Jazz Band: My Life In Jazz

New York: Da Capo Press, Inc. - A Subsidiary of Plenum Publishing Coreporation, 1981. Reprint Edition . Trade Paperback. Very Good. 5 1/2" x 8 1/2. 242 Pages Indexed. This De Capo Press paperback edition of Jazz and My Life In Jazz is an unabridged republication of the first edition published in New York in 1965. Although born and raised in Massachusetts, trumpeter Max Kaminsky made his big splash in Chicago in the late 20s, and later New York, with such luminaries as Eddie Condon, Gene Krupa, Bud Freeman, and Jimmy McPartland. In this book Kaminsky provides priceless recollections of these and other colleagues like Bix Beiderbecke ("I love the way he plays, but I can't stand the way he lives."); Pee Wee Russell (."..a shy, mournful-looking man, suffering the tortures of the extremely sensitive..."); Tommy Dorsey ("Working with (him) was like cooking on a hot stove that might explode at any moment..."); Billie Holiday (."..her haughtiness hid a shyness so vast that she spoke in practically a whisper."); Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Hot Lips Page, Artie Shaw, Jack Teagarden, Joe Venuti, Dave Tough, and the others who changed American popular music forever. Kaminsky's brash, crackling prose captures the ecstasy of the music, the camaraderie and hostilities within the jazz world, and the fast life enjoyed by him and his friends.