Book description
The swing composer relates personal experiences in his musical career includi his association with such personalities as Bix Beiderbecks and William Moenkhaus.
Why read it?
1 author picked The Stardust Road as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This book helped me understand the lives of young male jazz musicians in the early 20th century. A wacky, ecstatic, fragmented, kaleidoscopic, memoir—nostalgic always for Bloomington, Indiana, and his college days in the early 1920s. There Carmichael met his pals Monk and Bix, both of whom died too young. He dedicates the book to them and remembers them fondly. Monk, a surrealistic poet, and Bix, a great musical genius, they understood each other immediately. Bix responded to one of Monk’s poems saying, “I am not a swan.” There is a Dadaist flavor to Monk’s writing, as well as some of…
From Jeff's list on 1920s Chicago jazz musicians.
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