When the Music Stopped: The Big Band Era Remembered - Hardcover

Woods, Bernie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569800227 ISBN 13: 9781569800225

Publisher: UNKNO, 1995

Synopsis

Book by Woods, Bernie

About this title

From Library Journal:

Woods worked his way up from errand boy to music editor at Variety at the height of the big band era. Here he presents what are essentially his memoirs. Not a music historian-or even a musician himself-Woods instead offers a collection of music business reminiscences and anecdotes. His subjects range from the big bands of Benny Goodman, the Dorsey brothers, and Ralph Flanagan (whom Woods also managed) to crooners and canaries like Perry Como, Frand Sinatra, and Dinah Shore. But don't think this is a sugarcoated, days-of-innocence portrayal. There is frank sexual content-apparently, it wasn't called the "swing era" for nothing-and Woods is chatty and gossipy and not afraid to offer strong opinions. While some, like Goodman, earn high praise, others, like Glenn Miller, are treated differently: Miller is revealed as a first-rate putz who wasn't smart enough to butter his own bread. With new books on this era so rare, this entertaining remembrance is recommended for public libraries, especially those serving a significant pre-baby boom patronage.
Michael Colby, Univ. of California at Davis Lib.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review:

Fans of the Big Band music style and sound will relish a fine, spirited history of the Big Band musicians and the evolution of relationships and the music's structure. This is no dry discussion of events: the excitement and drama of the times is captured in biographical-based discussions of the band leaders and participants in the orchestras and Big Band sounds. -- Midwest Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1569800227
• ISBN 13: 9781569800225
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304