Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy: Gennett Studios and the Birth of Recorded Jazz

by Rick Kennedy

Traces the history of Gennett Studios, an independent company which recorded young midwestern jazz and folk musicians during the 1920s

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Rick B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating history of the early jazz, blues, and country recordings made at Gennett, but also very disturbing to read that they made and sold recordings for the KKK. While Gennett was a groundbreaker by giving African-American musicians an opportunity, any praise must be tempered by their near simultaneous production of hate-related materials.

Wrong is wrong and no amount of claiming "it's just business" can wipe away the stench of that decision. Saying "it's just business" is akin to "I was just following orders." Furthermore, the book should have been more critical of Gennett about this topic.

Second, it was troubling to learn that many of the musicians were being scammed out of royalties when the company would produce discount records with pseudonyms for the rural markets. Whether all the other records companies did it or not, it is still flat out wrong.

[Sarah Alawami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a big jazz fan, but I thought history would be good as I'm always soaking that up. I was right. The book is not a fast paced read, but it is quite interesting and you get mini biographical sketches of each of the players that were at Gennett recording studios.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me so long to read cuz I kept interrupting it to listen to the recordings....