Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Anyone wanting to drive from Indianapolis to Richmond, Indiana, these days simply picks up Interstate 70, which bisects the city, heads east, and steps on..." (more)
Key Phrases: gin agin, cranky old yank, riverboat shuffle, Hoagy Carmichael, New York, Hoagy Bix (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This first full biography of Hoagy Carmichael (1899-1981), a major jazz singer/songwriter, is a dense labor of love. Sudhalter (Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contributions to Jazz) admits to being driven by thoughts of obsolescence: "How quick we are to discard, to expunge what's not immediately relevant to us," he laments. "Surely it wasn't all that long ago that Hoagy Carmichael wise, thoughtful, casual in a grown-up, seen-it-all way was a familiar, even reassuring, presence in our midst." Sudhalter skillfully blends cultural and personal history, demonstrating how growing up in Indiana, a racial and musical crossroads for myriad touring musicians and entertainers, profoundly influenced Carmichael. Sudhalter paints vivid pictures, trying to divine the biographical inspiration for such Carmichael hits as "Ole Buttermilk Sky," "Georgia on My Mind" and "Lazy River." At times, Sudhalter's detailed notes on composition weigh heavily on the narrative. It's hard to imagine that the new audience Sudhalter hopes to entice would derive much pleasure from his scholarly dissections. Thankfully, the stiff bits are drummed between long runs of imaginative exposition. Sudhalter draws from numerous interviews, archival material, recorded music and Carmichael's personal papers to show that the laid-back man at the piano, cigarette dangling from his lips, was, for the most part, image. Carmichael, far from being carefree, embodies the American myth hardworking, self-taught, recognized for his efforts and pushed aside by the next big thing: rock and roll. (Apr.) recordings Stardust Melody, featuring some of Carmichael's most famous songs along with rare and previously unreleased tracks (RCA/Victor, Mar.); Stardust Melody Beloved and Rare Songs, compiled by Sudhalter (Challenge Records, Feb.); and a five-CD set (JSP Records, Apr.).
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Jazz trumpeter and author Sudhalter (Lost Chords) admirably fills a gap in the literature on American popular music with this biography of songwriter and performer Carmichael (1899-1981), whose own had been the only readily available sources of information. Chronicled here are Carmichael's personal life and musical development, from his early years at Indiana University through his time in Florida, New York City, Hollywood, and later Palm Springs, CA. Probably best remembered for writing popular songs (e.g., "Star Dust," "Heart and Soul"), he also played piano and sang, acted in movies, hosted television revues, composed serious music ("Johnny Appleseed Suite"), and painted with varying degrees of success. Sudhalter's entertaining yet straightforward style propels the narrative forward, and the musical examples are a plus. The exhaustive research, including interviews with Carmichael's relatives and colleagues, makes this essential for all popular music, American culture, or Indiana collections. (Photographs not seen.) Barry Zaslow, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195168984
• ISBN-13: 978-0195168983
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #717,322 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sudhalter does it again, September 18, 2002

By	Rick Kennedy (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael (Hardcover)

We owe Richard Sudhalter for preserving the often-forgotten history of America's early jazz pioneers and composers. His subjects are white musicians, but he doesn't write about them with a nasty political agenda. He just doesn't want their contributions to be forgotten. Along the way, he pays warm tribute to the black musicians who led the musical revolution. Unfortunately, politically-charged reviewers refuse to see this.
I especially love this Sudhalter work. Sadly, Hoagy is becoming a forgotten genius of American song. Duke Ellington once called him America's greatest songwriter, and Sudhalter goes a long way in providing the evidence to such a claim. I especially enjoyed the focus on Hoagy's home state of Indiana, which was an amazing hotbed for jazz in the 1920s. One should take this book and drive around Bloomington, Indiana, and find all of the haunts described in rich detail by Sudhalter. Then go to Indianapolis, and Richmond, Indiana. Sudhalter really did us all a huge favor in providing such a wonderful document.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accurate, well written, July 6, 2002

By	chris dant (palo alto, ca USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael (Hardcover)

My father, Bud Dant, is prominently featured in this book, as a man who helped Hoagy write down Stardust and I grew up hearing about the stories and now here they all are in a book...not just a book, but what I know is an extremely accurate and real account of Hoagy's life...the writing is terrific and Richard's obvious love of the music and times shows in his accounts...I know for a fact he researched this material exhaustively...it shows! It pretty much dwarfs all other books on Hoagy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A World Without Goodbyes, September 2, 2009

By	Tom Without Pity (A Major Midwestern Metropolis) - See all my reviews

STARDUST MELODY: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF HOAGY CARMICHAEL by Richard M. Sudhalter
published by Oxford University Press in 2002.

Stardust Melody: the life of Hoagy Carmichael is a fine biography by Richard M. Sudhalter about the composer of Stardust and many other fine, sometimes wistful popular songs which seemed to gain their peak of popularity from the mid 1930s into the early 1950s.

Composer Hoagy Carmichael was sometimes pictured as a somewhat passive vessel of fine pop tunes which apparently came to him by divine inspiration with just a minimal amount of keyboard labor. But the truth is, as Mr. Sudhalter points out,
that hard work begets inspiration as much if not more than anything else.
And Hoagy Carmichael,despite his "nothin' to it" demeanor labored mightily for many of his tunes including some of those that were not commercially successful but were nontheless beautiful compositions.

Mr. Sudhalter recreates the world of Hoagy Carmichael, who once he got on board the Hollywood Movie Music express became a fairly wealthy man who did not have to worry about his next meal, much less his family's welfare. Hoagy Carmichael
prospered in that world and did not want to leave it, building one success upon another but never forgetting his jazz background and always seemed to maintain a sense of authenticity around him because of that background.

Hoagy Carmichael became a successful actor because of that sense of authenticity around him, and his laid back comfortable persona was used in more than a few films and even for one season, a late 1950s TV western series.
Mr. Carmichael did become bitter with the accesenscion of rock and roll and the loss of his musical popularity but he still wrote songs, most of which were not published or, after a while, even submitted to publishers.

This biography chronicles all of the above and much more, it's a fascinating look into the life of one of our most original composers of the classic standard era and
a glimpse of a world that will always somehow seem golden to many of us.

It is a biography that is deserved by the composer of Skylark, Stardust, Georgia On my Mind and so many more lyrical pop standards.