Concerto for Cootie : The Life and Times of Cootie Williams
Book Details
Format
Paperback / Softback
Book Series
American Made Music Series
ISBN-10
1496859448
ISBN-13
9781496859440
Publisher
University Press of Mississippi
Imprint
University Press of Mississippi
Country of Manufacture
GB
Country of Publication
GB
Publication Date
Oct 24th, 2025
Print length
456 Pages
Weight
702 grams
Dimensions
15.50 x 23.40 x 2.90 cms
Ksh 5,700.00
Werezi Extended Catalogue
Delivery in 14 days
2 copies in stock
Delivery Location
Delivery fee: Select location
Delivery in 14 days
Secure
Quality
Fast
Jazz legend Cootie Williams left home to start his career as a professional musician at the age of fifteen. In 1940, after eleven years as one of the major soloists with the Duke Ellington orchestra, Williams was lured away to the band of Benny Goodman, one of the most popular bands in the country. At the time, it was a controversial move--it was still taboo for African Americans to share the bandstand with white people. Current references to the move usually reduce it to a song written by Raymond Scott, "When Cootie Left the Duke." In reality, it was a seismic event. The Black press predicted Black bands would collapse from raids on their ranks. White musicians were afraid they would be put out of work. And the white press stirred up visions of Black musicians mixing with white women in the new landscape of integrated orchestras. The twenty years trumpeter Williams spent as a band leader (1942-1962) have been covered in only the barest of details. His involvement in politics and the civil rights movement have not been detailed before. An astute talent scout, Williams and his band launched the careers of Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Earl "Bud" Powell, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, and Pearl Bailey. He also was the first to record the music of a young Thelonious Monk, using two of Monk''s compositions ("Epistrophy" and "''Round Midnight") as theme songs for his band. Steven C. Bowie respectfully tells Williams''s story, from his Alabama ancestry onward, including many new details rediscovered from the historical archives of the African American press and those gleaned from the author''s interviews with his friends and colleagues.
Get Concerto for Cootie by at the best price and quality guaranteed only at Werezi Africa's largest book ecommerce store. The book was published by University Press of Mississippi and it has pages.
