Stardust Melody
The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael
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- 13,99 €
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- 13,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
Georgia on My Mind, Rockin' Chair, Skylark, Lazybones, and of course the incomparable Star Dust--who else could have composed these classic American songs but Hoagy Carmichael? He remains, for millions, the voice of heartland America, eternal counterpoint to the urban sensibility of Cole Porter and George Gershwin. Now, trumpeter and historian Richard M. Sudhalter has penned the first book-length biography of the man Alec Wilder hailed as "the most talented, inventive, sophisticated and jazz-oriented of all the great songwriters--the greatest of the great craftsmen."
Stardust Melody follows Carmichael from his roaring-twenties Indiana youth to bandstands and recording studios across the nation, playing piano and singing alongside jazz greats Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and close friends Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong. It illuminates his peak Hollywood years, starring in such films as To Have and Have Not and The Best Years of Our Lives, and on radio, records and TV. With compassionate insight Sudhalter depicts Hoagy's triumphs and tragedies, and his mounting despair as rock-and-roll drowns out and lays waste to the last days of a brilliant career.
With an insider's clarity Sudhalter explores the songs themselves, still fresh and appealing while reminding us of our innocent American yesterdays. Drawing on Carmichael's private papers and on interviews with family, friends and colleagues, he reveals that "The Old Music Master" was almost as gifted a wordsmith as a shaper of melodies. In all, Stardust Melody offers a richly textured portrait of one of our greatest musical figures, an inspiring American icon.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This first full biography of Hoagy Carmichael (1899 1981), a major jazz singer/songwriter, is a dense labor of love. Sudhalter (Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contributions to Jazz) admits to being driven by thoughts of obsolescence: "How quick we are to discard, to expunge what's not immediately relevant to us," he laments. "Surely it wasn't all that long ago that Hoagy Carmichael wise, thoughtful, casual in a grown-up, seen-it-all way was a familiar, even reassuring, presence in our midst." Sudhalter skillfully blends cultural and personal history, demonstrating how growing up in Indiana, a racial and musical crossroads for myriad touring musicians and entertainers, profoundly influenced Carmichael. Sudhalter paints vivid pictures, trying to divine the biographical inspiration for such Carmichael hits as "Ole Buttermilk Sky," "Georgia on My Mind" and "Lazy River." At times, Sudhalter's detailed notes on composition weigh heavily on the narrative. It's hard to imagine that the new audience Sudhalter hopes to entice would derive much pleasure from his scholarly dissections. Thankfully, the stiff bits are drummed between long runs of imaginative exposition. Sudhalter draws from numerous interviews, archival material, recorded music and Carmichael's personal papers to show that the laid-back man at the piano, cigarette dangling from his lips, was, for the most part, image. Carmichael, far from being carefree, embodies the American myth hardworking, self-taught, recognized for his efforts and pushed aside by the next big thing: rock and roll. FYI:This biography is being released in conjunction with three recordings Stardust Melody, featuring some of Carmichael's most famous songs along with rare and previously unreleased tracks (RCA/Victor, Mar.);Stardust Melody Beloved and Rare Songs, compiled by Sudhalter (Challenge Records, Feb.); and a five-CD set (JSP Records, Apr.).
