Dream Lucky - When FDR was in the White House, Count Basie was on the radio, and

The time: 1936-1938. The mood: Hopeful. It wasn''t wartime, not yet. The music: The incomparable Count Basie and Benny Goodman, among others. The setting: Living rooms across America and, most of all, New York City. Dream Lucky covers politics, race, religion, arts, and sports, but the central focus is the period''s soundtrack--specifically big band jazz--and the big-hearted piano player William "Count" Basie. His ascent is the narrative thread of the book--how he made it and what made his music different from the rest. But many other stories weave in and out: Amelia Earhart pursues her dream of flying "around the world at its waistline." Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., stages a boycott on 125th Street. And Mae West shocks radio listeners as a naked Eve tempting the snake. Critic Nat Hentoff praises the "precise originality" with which Roxane Orgill writes about music. In Dream Lucky , she magically lets readers hear the past.

Product details

• Authors: Roxane Orgill
• Publisher: Harper Collins Usa
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 22.04.2008
• EAN: 9780060897505
• ISBN: 978-0-06-089750-5
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 210 mm x 23 mm
• Subjects: HISTORY: United States / 20th Century, HISTORY: United States / General, MUSIC: Genres & Styles / Jazz, MUSIC: History & Criticism, MUSIC: Reference