PETER STAMPFEL SINGS TO HARRY SMITH ~

 

C O S M I C    S C H O L A R

BILLIE HOLIDAY by JOHN SZWED ~

 

Viking 2015

"When John Hammond first heard the Count Basie band, it was a revelation.

The Basie players were very different from Eastern jazz bands. Much of

their music was based on the blues, and they had a remarkable

singer in Jimmy Rushing, though Hammond thought the

vocals were secondary to the remarkable dance music they brought

with them from the Midwest. Their rhythm section had a lighter,

more even, and propulsion feel that was the envy of every band

that heard them (Benny Goodman, especially, favored the wing

they generated); the ensemble was strong and brassy;

they had the ability to create spontaneous arrangements based

on collective experience; and their use of riffs and call-and-response

was state of the art. It was music of urban sophistication that

still retained a feel for the blues."

John Szwed, Billie Holiday

The Musician and the Myth