Concerto for Cootie (eBook)

The Life and Times of Cootie Williams

Steven C. Bowie (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | EPUB Single
550 Seiten
University Press of Mississippi (Verlag)
978-1-4968-5945-7 (ISBN)

Infos

The first full-length biography of a true giant of jazz

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Jazz legend Cootie Williams left home to start his career as a professional musician at the age of fifteen. In 1940, after eleven years as one of the major soloists with the Duke Ellington orchestra, Williams was lured away to the band of Benny Goodman, one of the most popular bands in the country. At the time, it was a controversial move—it was still taboo for African Americans to share the bandstand with white people. Current references reduce it to a song written by Raymond Scott, "When Cootie Left the Duke." In reality, it was a seismic event. The Black press predicted Black bands would collapse from raids on their ranks. White musicians were afraid they would be put out of work. And the white press stirred up visions of Black musicians mixing with white women in the new landscape of integrated orchestras.

The twenty years trumpeter Williams spent as a band leader (1942-1962) have been covered in only the barest of details. His involvement in politics and the civil rights movement have not been detailed before. An astute talent scout, Williams and his band launched the careers of Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Earl “Bud” Powell, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, and Pearl Bailey. He also was the first to record the music of a young Thelonious Monk, using two of Monk's compositions (“Epistrophy” and “‘Round Midnight”) as theme songs for his band.

Steven C. Bowie respectfully tells Williams’s story, from his Alabama ancestry onward, including many new details rediscovered from the historical archives of the African American press and those gleaned from the author’s interviews with his friends and colleagues.

Autor

Steven C. Bowie curates and hosts the Duke Ellington-themed podcast Ellington Reflections. He has presented papers on Cootie Williams and Kenny Burrell for conferences held by the Duke Ellington Society of Sweden and written articles for DownBeat and Jazz Improv magazines.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.10.2025
• Reihe/Serie: American Made Music Series
• Zusatzinfo: 79 b&w illustrations
• Verlagsort: Jackson
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik ► Jazz / Blues
• Schlagworte: band leader • Benny Goodman • Bud Powell • Cat Anderson • Civil Rights Movement • dinah washington • Duke Ellington orchestra • Fletcher Henderson • Ink Spots • Johnny Hodges • Louis Armstrong • Mercer Ellington • Mobile, Alabama AL • Plunger • Ray Nance • Rex Stewart • Round Midnight • Savoy Ballroom • soloist • talent scout • Thelonious Monk • Trumpet
• ISBN-10: 1-4968-5945-6 / 1496859456
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4968-5945-7 / 9781496859457