And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey - Softcover

Terkel, Studs

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1595581189 ISBN 13: 9781595581181

Publisher: The New Press, 2006

Synopsis

Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, Studs Terkel hosted a legendary daily radio show in Chicago, presenting listeners with his inimitable take on an eclectic range of music, from classical, opera, and jazz to gospel, blues, folk, and rock. And They All Sang is nothing less than “a tribute to music’s universality and power” (Philadelphia Inquirer), featuring more than forty of Terkel’s unforgettable conversations with some of the greatest musicians of the past century—including Louis Armstrong, Leonard Bernstein, Big Bill Broonzy, Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie, Mahalia Jackson, Janis Joplin, Rosa Raisa, Pete Seeger, and many others.

As the esteemed music critic Anthony DeCurtis wrote in the Chicago Tribune, “the terms ‘interview’ or ‘oral history’ don’t begin to do justice to what Terkel achieves in these conversations, which are at once wildly ambitious and as casual as can be.” Whether discussing Enrico Caruso’s nervousness on stage with opera diva Edith Mason or the Beatles’ 1966 encounter in London with revered Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, “Terkel’s singular gift for bringing his subjects to life in their own words should strike a chord with any music fan old enough to have replaced a worn-out record needle” (The New York Times).

About this title

About the Author

Studs Terkel (1912–2008) was an award-winning author and radio broadcaster. He is the author of Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession; Division Street: America, Coming of Age: Growing Up in the Twentieth Century; Talking to Myself: A Memoir of My Times; “The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II; Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do; The Studs Terkel Reader: My American Century; American Dreams: Lost and Found; The Studs Terkel Interviews: Film and Theater; Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression; Will the Circle Be Unbroken?: Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith; Giants of Jazz; Hope Dies Last: Keeping the Faith in Troubled Times; And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey; Touch and Go: A Memoir; P.S.: Further Thoughts from a Lifetime of Listening; and Studs Terkel’s Chicago, all published by The New Press. He was a member of the Academy of Arts and Letters and a recipient of a Presidential National Humanities Medal, the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, a George Polk Career Award, and the National Book Critics Circle 2003 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award.

From Publishers Weekly

In this enjoyable, informative collection of 40 interviews, Pulitzer-winning oral historian Terkel recalls his venerable radio program, The Wax Museum, which premiered shortly after the end of WWII in 1945, profiling composers, entertainers and impresarios of nearly every type of music. In a stirring introduction, Terkel explains his love affair with music, which began when he was a boy and culminated with this daily radio show, where Terkel used a diverse playlist to spark dynamic chats with opera divas Edith Mason and Rosa Raisa, rockers Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin, world musicians Ravi Shankar and Andres Segovia, jazz greats Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, folk singers Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and others. Insightful and daring, Terkel always asks the right questions, whether culturally or musically. Most scintillating are the occasions when Terkel provokes his subjects to weigh in on controversial topics (as when composer Leonard Bernstein comments, "What would American music or culture be like if there were no black people here?"). Although perhaps not as strong as some of Terkel's weightier works (e.g., The Good War: An Oral History of World War II), this volume is nevertheless effective oral history, demonstrating an expert journalist's ability to let his subjects speak. (Sept. 1)
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About this edition

• Publisher: The New Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1595581189
• ISBN 13: 9781595581181
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 301