Swing Along: The Musical Life of Will Marion Cook
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.37 (727 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0195108914 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 208 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-02-22 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
looselinks said Life of Will Cook. Sing Along is the biography of a little known but extremely talented and educated musician named Will Marion Cook. It is amazing the important positions he held and the type of music he promoted at a time when Black musicians were still struggling to make a living. He came from a middle class family where education was considered very important.For a man with his accomplishments, he is virtually unknown. Readers interested in music of any kind would enjoy reading this book and giving Cook the credit he deserves.. A really terrific book on an otherwise neglected subject. A concise biography of one of the most important, and under-appreciated artists of the 20th Century. It's an eye-opening look at the early years of jazz and musical theatre.
Marva Griffin Carter is an Associate Professor of Music History and Literature in the School of Music at Georgia State University
The author gives significant attention to Cook's roles in "removing the minstrel mask," his relationships with many of the musicians of his time, including Harry T. Burleigh, Antonin Dvorak, Eubie, Will Tyers, James Reese Europe, Duke Ellington, Eva Jesse, and a host of others, and the basis for his personal and professional eccentricities and the controversies that were always a part of his life. "Will Marion Cook's contribution to American music was profound; his role in creating the black musicals of the early twentieth century, his insistence that oral music traditions be honored and reinterpreted, and his seminal role in the creation of jazz have been too little recognized. Marva Carter's biography--a book years in the making--significantly enhances our perspective on and understanding of Cook's extraordinary personality and unique accomplishments."--Thomas L. Snyder, Assistant Professor of Music, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania"Th
In this insightful biography, Marva Griffin Carter offers the first definitive look at this pivotal life's story, drawing on both Cook's unfinished autobiography and his wife Abbie's memoir. Alongside his accomplishments, Carter reveals Cook's contentious side- a man known for his aggressiveness, pride, and constant quarrels, who became his own worst enemy in regards to his career. A violin virtuoso, Cook studied at Oberlin College (his parents' alma mater), Berlin's Hochschule für Musik with Joseph Joachim, and New York's national Conservatory of Music with Antonin Dvorak. Cook's In Dahomey, hailed by Gerald Bordman as "one of the most important events in American Musical Theater history," was the first full-length Broadway musical to be written and performed by blacks. Carter further sets Cook's life against the backdrop of the changing cultural and social milieu: the black theatrical tradition, white audiences' reaction to black performers, and the growing consciousness and sophistication of blacks in the arts, especially music.. Once mentored by Frederick Douglas, Will Marion Cook went on to mentor Duke Ellington, paving the path for orchestral concert jazz. He was instrumental in showcasing his Southern Syncopated Orch