Stardust Melody The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael

by Sudhalter, Richard M.

• ISBN13: 9780195168983
• ISBN10: 0195168984
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-10-30
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Georgia on My Mind, Rockin' Chair, Skylark, Lazybones , and of course the incomparable Star Dust --who else could have composed these classic American songs but Hoagy Carmichael? He remains, for millions, the voice of heartland America, eternal counterpoint to the urban sensibility of Cole Porter and George Gershwin. Now, trumpeter and historian Richard M. Sudhalter has penned the first book-length biography of the man Alec Wilder hailed as "the most talented, inventive, sophisticated and jazz-oriented of all the great songwriters--the greatest of the great craftsmen." Stardust Melody follows Carmichael from his roaring-twenties Indiana youth to bandstands and recording studios across the nation, playing piano and singing alongside jazz greats Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and close friends Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong. It illuminates his peak Hollywood years, starring in such films as To Have and Have Not and The Best Years of Our Lives , and on radio, records and TV. With compassionate insight Sudhalter depicts Hoagy's triumphs and tragedies, and his mounting despair as rock-and-roll drowns out and lays waste to the last days of a brilliant career. With an insider's clarity Sudhalter explores the songs themselves, still fresh and appealing while reminding us of our innocent American yesterdays. Drawing on Carmichael's private papers and on interviews with family, friends and colleagues, he reveals that "The Old Music Master" was almost as gifted a wordsmith as a shaper of melodies. In all, Stardust Melody offers a richly textured portrait of one of our greatest musical figures, an inspiring American icon.

Author Biography

Richard M. Sudhalter is a Challenge Records recording artist.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
Daybreak	p. 3
Discovery	p. 15
Initiation	p. 32
Sunshine and Sock-Time	p. 44
Monk	p. 54
Bix	p. 69
Washboard Blues	p. 85
Stardust Melody	p. 103
Big Town Blues	p. 124
Coming of Age	p. 145
Bread, Gravy, and Cream	p. 164
Paradise Perceived	p. 183
Quests Failed and Fulfilled	p. 205
A Poke in His Pocket ...	p. 225
Movie Star	p. 249
Tide: Rise and Ebb	p. 268
Period of Adjustment	p. 289
Loss	p. 310
Ev'ntide	p. 331
Notes	p. 347
Acknowledgments	p. 401
Credits	p. 405
Indexes	p. 409
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