Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael

by Richard M. Sudhalter

Georgia on My Mind, Rockin' Chair, Skylark, Lazybones, and of course the incomparable Star Dust--who else could have composed these classic American songs but Hoagy Carmichael? He remains, for millions, the voice of heartland America, eternal counterpoint to the urban sensibility of Cole Porter and George Gershwin. Now, trumpeter and historian Richard M. Sudhalter has penned the first book-length biography of the man Alec Wilder hailed as "the most talented, inventive, sophisticated and jazz-oriented of all the great songwriters--the greatest of the great craftsmen."
Stardust Melody follows Carmichael from his roaring-twenties Indiana youth to bandstands and recording studios across the nation, playing piano and singing alongside jazz greats Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and close friends Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong. It illuminates his peak Hollywood years, starring in such films as To Have and Have Not and The Best Years of Our Lives, and on radio, records and TV. With compassionate insight Sudhalter depicts Hoagy's triumphs and tragedies, and his mounting despair as rock-and-roll drowns out and lays waste to the last days of a brilliant career.
With an insider's clarity Sudhalter explores the songs themselves, still fresh and appealing while reminding us of our innocent American yesterdays. Drawing on Carmichael's private papers and on interviews with family, friends and colleagues, he reveals that "The Old Music Master" was almost as gifted a wordsmith as a shaper of melodies. In all, Stardust Melody offers a richly textured portrait of one of our greatest musical figures, an inspiring American icon.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, History

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Ralphz]

Hoagy Carmichael was one of the legendary songwriters of the Great American Songbook era, responsible for such classics as "Georgia On My Mind," "Heart and Soul," and, yes, "Stardust."

He also had a much-overlooked acting career too, and this book covers all of it.

But the author is enamored of the backstory, his childhood and college years, and takes quite a while to get into the songwriting.

Then, he seems to be in a hurry to get through the music and into the analysis. He builds the end of a chapter with something like "... and then came the biggest song of his career." Then, the next chapter begins "So he wrote 'Stardust,' and then...," moving on in the story. "Georgia On My Mind" gets a similar perfunctory treatment.

When the author starts reproducing written music and talks of subtonics and tone clusters, he loses me. He's gotta know that some people are in it for the story, not the sheet music!

In the end, Hoagy descends into something close to irrelevance, but he finishes with accolades and awards as he becomes more prickly about a music world that passed him by.

I would've liked more non-technical discussions of the music and what it meant to his era.

[Judy]

Love Skylark, Stardust, Georgia. Wonderful songwriter. Leans a bit heavy into music theory of which I know nothing about but the author embraces Carmichael, plays his work as he is a musician and wrote a very thorough, detailed biography.

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov]

If you haven't any idea of Hoagland Carmichael's influence on 20th Century pop music, there's too much for this review to cover. Hoagy was the first of the singer-songwriters. Starting in the 1920's as jazz was becoming hot, he had a great career that included many performances in films (checkout the Bogart/Bacall film, To Have and To Have Not). Here was an Indiana boy who fortunatelhy discover his great gift before he settled into a life of practicing law. He knew and played with many of the greats of his era and settled into a life in Hollywood that fit him well.
Georgia on My Mind
Skylark
Two Sleepy People
Stardust
....and many more came from his creative mind.
Sudhalter is a good choice for his biography. He writes well; had complete access to the Carmichael archives and, as a musician, really understands (and explains) the innovations that Hoagy brought to pop music.

[Jack Blackfelt]

Very well researched. Probably the definitive Hoagy biography. Sad last few chapters as Carmichael's fragmented relationship with his sons becomes the primary focus toward the end of the book, though I suppose not really the author's fault - just the main feature to the last decades of America's great jazz folk composer.

[Roger W.]

I'm a bit past the middle in this book, which I find highly readable and entertaining. It's fun to anticipate the works of his I know, whether songs or movies Mr. Carmichael appears in. After the section of "To Have And Have Not" I had to go and watch the movie again.

Quite worth the read.

[Norm]

I kinda had to slog through it but it was worth it to get the story of this man's life.

[Carol Tilley]

Richly documented and evocative biography of one of America's premiere composers.