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Lost Chords: White Musicians and their Contribution to Jazz, 1915-1945

Average customer rating:

A superb commentary by a gifted writer
Nothing is more American than jazz!
Just the facts
More than you have any right to hope for...
My father is in this book

Lost Chords: White Musicians and their Contribution to Jazz, 1915-1945
Richard M. Sudhalter
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The Lost Chords: 1915-1945
Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael
Classic Jazz: The Musicians and Recordings That Shaped Jazz, 1895-1933
Bix: The Definitive Biography Of A Jazz Legend (Bayou Jazz Lives)
Chicago Jazz: A Cultural History, 1904-1930

ASIN: 0195055853

Book Description

Many jazz fans and critics--and even some jazz musicians--contend that white players have contributed little of substance to the music; that even, with every white musician removed from the canon, the history and nature of jazz would remain unchanged. Now, with Lost Chords, musician-historian Richard M. Sudhalter challenges this narrow view, with a book that pays definitive tribute to a generation of white jazz players, many unjustly forgotten--while never scanting the role of the great black pioneers. Eagerly awaited by the jazz community, this monumental volume offers an exhaustively documented, vividly narrated history of white jazz contribution in the vital years 1915 to 1945. Beginning in New Orleans, Sudhalter takes the reader on a fascinating multicultural odyssey through the hot jazz gestation centers of Chicago and New York, Indiana and Texas, examining such bands such as the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, the Original Memphis Five, and the Casa Loma Orchestra. Readers will find luminous accounts of many key soloists, including Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Red Norvo, Bud Freeman, the Dorsey Brothers, Bunny Berigan, Pee Wee Russell, and Artie Shaw, among others. Sudhalter revives the once-great reputations of these and many other major jazzmen, pleading their cases persuasively and eloquently, without ever descending to polemic. Along the way, he gives due credit to Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, and countless other major black figures. Destined to become a basic reference book on the subject, Lost Chords is a ground-breaking book that should significantly alter perceptions about jazz and its players, reminding readers of this great music's multicultural origins.

Customer Reviews:

A superb commentary by a gifted writer.......2005-11-14

This is the finest book about jazz that I have ever read. I own many of the records that the author dissects, as well as having seen several of these great jazz artists perform, and I find his judgment perceptive and unerring. But this is far more than just a book about jazz music. What makes these musicians tick, how did they happen to assemble together for a recording session, how did the record business impact their selection of pieces to perform? The author draws on a variety of academic disciplinces, including art, psychology, economics, and social history, to put his subjects in perspective. Most important, he is a fine storyteller who empathizes with the people he writes about. While many reviews focus on his overall thesis about race in jazz, this is but one theme he articulates, and it serves more as an organizing structure for the book than as its sole message.

Nothing is more American than jazz!.......2005-10-27

First of all, Dick Sudhalter is a gifted writer. He crafts his narratives like a well constructed solo or composition. Second, this book tells us about early white jazz musicians and correctly describes the interplay between vital African American innovations and the contributions of Caucasian jazzmen. Sudhalter in no way diminishes the seminal contributions of African American jazzmen. He simply talks about the contributions of other artists, and does a masterful job of helping us to see the interplay between musicians who have given us this wonderfully entertaining music. I thought I knew a fair amount about the history of jazz. After reading this book, I know more. Nothing is more American than Jazz music (just my opinion), and the more you understand it, the more you know about the USA in the 20's and 30's. I keep re-reading parts of this book because there's so much here.

Just the facts.......2003-02-15

While a brilliant documentary, Burns' "Jazz" also reinforced the notion that jazz is exclusively an African-American artform. Fortunately, "Lost Chords" does much to blow away that misperception. While never belittling or downplaying the role of those African-American giants in jazz, this book does an outstanding job of profiling all of the individuals and bands who received short shrift from Burns: Steve Brown, who pretty much invented jazz bass playing; the Jean Goldkette Orchestra; Miff Mole; Frank Trumbauer; and may more. And he does so in a way that is both interesting to the casual fan (with anecdotes and such) and the hardened muso (excerpts of scores abound). A scholarly tome, this is a worthy addition for any jazz fan's library. I look forward to Volume II.

More than you have any right to hope for..........2001-03-03

Not a mere antidote to political correctness in jazz criticism; Lost Chords is a prewar cultural history, a lesson in music structure, a history of woodwind instruments, a guide to innovations in guitar tuning, AND MORE. It shows the musicians as human beings with all their failings, humor, drives, hard work, and talent. I especially loved the account of the bass sax --- an instrument that looks like it could double as a moonshine still --- and its usefulness in the early days of sound recording. Sudhalter admonishes us to listen to the music and to make up your own mind. Exactly right. A good place to start is Robert Parker's Bix Beiderbecke Great Original Performances 1924-1930 (available on Amazon) If you have ever heard an early 78 rpm record, you will be astonished at Parker's sound restoration.

My father is in this book.......2000-02-22

In the chapter "bix and his friends", my father, charles bud dant was included. My father wrote transcriptions of stardust in 1927 and he worked with Hoagy C. at Indiana university. I have his cornet; he just died at 92. He was the last surviving member of this clan and elite club. He will be missed and his contribution to jazz is recorded for all time.

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