Teddy Reig (1917-1984) was a larger-than-life character, a self-described hustler who had a profound effect on the music world from the 1940s to the 1970s. As a record producer, he captured the work of dozens of leading jazz innovators.

"Both as a person and as a musician, he was number one in my book." --Benny Carter Bassist George Duvivier (1920-1985) was one of the most universally respected musicians in jazz. His impeccable musicianship graced the big bands in the 1940s and led to musical associations with virtually every important jazz and popular artist. His prolific recording career spanned all styles of music, from Eubie Blake to Eric Dolphy, Billie Holiday to Barry Manilow. Duvivier was a most astute and articulate observer of the musical scene. A large part of this book is devoted to his own reflections on growing...

Simosko details the life and music of Serge Chaloff in an engaging style, from his childhood in Boston, Massachusetts, through his untimely death in 1957. He also provides a discography of Chaloff's recorded output, much of which has been made available by the 1993 Mosaic Records release of The Complete Serge Chaloff Sessions.

The Dorsey brothers were prominent members of the Big Band fraternity in the late thirties, forties, and fifties. Jimmy Dorsey: A Study in Contrasts is a bio-discographical text that spans Jimmy Dorsey's career as a musician, orchestra leader, and composer. The book is a collection of chronological listings of every recording on which Dorsey is believed to have played or have been present, interspersed with brief biographical notations and contemporary historical information that show the close relationship between his talents and his life experiences as well as points out the many contrasts...

Stride traces the stride piano style from its roots in minstrel shows and ragtime, through the contributions of itinerant entertainers, to its joyful birth in Harlem, where it became known as Harlem Piano. Stride developed over a period spanning World War I to the depression years, though younger players maintain its traditions today. It is a musical style marked by friendly rivalry and shared pleasures. Drawing on the authors' personal interviews and biographies, the book traces stride from generation to generation, from the originators Eubie Blake, Luckey Roberts, and James P. Johnson,...

The Unsung Songwriters is dedicated to a period in the history of American music that author Warren Vache calls the "Golden Age of Songwriting," and to the men and women who made it great. Contrary to the widely held opinion that most of our hit and standard songs were composed by a handful of top writers--Berlin, Gershwin, Kern, Porter, and Rodgers--the fact is that the vast majority of them were written by relatively unknown composers. In this definitive reference work to the "unsung songwriters," you will find Al Neiberg, the author of "It's the Talk of the Town," Maceo Pinkard, the mind...

Betty Bennett evokes a bygone era when "territory" and "name" bands--each with its own "girl singer"--criscrossed the country in Ladies Who Sing With the Band. The author's career intersected with many of the icons of jazz and popular music, among them Nat King Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Georgie Auld, Claude Thornhill, Charlie Ventura, Benny Goodman, and Charlie Barnet. Bennett's anecdotes about these personalities enlighten and entertain, as does her entirely unselfconscious discussion of her marriage to Andre Previn and her relationship with her husband, guitar great Mundell Lowe. The book...

Jazz in New Orleans provides accurate information about, and an insightful interpretation of, jazz in New Orleans from the end of World War II through 1970. Suhor, relying on his experiences as a listener, a working jazz drummer, and writer in New Orleans during this period, has done a great service to lovers of New Orleans music by filling in some gaping holes in postwar jazz history and cutting through many of the myths and misconceptions that have taken hold over the years. Skillfully combining his personal experiences and historical research, the author writes with both authority and...

A fascinating look into the new generation of jazz legends, Contemporary Cat is a welcome addition to Scarecrow Press's Studies in Jazz Series. Living legend Terence Blanchard's life and work are thoroughly examined through interviews with his contemporaries and colleagues, including jazz greats Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, and filmmaker Spike Lee. Magro cleverly ties jazz to the social upheavals of the civil rights movement, to black film, and to southern African-American ideologies. From Blanchard's early influences to his future projects, never has a more detailed and...

Terry Gibbs, legendary jazz vibraphonist and bandleader, was 12 years old when he kicked off his career as a professional musician, winning first place in an amateur performance. Born and raised in the heart of Brooklyn and possessing tremendous musical talent, Gibbs learned the ins and outs of bebop from pioneers like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Bud Powell. In 1959 his ensemble, later dubbed The Dream Band, became the toast of Hollywood. Four decades, 65 albums, and 300 compositions later, his story is one of great substance-his foot--tapping music, revolutionary. Good Vibes is a...