Trumpet Blues by Peter J Levinson
Swing is back in style, and with it a renewed interest in the big band era. And few players dominated that era more than Harry James, whose soaring trumpet solos and romantic hit tunes influenced popular music for a generation. Now, Peter J. Levinson, who knew Harry James personally, has written a revealing biography of this jazz icon, based on nearly 200 interviews with musicians and friends. Harry James led a truly colourful life, and in this book Levinson captures it all. Beginning with James's childhood in a travelling circus, the reader can follow the young trumpeter's meteoric rise in the 1930s and witness his electrifying performances with the Benny Goodman Orchestra and see how James formed his own band in 1939, an incubator for many pop music stars of the 1940s and '50s, including Frank Sinatra, Connie Haines, Dick Haymes, Helen Forrest, and Kitty Kallen. Combined with James's superb musicianship, peerless trumpet technique and talented sidemen, this stellar group dominated the war years and the immediate post-war period.
Peter J. Levinson began his involvement with American popular music in the late 1950s as a freelance writer in New York City. He then began work as a publicist for record companies in New York and Los Angeles. He lives in Malibu, California.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780195110302 |
| ISBN 10 | 0195110307 |
| Title | Trumpet Blues |
| Author | Peter J Levinson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press Inc |
| Year published | 1999-11-18 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |