Behind the iconic jazz orchestras; vocalists; and stage productions of the Swing Era lay the talents of popular musics unsung heroes: the arrangers. John Wriggle takes you behind the scenes of New York Citys vibrant entertainment industry of the 1930s and 1940s to uncover the lives and work of jazz arrangers; both black and white; who left an indelible mark on American music and culture. Blue Rhythm Fantasy traces the extraordinary career of arranger Chappie Willet--a collaborator of Louis Armstrong; Cab Calloway; Duke Ellington; Gene Krupa; and many others--to revisit legendary Swing Era venues and performers from Harlem to Times Square. Wriggles insightful music analyses of big band arranging techniques explore representations of cultural modernism; discourses on art and commercialism; conceptions of race and cultural identity; music industry marketing strategies; and stage entertainment variety genres. Drawing on archives; obscure recordings; untapped sources in the African American press; and interviews with participants; Blue Rhythm Fantasy is a long-overdue study of the arranger during this dynamic era of American music history.
2016-07-14 2016-07-14File Name: B01L0LW7SK
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