discography
STUDS TERKEL is the bestselling author of ten books of oral history, including Working, the Pulitzer Prizewinning The Good War, and most recently, Will The Circle Be Unbroken?: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger For Faith. Terkel is a longtime resident of Chicago where he grew up listening to the live music of the jazzmen and women who gathered at the Dreamland Ball Room.
Giants Of Jazz
Studs Terkel
The New Press, 2002 (1957, 1975)
Hardback. 224pp. b&w sketches
For more information contact All About Jazz.
