The Ladies Who Sing With the Band - Hardcover

Bennett, Betty; Kessell, Barney

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810837145 ISBN 13: 9780810837140

Publisher: Scarecrow Press, 2000

Synopsis

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 deals with several issues that transcend music. The entertainment industry―particularly the jazz world―was an early era of black/white professional and personal interaction. Moreover, the traveling big band represented a unique instance of women in an all-male workplace. Bennett confronts these issues of race and gender in a refreshingly forthright manner.

About this title

About the Author:

Betty Bennett began performing in territory bands in 1941, and since then has performed all over the world and with some of jazz's greatest performers.

Review:

The book provides a glimpse of what attracted so many to the era when swing was king... Bennett was a survivor, and her book testifies to her perseverance and her admiration for a genre, that was once a key part of popular culture. (All Music Guide To Jazz)

If you've ever wondered about the off-bandstand life of the big-band-era female vocalist, there is a recently published book that tells it all... This book will be especially enjoyed by anyone who followed the big-bands and the major jazz notables. It brings back a lot of memories, and even answers some questions you wouldn't think of asking. (Song Talk)

...the book is a pleasurable read. (JazzTimes Magazine)

Nobody had to change anything to make it juicier, more saleable, or whatever. The book reveals that she possesses a wonderful sense of humor...I was fascinated with this book from the first moment I picked it up, and I suspect that most of you would find it equally interesting. (The IAJRC Journal)

...insightful, often moving account. The Ladies Who Sing with the Band offers a personal glimpse into a unique time in popular music. Unlike many similar memoirs, this book is the genuine article, clearly not ghostwritten....The Ladies Who Sing with the Band contains abundant entertaining and insightful moments that should interest big-band enthusiasts. (The Mississippi Rag)

Betty Bennett's book has style. She writes as she sings, which is to say with easy grace and warmth and exquisite phrasing and a highly individual musical feeling. You sense a candlelight mood to the tone of her writing as it communicates, with unassuming strength, the intimate jazz flavor expressed in her voice. (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Bennett's recollections...enlighten and entertain. (Jazzwise)

About this edition

• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0810837145
• ISBN 13: 9780810837140
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192