Giants of Jazz Author:Studs Terkel The story of jazz is the story of human beings. We cannot know the music unless we know the men and women who create it, who sing it, who play it, who write it. Here are the lives of twelve of the greatest jazz musicians. What are they like, these colorful artists? What influenced their highly individualistic brand of music making? — In a vivi... more »d, informal style, rich in anecdote, this book tells their stories. It begins with King Oliver, the man and his blues, and ends with Dizzy Gillespie, the man and his bop inventions.
The reader will come to know Duke Ellington, the sensitive boy, as well as Duke Ellington, the polished artist, and will know him better as a jazz artist because he knows him as a person. Included, too, are the lives of Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Biz Beiderbecke, Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Woody Herman, and Stan Kenton.« less