Three Chords for Beauty's Sake
The Life of Artie Shaw
Will be published approx. on 9. July 2010
Book
Hardback
448 pages
978-0-393-06201-4 (ISBN)
Description
During America's Swing Era, no musician was more successful or controversial than Artie Shaw: the charismatic and opinionated clarinetist-bandleader whose dozens of hits became anthems for "the greatest generation." But some of his most beautiful recordings were not issued until decades after he'd left the scene. He broke racial barriers by hiring African American musicians. His frequent "retirements" earned him a reputation as the Hamlet of jazz. And he quit playing for good at the height of his powers. The handsome Shaw had seven wives (including Lana Turner and Ava Gardner). Inveterate reader and author of three books, he befriended the best-known writers of his time.
Tom Nolan, who interviewed Shaw between 1990 and his death in 2004 and spoke with one hundred of his colleagues and contemporaries, captures Shaw and his era with candor and sympathy, bringing the master to vivid life and restoring him to his rightful place in jazz history.
Tom Nolan, who interviewed Shaw between 1990 and his death in 2004 and spoke with one hundred of his colleagues and contemporaries, captures Shaw and his era with candor and sympathy, bringing the master to vivid life and restoring him to his rightful place in jazz history.
Reviews / Votes
"[F]ollows Shaw's various zigzags with aplomb, and Nolan shifts gears adeptly in pursuit of his subject. The book is well paced and never lags, while the author addresses everything from litigation to personal rivalries with fairness and a deft touch." -- Ted Gioia - San Francisco Chronicle "Absorbing... fascinating." -- David Gates - The New York Times Book Review "Nolan reconsiders the swing clarinetist-bandleader in a beautifully measured, unforgiving account... An exemplary work of jazz biography." -- Kirkus Reviews "Every great artist deserves a great biography, and Swing Era bandleader and clarinetist Artie Shaw finally has one... Nolan has crafted a well-written, highly entertaining, and informative biography." -- Library Journal "Enthralling... [Nolan] gives the satisfactions of a true rags-to-riches story, complete with the spice of glamorous marriages and flings (with Lee Wiley, Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, etc.), and plausibly accounts for Shaw's huge character faults without obscuring his charm and prodigious talent." -- Booklist "Tom Nolan has a great story to tell and he knows precisely how to tell it, fast and deadpan, abetted by the irascible Shaw himself-a serial husband, detached father, and full time autodidact who may have been the finest clarinet virtuoso of all time." -- Gary Giddins, author of Warning Shadows and Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams "[A]t last, the lively, continually imaginative life of the most creative clarinetist in jazz history and an orchestra leader who not only produced hits but also new dimensions of this music." -- Nat Hentoff, author of At the Jazz Band Ball: Sixty Years at the Jazz Scene "In this riveting biography, Tom Nolan recovers the genius, the legend, the ego and blocked emotions of an enigmatic American icon." -- Kevin Starr, University of Southern California "[C]ompulsively readable." -- Daniel Akst - Wall Street JournalMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
8 pages of black-and-white photographs
Dimensions
Height: 246 mm
Width: 169 mm
Thickness: 45 mm
Weight
654 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-393-06201-4 (9780393062014)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Book
08/2011
WW Norton & Co
€37.35
Shipment within 15-20 days
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2011
W. W. Norton & Company
€16.49
Available for download
Person
Tom Nolan, the author of the critically acclaimed and Edgar Award-nominated Ross Macdonald: A Biography, is a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal's Leisure & Arts page. He lives in Los Angeles, California.