Good Morning Blues: The Autobiography Of Count Basie - Softcover

Basie, Count; Murray, Albert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306811073 ISBN 13: 9780306811074

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2002

Synopsis

Count Basie (1904–1984), pianist, composer, and icon of big-band jazz, known for such classics as "Jumpin' at the Woodside," "Cherokee," and "One O'Clock Jump," recounts his life story to Albert Murray with all the charm and dry humor of two friends sitting at the kitchen table. Good Morning Blues is both testimony and tribute to a remarkable, rich life.

About this title

About the Author:

Albert Murray was born in Alabama in 1916. A cultural critic, biographer, essayist, and novelist, he has taught at several colleges, including Colgate and Barnard, and his works include The Omni-Americans, South to a Very Old Place(nominated for a National Book Award), The Hero and the Blues, and Trading Twelve: The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray. He has also won the ASCAP–Deems Taylor Award for Stomping the Blues.

From Publishers Weekly:

Long before he thought about becoming a musician, William Basie, son of a Red Bank, N.J., coachman and caretaker, longed to "go on the road touring everywhere in the world of show business with a troupe." In these long, rambling memoirs, skillfully put together from tape recordings, the Count recollects his experiences as a traveling pianist in Missouri and Oklahoma, as a member (with Hot Lips Page and Jimmie Rushing) of the Blue Devils, as organist in a silent-movie house, with Bennie Moten's orchestra in Kansas City, and as leader of one of the greatest jazz bands of all time. Basie pays tribute to his colleagues and managers (and to John Hammond for "discovering" him), but does not hesitate to discuss their weaknesses and shortcomings; his language is direct and earthy. Although some of the book reads more like a catalogue or itinerary than an autobiography, it will have strong appeal for jazz buffs and fans of the late bandleader. Photos not seen by PW. January 1
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0306811073
• ISBN 13: 9780306811074
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432