Book Launch: Benny Goodman’s Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert

Book Launch: Benny Goodman’s Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert (Oxford University Press)

Sunday 18 November, 2pm

Upstairs at the Kings Arms, 11 Bloom Street, Salford M3 6AA

http://kingsarmssalford.com/

On January 16, 1938 Benny Goodman brought his swing orchestra to America’s venerated home of European classical music, Carnegie Hall. The resulting concert – widely considered one of the most significant events in American music history – helped to usher jazz and swing music into the American cultural mainstream. This reputation has been perpetuated by Columbia Records’ 1950 release of the concert on LP. Now, in Benny Goodman’s Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert, jazz scholar and musician Catherine Tackley examines the rich cultural setting in which the concert took place, and analyzes the compositions, arrangements and performances themselves, before discussing the immediate reception, and lasting legacy and impact of this storied event and album.

To celebrate the publication of Benny Goodman’s Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert the author will present an illustrated talk with live music played by Dr Jazz and the Cheshire Cats big band (www.dr-jazz.co.uk).

Admission is free but space is limited, so please email benny@dr-jazz.co.uk to be added to the guest list.

“Tackley’s is the most thorough study of this celebrated event. She sifts through the prior writings and inflated claims to come up with an original, level-headed, song-by-song analysis-and it’s a good read!” Lewis Porter, Professor of Music, Rutgers University-Newark

“Catherine Tackley’s valuable study details the fascinating story behind one of jazz’s widely acknowledged milestones. Through meticulous cultural criticism, sound analysis, and archival research, Tackley unravels the social politics, aesthetics, and commercial interests that brought Benny Goodman’s famous concert to the public ears, on to vinyl and into its eventual iconic status. We learn to view this concert’s recording as a complex creation of multiple modes of mediation and not simply as proof that jazz became ‘a lady.’ Tackley shows us she’s much more than that!” Guthrie P. Ramsey Jr., Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Music, University of Pennsylvania

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