Yes, this is The Story of Jazz by the Men Who Made It, but add the ladies and the people who are making it right now and you have a fuller picture. This is recollection of the journey of jazz from New Orleans' Storyville to the San Francisco school. By interview and article or book, a dazzling roster of contributors talk out — about jazz, their fellow jazzmen and the progress. First there is New Orleans with a marvelous picture of the breakup of Storyville — but music carried on; then upriver via Fate Marable and others to Chicago — Mezz Mezzrow talks on "jam session", Hoagy Carmichael and others give Bix Beiderbecke's story unforgettably. On to Harlem — Duke Ellington and his band, the joybringing Fats Waller, as Count Basie and others remember him, Ethel Water's account of a set-to with Bessie Smith. Mary Lou Williams tells of her Kaycee, Kansas City, where Basie became Count on a radio spot, and heralded in the Era of Swing. The experimenters in bop speak up for themselves and recall their meetings at Minton's and playing at Fifty-Second Street. New ideas and sounds are put forth by Kenton, Herman, Gillespie; Dave Brubeck talks of jazz' relationship with Milhaud, Stravinsky and others. You'll want to meet these jazzmen in their music after reading this and to help you there is a list of long playing records selected by chapter groupings. There is a look at problems such as narcotics and race troubles on the road. A candid shot of the jazz world with the pull of its most magnetic names and personalities.
Pub Date: May 31, 1955
ISBN: 0486217264
Page Count: 468
Publisher: Rinehart
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1955
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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