Hot Man: The Life of Art Hodes (Music in American Life) [Hardcover]

Art Hodes (Author), Chadwick Hansen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Music in American Life | Publication Date: May 1, 1992

This memoir by the internationally renowned jazz pianist Art Hodes, born in Russia in 1904, is in its own way a blues, a lament for and a celebration of music and musicians we have lost. The last of the living legends among Chicago jazz musicians, Hodes joins with jazz historian Chadwick Hansen to provide a unique perspective on more than seven decades of jazz history. With an honesty not usually found in jazz books, Hot Man captures Hodes's professional career from his apprenticeship in Chicago in the 1920s to the present. The book offers remarkable inside views of gangster clubowners, the great New York jazz clubs and the vicious "jazz wars" of the 1940s, Chicago from the 1950s, the very closed and special world of jazz musicians, the curious relationships between musicians and their audiences, and Hodes's experiences with jazz greats including Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke. No other white musician has given us such a full account of learning to play from black musicians. This intimate journey takes us to a vast circle of fellow musicians, to recording companies and the business of the profession, to Nodes's other career as a writer and editor of the Jazz Record, a publication that existed through most of the 1940s. Hodes's story includes almost thirty photographs and a comprehensive discography, filling a gap in the world of jazz literature.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this autobiography/biography, jazz great Hodes retells in brief stories his experiences in the jazz worlds of Chicago and New York from the 1920s to the 1950s. Hansen (English, Univ. of Illinois) functions as editor and commentator, supplying connective passages as needed. There is much to tell. Not only a renowned blues pianist, Hodes finds time to be a radio broadcaster, television series host, and magazine editor. The book duplicates some areas covered in an earlier Hodes-Hansen collaboration, Selections from the Gutter (Univ. of California Pr., 1977), but Hodes is a natural storyteller, making this a lively and amusing oral history of jazz. Recommended for libraries with large music collections.-- Deborah Richey, California State Univ.
Fullerton Lib.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press; 1St Edition edition (May 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252017536
• ISBN-13: 978-0252017537
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,786,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining read, January 18, 2008

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This review is from: Hot Man: The Life of Art Hodes (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)

Very interesting book about Art Hodes, jazz piano legend. Covers Art's life in jazz from the 20's on. Anecdotal accounts of the jazz life. You'll enjoy it.