Piano Demon: The globetrotting, gin-soaked, too-short life of Teddy Weatherford, the Chicago jazzman who conquered Asia (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition]

Brendan I. Koerner (Author), The Atavist (Editor)

Book Description

Piano Demon: The globetrotting, gin-soaked, too-short life of Teddy Weatherford, the Chicago jazzman who conquered Asia

At age six, Teddy Weatherford was working in the coal mines of Virginia. By his early twenties he was the toast of Chicago’s jazz scene, rivaling Louis Armstrong and wowing Jelly Roll Morton with his piano talent. But when Weatherford left segregated America for the allures of Shanghai and Bombay, he set out on a adventure he hadn't imagined. The man they called “The Seagull” would become the globetrotting jazz king of Asia in the shadow of World War II, and provide the soundtrack for the last gasp of an empire. Brendan I. Koerner presents the true tale of how a forgotten legend lived the American Dream by leaving it behind—and helped globalize music with a piano and a sharkskin suit.

Brendan I. Koerner is an award-winning journalist and the author of Now the Hell Will Start: One Soldier’s Flight From the Greatest Manhunt of World War II (Penguin, 2008), which was optioned for film by Spike Lee. He is also a contributing editor at Wired, and contributor to Slate.com, The New York Times, and many other publications.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This profile of a forgotten jazz master is an object lesson in crafting form from content, structure from subject, the right story from the right life. Born into veritable child slavery in coal country (southwest Virginia), Teddy Weatherford wove a natural ear for music and an inborn wanderlust into international stardom half a world away (Shanghai, Bombay, Colombo, Calcutta). Following the money, he brought matchless talent and a commanding stage presence to a jazz-crazed Asia from 1926 through the end of World War II, his music "providing the soundtrack for the last gasp of empire." In a continent enamored with black American culture, Weatherford wasn't black; he was just American, a darling of the elite wherever he went. Few lives stray this far from the beaten path. Fewer still are done such justice in the retelling. --Jason Kirk

Product Details

• File Size: 784 KB
• Print Length: 37 pages
• Publisher: The Atavist (January 12, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004IWRCG6
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #260,526 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #26 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > Profiles
  • #28 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > Arts & Entertainment
  • #64 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > Reporting

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Short, Happy Life of a Forgotten Legend January 29, 2011

By David Abrams

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fats Waller....Jelly Roll Morton....Louis Armstrong....Teddy Weatherford....

Teddy who--? That's exactly Koerner's point in this breathtaking, short biography of a nearly-forgotten pianist, a coal-miner's son from Virginia, who was at one time "Asia's greatest jazz star." The subtitle of Koerner's mini-book is "The globetrotting, gin-soaked, too-short life of Teddy Weatherford, the Chicago jazzman who conquered Asia" and he delivers a portrait of an overlooked legend that moves at the speed of a rousing Jazz Age rag. As Koerner tells us near the beginning of The Piano Demon:

Weatherford usually receives no more than a skeletal paragraph in jazz histories. His Wikipedia entry is thinly sourced and error-ridden; his music is almost entirely absent from the Internet. He is the sort of figure whom scholars typically dismiss with a single, damning noun: footnote.

A child prodigy who developed international wanderlust (and, as his fame grew, an insatiable need for all the finest things money could buy), Teddy Weatherford quickly moved from tickling the ivories in Chicago clubs to playing in popular house bands in Shanghai, Bombay and Calcutta--exotic locales where segregation was less prevalent than in America. Weatherford was a workaholic and would often bounce between three or four gigs in the same evening. He was a big man with large hands--qualities not usually found in pianists--and he was a showman to the core, appearing on stage dressed in a distinctive white sharkskin suit. Here's how Koerner describes him in one scene:

Weatherford honed his showmanship in the Harbour Bar, entertaining British soldiers and sailors who craved good times before they set off for distant malarial outposts. To impress these men, Weatherford would sip a drink with one hand while playing with the other, never skipping a beat or losing a decibel's worth of volume. Such were the benefits of having been blessed with hands the size of gull wings.

As the title indicates, Weatherford did live a short life, but it was an intense one--a flaring flame of talent--and he earned a reputation as a well-loved, generous man. When he died, Koerner writes, "40,000 grieving Calcuttans lined the city's streets to watch his flower-strewn casket pass."

(This review originally appeared on my blog, The Quivering Pen: [...])

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A story well told February 1, 2011

By Louis N. Dewitt

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a captivating story about the life of a gentle giant who was talented beyond words. The ins and outs of this wandering minstrel includes a backdrop of life in the Far East during the 30's which becomes nearly palpable. The reader is more and more intrigued as the story unfolds toward its poignant end. If the reading wants to enjoy the work of a very gifted journalist then this story will delight.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting musical history lesson February 1, 2011

By T. Nash

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Piano Demon is a fascinating look at a little known (at least I'd never heard of Teddy Weatherford) jazz musician who, based on this Kindle Single really should be better known. Full of glimpses into the history of jazz and Asia before and during World War 2. Well researched with extensive references, and a clear easy to read style, the only problem I have with it is that now I want to learn more, and to find some of Teddy's music.