There
were four major galaxies in the early jazz universe, and three of
them--New Orleans, Chicago, and New York--have been well documented in
print. But there has never been a serious history of the fourth, Kansas
City, until now.
In this colorful history, Frank Driggs and Chuck
Haddix capture the golden age of Kansas City jazz, and bring us a
colorful portrait of old Kaycee itself, back then a neon riot of bars,
bambling dens, and taxi dance halls, all ruled over by Boss Tom
Pendergast, who had transformed a dusty cowtown into the Paris of the
Plains. The authors show how this wide-open, gin-soaked town gave birth
to a music that was more basic and more viscerally exciting than other
styles of jazz, its singers belting out a rough-and-tumble urban style
of blues, its piano players pounding out a style later known as
"boogie-woogie." We visit the great landmarks, like the Reno Club, the
"Biggest Little Club in the World," where Lester Young and Count Basie
made jazz history, and Charlie Parker began his musical education in the
alley out back. The lives of the great musicians who made Kansas City
swing are illuminated, with colorful profiles of jazz figures such as
Mary Lou Williams, Big Joe Turner, Jimmy
Rushing, and Andy Kirk and his "Clouds of Joy."
Kansas City Jazz
is the definitive account of the raw, hard-driving style that put
Kansas City on the musical map. It is a must read for everyone who loves
jazz or American music history.
This file is intended only for preview!
I ask you to delete the file from your hard drive after reading it.
thank for the original uploader
Thanks for this fascinating slice of history to try!!!
ReplyDelete