Drawing on first-person accounts, this book tells the rags-to-riches tale of Louis Armstrong's early life and the social and musical forces in New Orleans that shaped him, their unique relationship, and their impact on American culture. Illustrations.
Finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Biography. "Profoundly evocative and altogether admirable…The writing and detail are so brilliant that I found the volume revelatory." —Tim Page, Washington Post Nearly 100 years after bursting onto Chicago’s music scene under the tutelage of Joe "King" Oliver, Louis Armstrong is recognized as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. A trumpet virtuoso, seductive crooner, and consummate entertainer, Armstrong laid the foundation for the future of jazz with his stylistic innovations, but his story would be incomplete without examining how he struggled in a society seething with brutally racist ideologies, laws, and practices. Thomas Brothers picks up where he left off with the acclaimed Louis Armstrong's New Orleans, following the story of the great jazz musician into his most creatively fertile years in the 1920s and early 1930s, when Armstrong created not one but two modern musical styles. Brothers wields his own tremendous skill in making the connections between history and music accessible to everyone as Armstrong shucks and jives across the page. Through Brothers's expert ears and eyes we meet an Armstrong whose quickness and sureness, so evident in his performances, served him well in his encounters with racism while his music soared across the airwaves into homes all over America. Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism blends cultural history, musical scholarship, and personal accounts from Armstrong's contemporaries to reveal his enduring contributions to jazz and popular music at a time when he and his bandmates couldn’t count on food or even a friendly face on their travels across the country. Thomas Brothers combines an intimate knowledge of Armstrong's life with the boldness to examine his place in such a racially charged landscape. In vivid prose and with vibrant photographs, Brothers illuminates the life and work of the man many consider to be the greatest American musician of the twentieth century.
The fascinating story of how creative cooperation inspired two of the world’s most celebrated musical acts. The Beatles and Duke Ellington’s Orchestra stand as the two greatest examples of collaboration in music history. Through his highly original examination of these two musical legends, Duke University musicologist Thomas Brothers delivers a portrait of the creative process at work, demonstrating that the cooperative method at the foundation of these two artist- groups was the primary reason for their unmatched musical success. While clarifying the historical record of who wrote what, with whom, and how, Brothers brings the past to life with a breadth of musical knowledge that reverberates through every page, and analyses of songs from Lennon and McCartney’s Strawberry Fields Forever to Billy Strayhorn’s Chelsea Bridge. Help! describes in rich detail the music and mastery of two cultural leaders whose popularity has never dimmed. “This is musicology with taste as well as ears.” — Wall Street Journal “Adds significantly to our knowledge of popular music and iconic musicians of the 20th century.” — Philadelphia Inquirer
In those heady days after the end of World War II, when America soared on the wings of victory and the new prosperity of the 1950s replaced the grimness of the Depression, Gene Thomas and his brother, Val a.k.a. Gonki spent their childhood days playing in their middle-class neighborhood and having the adventures of their young lives. Funny, sometimes sad, but always entertaining, Tales from the Tree House is a collection of short stories taken from the real life exploits of the Thomas brothers. Before the television took away the wonder of childhood play and exploration, the Thomas brothers became intimately familiar with their neighborhood, staying out late, embarking on daring adventures, and playing pranks on the unsuspecting. Thomas's lively prose evokes the sounds and sights of a time and place now lost. Whether the brothers were snatching used beer bottles (worth a fortune in candy and soda pop money!) from the construction yard next door, digging for dinosaur bones in their backyard, or building a tree house in their old oak tree, Gene and Gonki never had to tell their mother that they were bored! Reminisce about the good old days with Tales from the Tree House.
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