Editorial Reviews
Gary Giddins, author of Satchmo and Faces in the Crowd
"Advertised in 1936 as "the first standard book in English on the new Swing Music," Louis Armstrong's partly ghostwritten Swing That Music remains a fascinating text. The musical examples and Rudy Vallee's oddly astute prologue complement the lively if often inaccurate narrative. Some of it is surely true, but I wouldn't bet on the passages concerning Armstrong's love of Mark Twain."
Dan Morgenstern, Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, and author of Jazz People
"It could well be said that Louis Armstong spent a lifetime working on his autobiography. From his earliest surviving letter (dated 1922) to his final sketches (from 1969), he spun out tales that add up to fascinating variations on a theme, His first published book, Swing That Music, is not always in his own true voice, but enough of it is to make it much more than a historical curiosity. No more fitting subject could be imagined for the very first biography of a jazz musician. But Swing That Music (astonishingly out of print for some 55 years) is not only a biography, but also one of the earliest American attempts to trace the development of jazz-then thought to be something that culminated in a music called 'Swing.'"
Swing That Music
Swing That Music,Louis Armstrong,Rudy Vallee,Dan Morgenstern,Horace Gerlach,Benny Goodman,Da Capo Press,0306805448,1901-1971,Armstrong, Louis,,Biography,Biography & Autobiography,Biography / Autobiography,Biography/Autobiography,Composers & Musicians - General,Composers & Musicians - Jazz,Genres & Styles - Jazz,History and criticism,Jazz,Jazz musicians,People of Color,United States,Armstrong, Louis
Book Details:
Recommended Books