Customer Reviews

Dialogues in Swing: Intimate Conversations with the Stars of the Big Band Era

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I'm 75. During the 30's and 40's I danced to and enjoyed the "big Bands." This book, by Fred Hall, includes great conversations with many of the leaders. You learn how they got started, problems they had, who was easy to work for, who was a tyrant. You learn that there were great bands BEFORE the Big Bands of the 40's (Jimmy Lunceford for one). Every successful leader had a mentor and it's interesting to see who mentored who.

If you love big band music [like I do], then you gotta buy this book. "Dialogues in Swing; Intimate Conversations with the Stars of the Big Band Era." details conversations with some of the biggest and baddest musicans of their time and is a book you'll read again and again.

I literally devoured this book in one sitting! It takes you into the hearts and minds of the giants of the swing era -- Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Bob Crosby, the Glenn Miller band . Plus top singers Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Dick Haymes, Jo Stafford and the Andrews Sisters. Intimate portraits revealed by interviews. Fascinating and filled with little known facts of how these personalities lived and worked. I enjoyed it so much that I'll re-read it soon.