Buddy Bolden and the Last Days of Storyville - (Bayou Jazz Lives) by Danny Barker (Paperback)

About the Book

The first volume of Barker's memoirs, A Life in Jazz, followed him from New Orleans into the big bands of Cab Calloway and Benny Carter. He was working on this-the second volume-for some years before his death in 1994. Beginning with an extended portrait of Buddy Bolden as recalled by the likes of Jelly Roll Morton and Bunk Johnson as well as Barker himself, this book draws together a lifetime of stories and the vivid characters who populated "Storyville."Danny Barker (1909-1994) sang and played the guitar and banjo on over 1,000 jazz, swing, blues, and bebop records. He is a member of the Jazz Hall of Fame and recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Music Master Award. Alyn Shipton is a writer and broadcaster on jazz. He is the editor of A Life in Jazz, the first volume of Danny Barker's memoirs.

Book Synopsis

The first volume of Barker's memoirs, A Life in Jazz, followed him from New Orleans into the big bands of Cab Calloway and Benny Carter. He was working on this-the second volume-for some years before his death in 1994. Beginning with an extended portrait of Buddy Bolden as recalled by the likes of Jelly Roll Morton and Bunk Johnson as well as Barker himself, this book draws together a lifetime of stories and the vivid characters who populated "Storyville."Danny Barker (1909-1994) sang and played the guitar and banjo on over 1,000 jazz, swing, blues, and bebop records. He is a member of the Jazz Hall of Fame and recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Music Master Award. Alyn Shipton is a writer and broadcaster on jazz. He is the editor of A Life in Jazz, the first volume of Danny Barker's memoirs.

Review Quotes

."..it is the story and the manner in which it is told that makes this book an entertaining read."
-Mike Hazeldine, New Orleans Music

"All in all this is an immensely entertaining book, although you have to make an effort to seperate fact from fiction...it's one of the few books I have picked up and found difficult to put down again. Thouroughly recommended."
-Eddie Cook, Jazz Journal Interantional

"Barker was one of the first African-Americans to record recollections of [New Orleans'] musical and social heritage. Much of it involved his own family; his relations had first-hand knowledge of legendary figures like Buddy Bolden, the cornettist reckoned to be the key figure in the emergence of jazz."
-The Economist

About the Author

Danny Barker (1909-1994) sang and played the guitar and banjo on over 1,000 jazz, swing, blues, and bebop records. he is a member of the Jazz Hall of Fame and recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Music Master Award. Alyn Shipton presents jazz radio programs for the BBC and is a critic for The Times in London. He is the author of several books on music, as well as a music publisher and editor. He divides his time between Oxford and the French countryside. In 2010, he was voted UK Jazz Broadcaster of the Year.