Customer Reviews

The Big Bands, Fourth Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book occupied a prime spot on my fathers bookshelf while I was growing up. I frequently heard this music as a kid, and was intrigued by its swing and feel. I had the pleasure of befriending George Simon, and found him to be a first class gentleman. I visited him at his home, and we would discuss the music and his experiences. It gave me tremendous insight into the times, and was always interesting. George was about fifty yeasr older than I ( I have lost touch with him after his move to Florida) but due to his involvement with the Grammys he could go from Harry James to Bob Dylan to Jimi Hendrix with ease. An interesting and insightful book by someone who loved the music and all it stood for.

Simon's wonderful book on the Big Band Era succeeds on a number of levels. First, George T. manages to introduce you to virtually any big band leader that was anybody during the period spanning 1935 to 1946. Second, since the Big Band Era is long gone, it is important to understand this fantastic music in context. The best introduction to that context is this book. Third, as a personal friend to perhaps the greatest popular big band leader, Glenn Miller, Simon gives you some insights into this period which started an explosion in popular music. This is not a book for jazz apologists who rail at any commercial success by jazz musicians. It is also not the book for people that don't understand that Jazz was first and foremost a popular music at it's inception. Simon unapologetically conveys the story of the union of the Big Band, Jazz and Popular music. That union really only occurred for about 11 years. By the late 40's the Big Band as a mainstream popular music vehicle was passing out of focus and into history.

This book is a great introductory overview of the Big Band Era. People wanting to learn more are encouraged to read "The World of Swing" by Stanley Dance, "The Swing Era" by Gunther Schuller, "Big Band Jazz" by Albert McCarthy and "The Dance Band Era" by Albert McCarthy. Unfortunately all of these books except for one are now out of print, but well worth finding. Start with Simon if you really want to understand what the Big Bands meant to popular culture during the latter part of the Great Depression and World War Two. Plus, Simon is a highly skilled writer (a former magazine editor), so this is an easy read.

If you are a jazz fan and this is not on your shelf you are not the jazz fan you think you are! Simon covers a wide variety of the big name artists and bands in depth, and many more in less depth. He was there, he lived it, he knew the musicians, he knew the music and he brings it all vividly back to life in these pages. It is such a shame that this book has gone out of print. I would strongly urge anyone reading this review to buy it used while you can. It is a terric read. One of the most interesting things about it to me is how, looking back through it, some of the bands he doesn't cover (Boyd Raeburn and Billy Eckstine being two prime examples, both receiving only mentions in a list of "other bands" at the end of the book) have come to take a much larger role in jazz history than he imagined when he wrote this book. Alas, both are seriously neglected to this day by the average jazz fan. But I digress. Do yourself a favor and read this book. The era will come alive in a way that isn't tainted with phony nostalgia and swing-revival nonsense. Most of these were really great JAZZ bands not just Moonlight Serenaders for old-folks homes and Hawaiian War Chants for the clueless "swing kids".

Hmmm, this review makes me sound more bitter than I am about how jazz is treated these days. Wait! No it doesn't. I am bitter.

This is, as they say, the definitive work on classic big band and swing music, full of profiles of bands and band leaders large and small, from the Artie Shaws and Glenn Millers to the Will Bradleys and Hal Kemps. The scope of the book is very well-rounded, including information on often-neglected "sweet" band musicians such as Isham Jones, along with pre-big band acts like Ted Lewis. The downside is that Simon -- a jazz music critic for "Metronome" magazine during the big band years -- wears his insider credentials on his sleeves, and is a bit of an insufferable name-dropper. Nonetheless, this is a great reference work, and a nice look back at the glory days of swing.

The book came promptly. It was a gift for my brother who does a Big Band show. He loved it. I am completely satisfied.

This book...supposedly published in 2011(4th edition)...looked like it had been used
since 1980. It was not what I thought I was purchasing. Big disappointment.
Will not shop like this again.

This is a compilation of the music business from the early twenties to the mid thirties. It details the "big bands" and the various sidemen that populated them. The various leaders were all sidemen who then began to lead their own aggragations in order to play their own kind of music, rather than being stifled in the group that was currenty employing them. Not all of the men were as successful as they wished. The days of the bands were becoming shorter as the singers were becoming more well known leading to the closing of "the big band" era.

This book shows a very exhaustive report-study about the American Jazz Big Bands era.The writer George T. Simon was very much involved inside this artistic world. He started his career as a drummer playing with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, then became a journalist mostly devoted to jazz music and managed recording sessions for different record label companies.
You don't read such a book as you read a novel. You sometime look at it to learn about this specific band you just listened or the life and music of this jazzman you like very much. Nevertheless there is always stories behind them and Simon is very good to tell you about anecdotes and specialist's comments such as Leonard Feather, John Hammond or Joe Glaser...
If you're interested in improving your knowledge about this music, here is the answer.

George Simon was an intimate part of the big band scene. He was there when it was born and he was there when it atrophied during Word War Two. He was an original member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra (he played drums) and one of the first writers for Metronome Magazine, the trade mag for the music industry in that time. I have a hardcover copy of the 9th printing. The original copyright is indicated as 1967. I also have an accompanying three record set that is unique in that it was a cooperative effort by three competing companies: RCA, Decca and Columbia. It's a shame that this isn't available too! Over 400 bands are mentioned, some extensively. It is full of first-hand accounts, anecdotes and many photos. I felt as if I was there! George Simon gave us a true window into this piece of music history. If I had an extra thumb, I would give it three thumbs up!

Big Band writer George T. Simon wrote this book very well. His use of vocabulary words is flawless; the description of some of the bands is beyond effect. Some of the pictures are fun to look at while some of the others aren't. There were plenty of interviews that Simon made the effort to make and the people that he interviewed spoke very highly of their leaders, other leaders and themselves. Among some of the people that he interviewed included bandleader Teddy Powell, bandleader/arranger Jerry Gray and band singer Bob Eberly, truly ONE of the better singers of his day. The length of the book is very nice to. I feel that Simon covered all he wanted to cover.

Now for the complaints. I would have given it five (5) stars, but I only have it four (4) because I found several mistakes in the book. I have enclosed an excerpt from the book to prove the mistake I found:
"On August 1, 1949, the (Glenn Miller) band recorded
its biggest hit of all time, `In The Mood,' complete
with the tenor sax(ophone) exchanges between (Tex)
Beneke and (Al) Klink..."

I only noted this because Glenn Miller recorded "In The Mood" in 1938/39, not 1949. But if I were the author, I would have proof read it more. But hay, everybody makes mistakes.