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Picture 1 of 1
Trumpet Blues : The Life of Harry James by Peter J. Levinson - PB
US $4.00
ApproximatelyEUR 3.59
Condition:
Good
A book that has been read, but is in good condition. Minimal damage to the book cover eg. scuff marks, but no holes or tears. If this is a hard cover, the dust jacket may be missing. Binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with some creasing or tearing, and pencil underlining of text, but this is minimal. No highlighting of text, no writing in the margins, and no missing pages. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.
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US $5.38 (approx EUR 4.83) USPS Media MailTM.
Located in: Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
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eBay item number:334891274752
Item specifics
- Condition
- ISBN
- 9780195142396
- Book Title
- Trumpet Blues : the Life of Harry James
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press, Incorporated
- Item Length
- 9 in
- Publication Year
- 2001
- Format
- Uk-Trade Paper
- Language
- English
- Illustrator
- Yes
- Item Height
- 0.8 in
- Genre
- Music, Biography & Autobiography
- Topic
- History & Criticism, Composers & Musicians, Genres & Styles / Jazz
- Item Weight
- 19.2 Oz
- Item Width
- 6 in
- Number of Pages
- 368 Pages
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Oxford University Press, Incorporated
ISBN-10
019514239X
ISBN-13
9780195142396
eBay Product ID (ePID)
8038265602
Product Key Features
Book Title
Trumpet Blues : the Life of Harry James
Number of Pages
368 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2001
Topic
History & Criticism, Composers & Musicians, Genres & Styles / Jazz
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Music, Biography & Autobiography
Format
Uk-Trade Paper
Dimensions
Item Height
0.8 in
Item Weight
19.2 Oz
Item Length
9 in
Item Width
6 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
Reviews
"James, for decades swing's brightest star and leading bandmaster, was abrilliant man whose chaotic personal life--including his alcoholism, gambling,womanizing and marriage to screen goddess Betty Grable--rivals that of any oftoday's pop stars."--Leila Cobo, Miami Herald, "Trumpet Blues is an appropriate title for this book because it aptly describes Harry James' music and his troubled, tumultuous life....For all of its dark, personal detail, this is a lively read....It is a credit to Levinson's truthfulness and energy that he provides us with such a variety of assessments of Harry James from so many people who knew him."--The Mississippi Rag "While scattered stories have been written of James' personal life and professional life, it has taken Peter J. Levinson, a retired, respected entertainment-industry publicist, to write...the first and only account of the musician's life from start to finish.... Levinson has stitched together a fascinating profile of the tormented trumpeter."--North County Times "The book makes for fast and extremely interesting reading and appropriately concludes with a portion of the eulogy delivered at James' funeral by his erstwhile vocalist and dear friend Frank Sinatra."--Big Bands International "Long before there was sex, drugs, and rock and roll, there was sex, alcohol and big-band swing. And as this surprisingly absorbing biography suggests, trumpet player Harry James could have been the role model for Mick Jagger." --People Weekly "The surprise page-turner of the year is Peter Levinson's life of the swing-era star Harry James."--Gary Giddins, The Washington Post Book World, "An ultimately depressing account of the life of a gifted Americanmusician who, after trading his genuine musical talent for a tawdry parade ofhollow perks, finds he has made a bad bargain. The marvel is that in spite of itall Harry James was able to live as long as he did. This tale of glitzy$ucce$$/exce$$ might well serve as a kind of contemporary AmericanTragedy."--Artie Shaw, 'Peter Levinson writes the way Harry James played, which makes Trumpet Blues an absolutely brilliant book, about an absolutely brilliant horn player.'Robert B. Parker, author of the popular Spense mystery series, "In his well-researched and well-written study, Levinson advances James asan underappreciated musician..."--Booklist, "Trumpet Bluesis an appropriate title for this book because it aptly describes Harry James' music and his troubled, tumultuous life....For all of its dark, personal detail, this is a lively read....It is a credit to Levinson's truthfulness and energy that he provides us with such a variety of assessments of Harry James from so many people who knew him."--The Mississippi Rag "While scattered stories have been written of James' personal life and professional life, it has taken Peter J. Levinson, a retired, respected entertainment-industry publicist, to write...the first and only account of the musician's life from start to finish.... Levinson has stitched together a fascinating profile of the tormented trumpeter."--North County Times "The book makes for fast and extremely interesting reading and appropriately concludes with a portion of the eulogy delivered at James' funeral by his erstwhile vocalist and dear friend Frank Sinatra."--Big Bands International "Long before there was sex, drugs, and rock and roll, there was sex, alcohol and big-band swing. And as this surprisingly absorbing biography suggests, trumpet player Harry James could have been the role model for Mick Jagger." --People Weekly "The surprise page-turner of the year is Peter Levinson's life of the swing-era star Harry James."--Gary Giddins,The Washington Post Book World, " Trumpet Blues is an appropriate title for this book because it aptly describes Harry James' music and his troubled, tumultuous life....For all of its dark, personal detail, this is a lively read....It is a credit to Levinson's truthfulness and energy that he provides us with such a variety of assessments of Harry James from so many people who knew him."-- The Mississippi Rag "While scattered stories have been written of James' personal life and professional life, it has taken Peter J. Levinson, a retired, respected entertainment-industry publicist, to write...the first and only account of the musician's life from start to finish.... Levinson has stitched together a fascinating profile of the tormented trumpeter."-- North County Times "The book makes for fast and extremely interesting reading and appropriately concludes with a portion of the eulogy delivered at James' funeral by his erstwhile vocalist and dear friend Frank Sinatra."-- Big Bands International "Long before there was sex, drugs, and rock and roll, there was sex, alcohol and big-band swing. And as this surprisingly absorbing biography suggests, trumpet player Harry James could have been the role model for Mick Jagger." -- People Weekly "The surprise page-turner of the year is Peter Levinson's life of the swing-era star Harry James."--Gary Giddins, The Washington Post Book World, "Peter Levinson has written the definitive biography of this high-livingand high-loving musician whose marriage to Betty Grable inspired Bob Hope to dubthem 'the Legs and the Lip'"--Playboy, "This robust biography offers a heady plunge into the swing era and avivid portrait of a daring and inventive artist."--Library Journal, 'Review from previous edition excellent biography ... Music biographies really don't come any better than this superb book.'Andrew Vine, Yorkshire Post, 'Peter Levinson must have been a fly on the wall during the era of big bands. His encyclopedic and engaging 'take' on Harry James, his fabled horn, and the woman he won with it - Betty Grable - comes to stunning life in this evocative tale of a time when big band music meant melody,virtuosity, and, yes, romance. those were the good old days.'Mike Wallace, CBS News, "Relentlessly candid.... A book that will be of interest primarily tobig-band aficionados."--George Robinson, ew York Times Book Review, "The surprise page-turner of the year is Peter Levinson's life of theswing-era star Harry James."--Gary Giddins, The Washington Post BookWorld, "Levinson writes the way Harry James played, which makes Trumpet Blues an absolutely brilliant book, about an absolutely brilliant horn player."--Robert B. Parker, author of the popular Spenser mystery series, "Trumpet Blues is an appropriate title for this book because it aptly describes Harry James' music and his troubled, tumultuous life....For all of its dark, personal detail, this is a lively read....It is a credit to Levinson's truthfulness and energy that he provides us with such a variety of assessments of Harry James from so many people who knew him."--The Mississippi Rag"While scattered stories have been written of James' personal life and professional life, it has taken Peter J. Levinson, a retired, respected entertainment-industry publicist, to write...the first and only account of the musician's life from start to finish.... Levinson has stitched together a fascinating profile of the tormented trumpeter."--North County Times"The book makes for fast and extremely interesting reading and appropriately concludes with a portion of the eulogy delivered at James' funeral by his erstwhile vocalist and dear friend Frank Sinatra."--Big Bands International"Long before there was sex, drugs, and rock and roll, there was sex, alcohol and big-band swing. And as this surprisingly absorbing biography suggests, trumpet player Harry James could have been the role model for Mick Jagger." --People Weekly"The surprise page-turner of the year is Peter Levinson's life of the swing-era star Harry James."--Gary Giddins, The Washington Post Book World, "Impressive...a fascinating read not only for fans of jazz, but forstudents of 20th-century history, Hollywood, and the music business.... Levinsonhooks the reader immediately."--Kirkus Reviews, "Encyclopedic and engaging...Harry James, his fabled horn, and the womanhe won with it--Betty Grable--come to stunning life in this evocative tale of atime when big band music meant melody, virtuosity, and, yes, romance. Those werethe good old days."--Mike Wallace, CBS News/Sixty Minutes
Dewey Edition
21
Dewey Decimal
781.64/092 B
Table Of Content
PrefaceAcknowledgmentsEverette and MaybelleLouise and BenThe Kingdom of SwingCiribiribinYou Made Me Love YouTrees, The Legs, and The LipHollywood RoyaltyThe In-Between YearsBack to BasieI Don't Want to Walk Without YouNotesBibliographyIndex
Synopsis
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 colorful life, and in Trumpet Blues Levinson captures it all. Beginning with James's childhood in a traveling circus, we follow the young trumpeter's meteoric rise in the 1930s and witness his electrifying performances with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. We 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. And James himself, especially after his marriage to film goddess Betty Grable, became one of America's most famous personalities and lived like true Hollywood royalty. Levinson describes their twenty-two-year marriage with insight and sympathy. But he shows how James's marriage--and his triumphant late-1950s comeback in Nevada's casinos--were slowly undermined by his penchant for compulsive gambling, womanizing, and alcoholism. He gives us the inside story of James's sybaritic life style, and probes the profound psychological reasons for James's destructive behavior. The first biography ever written on Harry James, Trumpet Blues is a scintillating portrait of Swing's brightest star--his life, his loves, and the music that defined an era., Harry James was one of the major figures of the Swing Era of the 1930s and 1940s. As a trumpet-player he had few peers. The band he led was the most popular in the United States during the war years, but it was also the band that first introduced Frank Sinatra. His fame was even wider as husband to the most famous Hollywood star of the period-Betty Grable- as a film star himself, and as a long term headliner in Las Vegas casinos. But he also had a dark side-as a womanizer, alcoholic, compulsive gambler. In this dramatic, understanding biography, Peter Levinson brilliantly delineates James and the role he played in American culture., 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 colorful life, and in Trumpet Blues Levinson captures it all. Beginning with James's childhood in a traveling circus, we follow the young trumpeter's meteoric rise in the 1930s and witness his electrifying performances with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. We 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. And James himself, especially after his marriage to film goddess Betty Grable, became one of America's most famous personalities and lived like true Hollywood royalty. Levinson describes their twenty-two-year marriage with insight and sympathy. But he shows how James's marriage--and his triumphant late-1950s comeback in Nevada's casinos--were slowly undermined by his penchant for compulsive gambling, womanizing, and alcoholism. He gives us the inside story of James's sybaritic lifestyle, and probes the profound psychological reasons for James's destructive behavior. The first biography ever written on Harry James, Trumpet Blues is a scintillating portrait of Swing's brightest star--his life, his loves, and the music that defined an era.
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