Norman Granz: The White Moses of Black Jazz (Hardcover)

~ Dempsey J. Travis (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Urban Research Pr (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941484343
• ISBN-13: 978-0941484343
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,912,128 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Consumer Beware!, June 24, 2004

By	Helmut Schwarzer (Newbury, NH) - See all my reviews

The book, like all of the author's works, is self-published, which produces the usual host of problems. The title is completely misleading, because it is not at all a biography of Norman Granz. The 'Prologue' gives a 12p account of his life and career and he is frequently mentioned in the following 13 chapters on individual musicians, but that's about it. The preface by Studs Terkel belonged to an earlier book by Travis, and is obviouly slapped on to this one for window dressing. Misprints and errors of fact abound: Billie Holiday was born in Philadelphia, not Baltimore. The Jazz Baroness Nica de Koenigswarter is misspelled every time (as Doeningwarter, Koenigsmarter and Koenigsmater). Ben Webster died 1973, not 1978. Benny Moten did not have his throat cut by a jealous lover, but died during or shortly after surgery on his tonsils. And so it goes on. Little fresh information is offered. In fact, the author frequently pads this tome with pages from his previous books. Reproductions are of poor quality, e.g. plain photocopies from newpapers and magazines. Reproduced extracts from FBI files add little to our knowledge of or insight into the lives of the musicians portrayed. A disappointing cut-and-paste job by an author who's lived a long life, has seen, heard and known an enormous amount of jazz & its protagonists - but wasted a great opportunity of sharing this experience.