Description
Book SynopsisIn this collection of musical portraits, jazz pianist and radio host Marian McPartland pays tribute to such beloved and legendary figures as Benny Goodman, Bill Evans, Joe Morello, Paul Desmond, Alec Wilder, Mary Lou Williams, and others. McPartland’s reminiscences and anecdotes about these jazz greats are informed by her encyclopedic knowledge of their music, making this richly detailed collection an important addition to the literature of jazz.
In a preface to this edition, McPartland extends her commentary to include details of her long-running National Public Radio show “Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz” and memories of her late husband, famed Chicago trumpeter Jimmy McPartland.
Trade Review“Marian McPartland has always been one of my favorite pianists, and this book shows that she is every bit as good a writer as she is a musician.”--Dave Brubeck
“She has done her studying from the inside: as one of the few working jazz musicians to write about the music with any frequency, she offers a perspective on the men and women who play jazz for a living that seldom finds its way into print.”--
New York Times“Marian McPartland is as wittily incisive a writer-memoirist as she is a pianist and radio sage. The new postscripts enhance a jazz classic--portraits of an era, from the other side of the footlights.”--Gary Giddins, author of
Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams“I wonder if Marian McPartland fully realizes what an elegant prose stylist she is. But then, it’s only natural that her choices with language should be no less sensitive or discriminating than those she makes at the keyboard. In the truest sense these word portraits are McPartland compositions and remain among my most treasured music reading. What a joy to have an expanded and updated edition.”--Richard M. Sudhalter, author of
Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael
