|
Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way, A Biography | 
| Author: Peter J. Levinson
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy Used: $2.65
You Save: $16.30 (86%)
New (25) Used (30) from $2.65
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 406297
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 0306815028
Dewey Decimal Number: 781.65092
EAN: 9780306815027
ASIN: 0306815028
Publication Date: November 6, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: W. Clean & neat. tight no creases
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The "definitive and invaluable" (Los Angeles Times) biography of the legendary jazz giant Tommy Dorsey Swing has never gone out of style. It was the music the Greatest Generation danced to--and went to war to. And no musician evokes the Big Band era more strikingly than Tommy Dorsey, whose soaring trombone play and hit tunes influenced popular music for a generation. Tommy Dorsey (1905-1956) led a rich and complex life. Beginning with his childhood in the coal mining towns of Pennsylvania, we follow the young trombonist's journey to fame and fortune during the Jazz Age. Tommy, with his brother Jimmy, created one of the most popular bands of the era and played with such giants as Bing Crosby and Glenn Miller. They also launched the career of a skinny young singer named Frank Sinatra. But Tommy's volcanic personality eventually split the band and Tommy went off on his own. Drawing on exhaustive new research and scores of interviews with the musicians who knew him best, Levinson delves into Dorsey's famously eccentric lifestyle and his oversize appetite for drink, women, and perfection. The first biography on Dorsey in more than thirty years, Tommy Dorsey is a dazzling portrait of the Big Band's brightest star--his tumultuous life, his turbulent times, and the unforgettable music that made him a legend.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 An Eye For Talent, by Drew Savage, Author and Swing Era Enthusiast May 31, 2007
This is a good book, well written and with excellent content. As an enthusiast of the Swing Era I appreciated the factual content, which gave me far more information than any other source I've read,providing a hitherto unavailable cross-reference to what has been published before.
As a presenter and author, I enjoyed the insights into the man, his music and the period in general, knowing they would enliven and enrich audience participation. I am too young to have been there 'first time around,' or even to have had the good fortune to see most of the performers, even those who enjoyed career longevity. Having facts avaulable from more than one source is therefore crucial to me, and this book does a great job in providing a primary source and information resource.
Finally, I must take issue with one of the comments made in an earlier review, that the R&B and Rock and Roll era passed Tommy Dorsey by. Au contraire, we have 'TD' to thank for first introducing Elvis Presley to the nation on TV, in the Jackie Gleason sponsored 'Stage Show', and weeks before Ed Sullivan apparently 'discovered' Mr. Presley.
When you add to that Dorsey's promotion and nurturing of Frank Sinatra, he was responsible for bringing to the nation's attention two out of four of the most influential singers of the last century. (The other two being Al Jolson and Bing Crosby.)
When you add to this the roster of other great singers (Connie Haines, Jo Stafford, Dick Haymes for example), arrangers (Nelson Riddle, Sy Oliver) and musicians(just too many to list here!!) who passed through the ranks of his Orchestra, the title of 'Talent Spotter Extraordinaire' seems highly appropriate.
Drew. Drew Savage is a lifelong big band enthusiast and the author of The Deceivers
Definitive Dorsey! Some of my personal favorites - happily you can still find a number of his recordings.
This Is Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, Vol. 1
The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing: Centennial Collection
This Is Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, Vol. 2
The Complete Standard Transcriptions
The Carnegie Hall V-Disc Session (April 1944)
Only one mistake April 4, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read all nine reviews, & I totally agree that this was the most fascinating book I've ever read about the wonderful days of the "big bands". It seems interesting to learn that most of the successful big band leaders were not the easiest people to get along with. Perhaps being a strict disciplinarian with a short fuse just came with the territory. I read all nine reviews, & no one noticed the bit about Art Linkletter. On page 151, Levinson relates an incident involving Art, something that happened in 1942, saying that Art was a "very active" 93 year old at the time. When I saw & talked to Art at a dinner banquet in 1976, that would make him 127. I believe Art is still alive, though I'm not sure about this, & if so he's still lecturing about how to stay happy & fit as a senior citizen. Nonetheless, I loved this book. Jim O'Neil
A Good Biography December 4, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Although an icon of the big band era, there hasn't been an updated biography of Tommy Dorsey written in many years. It is based largely on some 180 interviews conducted mostly in the coal country where Dorsey grew up. This is excellent timing, as the people who knew and worked with Dorsey are all now becoming aged. Writers in the future will have to work from sources more distant.
Mr. Levinson has been in the entertainment business as an agent, freelance, writer, personal manager, publicist and more. This is his third book, with the first two being biographies of Harry James and Nelson Riddle. He is an accomplished biographer.
Tommy Dorsey, like many big name entertainers was a tower of strength, developing new forms of music that changed the way people lived. He worked with the big name entertainers of the time including Sinatra, Elvis, and of course his brother Jimmy. At the same time he had serious problems with drinking, drugs, and women which led him to death at the very early age of 51.
Mr. Levinson has done an excellent job of presenting both aspects of Dorsey's life.
 TOOTIN' DORSEY'S HORN, GOOD AND BAD November 6, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Few musicians evoke the Big Band era more than Tommy Dorsey. With his soaring trombone playing and hit tunes, he left an indelible mark on American culture, yet few know that off stage, Dorsey's personal life was as fascinating as the music he created on stage. A man driven by his passion for women and drink as much as for music, Dorsey was a perfectionist who lived on overload. Peter Levinson's bio, drawn on exhaustive new research and scores of interviews with those who knew Dorsey best, takes us center stage and behind the scenes, toppling the swing era's icon sweet and mellow image and replacing it with a more truthful, multi-faceted portrait of a man of extreme excess. All the high and low notes Dorsey achieved are here. Play on!
An American idol, he was a musical Martha Stewart-like perfectionist who out-Trumped Donald when it came to firing people April 12, 2006
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
One can have grown up loving Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra without having any idea of what was going on behind the scenes, what the fabled bandleader was really like. In Peter J. Levinson's illuminating and well-sourced book, "Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way," the subject emerges as a man both with and ahead of his time: an American idol, he was a musical Martha Stewart-like perfectionist who out-Trumped Donald when it came to firing people. Some of the greatest names in jazz and popular music were hired, fired and later re-hired by Dorsey. Levinson does full justice to him, covering his music (danceable was the goal), his movies (MGM quality). his marriages (several, sometimes stormy), and his moods (subject to change without notice) There would be frequent eruptions, most often with his brother, rival and sometimes co-bandleader Jimmy Dorsey, and most significantly with his singing discovery Frank Sinatra. It was Dorsey's amazing breath control as a trombonist that Sinatra modeled his vocal technique after; it was Dorsey's character that he, knowingly or not, emulated. "Livin' in a Great Big Way" tells an engaging, well-rounded story of a complex figure who played beautifully, nurtured careers and largely influenced pop culture for two decades.
|
|
|
| |
