Life in Jazz

Louisiana Artists Biography Series

by Danny Barker

Jazz buffs have been waiting for Danny Barker's full account of his life in jazz since the 1950s, when Nat Hentoff and Nat Shapiro published Heah Me Talkin' to Ya, an oral history of jazz which drew heavily on Barker's reminiscences. A jazz guitarist, Danny Barker played with many importantNew Orleans bands in the 1920s and then moved to New York to play with swing bands in the 1930s, notably Cab Calloway's band, at a time when several future pioneers of the bop movement were in the band, including Dizzie Gillespie. (It is Barker who made famous the scene when Gillespie and severalcohorts began playing bop during a Calloway band stage show, which produced the angry blast from Calloway, "I won't have any of that Chinese music in my band!") Barker's memoirs brilliantly recreate the jazz world of New Orleans (parades, funerals, brothels, dance halls, and more) and the pioneermusicians of the day. The book is also a knowing account of the big band swing world. It will surely rank as one of the basic documents in jazz history.

Genres: Music

223 pages, Hardcover

First published October 23, 1986

Reviews

[Steve Weiss]

The edition we have is a gorgeous, hardcover, beautifully laid out and typeset book, essentially a museum guide, with plentiful photos that are large, clearly rendered, and detailed in their captioning. The full effect is transcendant: Barker takes you to another world (several, really: Jim Crow Deep South, New Orleans in the birth of the Jazz Age, NYC through and after the Harlem Renaissance, and more), that actually was a big piece of what our world is now, at least regarding American music and culture.
The book is also a helpful window to the fucked-up realities of life faced by African-Americans in 20th century America. Wasn't right then, ain't right now.
Great stories from the man in the middle of it all.

[Ankit Sharma]

‘’A Life in Jazz’ ’A Autobiography of a Musician The Title Is published By A historic New Orleans Collection, Reputed publisher In The USA,The Book Explains You An Early History of Jazz in new Orleans This Is An Illustrated Book With Each Illustration itself tells you something about the life of Danny Barker .Earlier I read Autobiographies of Several Peoples But This Time When I Read A Book On Musician Life I Definite Find Some New Source Of Knowledge & This Is A Different Experience For Me.
Now Comes to the Book It Contains 24 chapters with each one itself explains & Presents The life of Danny, How Danny Maintains The Heritage Of His Family In The Area of Music, Danny Barker was born to a family of musicians in New Orleans in 1909, He Was Belongs To A Musician Family & Wanted To Make A Difference. Barker began his career as a musician in his youth In 1930 he moved to New York City For Better Career prospects but returns to their roots.
Each Chapter of This Book Describes The Life of Danny Barker In Depth. I Finds lots of Interesting Facts about Danny through This Book & I Hope Several peoples Not aware About Those Facts.
When You a Read a Biography of Any person You Gets Some kind Of experience Through Them Same You Find Lots of Experience & Teachings Through This Biography Also. I Finds Lot of knowledge about the life of Danny through this Book, there is no Doubt He Was one Of The greatest Musician & Guitarist In USA.
Danny Wrote This Book So The peoples Get Every Details & Knowledge Of His Life To analyze The Life of This Musician.
My Final Opinion On This Book Is If You Love Music Then read This Book On The life of musician Who Was A part of Golden Era, You Will Definite Finds The Joy of Reading This Is Book Which Binds You To Finish Reading Once You Start Reading.
I Recommend This Book To Read & Thanks To The publisher Who Publish This Wonderful Edition On The life Of Danny Barker.