Harlem jazz adventures : a European baron's memoir, 1934-1969 / Timme Rosenkrantz ; translated and edited by Fradley Hamilton Garner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rosenkrantz, Timme, 1911-1969.

Contributor:

Garner, Fradley Hamilton.

Series:

Studies in jazz ; no. 65.

Studies in jazz ; no. 65

Standardized Title:

Dus med jazzen. English

Language:

Danish

English

Subjects (All):

Jazz--New York (State)--New York--History and criticism.

Jazz.

Jazz musicians--New York (State)--New York--Anecdotes.

Jazz musicians.

New York (State)--New York.

Genre:

Anecdotes.

Physical Description:

xxxii, 297 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham : Scarecrow Press, [2012]

Summary:

Timme Rosenkrantz (1911-1969) was a journalist, author, concert and record producer, broadcaster, and entrepreneur with a consuming passion for jazz and little head for business. He was the first European journalist to cover the jazz scene in Harlem from 1934 to 1969. In this English translation and adaptation of the original Danish-language memoir published in 1964, Harlem Jazz Adventures: A European Baron's Memoir, 1934-1969 recounts Rosenkrantz's happy stranding in New York City, where he would record jazz artists and bands in his midtown apartment, organize his own jazz band, and run a record shop with his life companion, the black journalist and singer Inez Cavanaugh. Jazz lovers and social historians interested in the intersection of race and the music business will find in Rosenkrantz's memoir an invaluable primary source on Harlem's social scene and its musical legacy.

Contents:

Part I 1934

1 Get Off at 125th Street, and God Be with You 3

2 Don Redman Sparks the Apollo, John Hammond Offers a Tour 10

3 Stompin' at the Savoy to Mighty Chick Webb 17

4 Take Off Those Shades, We Know Who You Are! 25

5 Scat Master Leo Watson Zaps It with "Z-o-o-o-t!" 29

6 From Met Opera to Empire Ballroom-and Benny Carter 34

7 At the Shim Sham, a Date with Young Billie Holiday 41

8 Jake Vandermeulen Loses Everything but His Shorts 47

9 At Beefsteak Charlie's, There's Adrian Rollini 51

10 Who Said Danish Baron? Why, He's Just a Gigolo! 58

11 "My Technique Terrifies Me!" Says Willie "The Lion" Smith 62

12 Art Tatum Is Down at Basement Brown's! 67

13 To Fats Waller with Love, Honeysuckle Rosenkrantz 72

14 Mezz Mezzrow Puts Timme on a Little Pink Cloud 79

15 Canceled: Josh Billing's Greenwich Village Gig 84

16 At Timme's Farewell Party, Fats Waller Takes a Bath 90

Part II 1936-1969

17 Checking Out Harlem's Other Halls of Pleasure 97

18 Voutie! Slim and Slam, Wow! Inez Cavanaugh 103

19 Plugging a Tune to W. C. Handy, Cutting a Record for RCA Victor 112

20 Louis Armstrong Kick-Starts the Mel-O-Dee Music Shop 123

21 Harry "Father" White, Jitter Bugs, and Bill Coleman's Band 129

22 Turning Off the Lights at Mel-O-Dee Music Shop 138

23 A Danish Nobel Laureate Digs Harlem by Night 145

24 Eddie Condon and That Good Ol' Nicksieland 149

25 There Is Just One King, and He Is the Duke 155

26 Here Lived Diamond Jim Brady and Jazz Baron Rosenkrantz 161

27 The Stupendous "Stuff" of Jazz, Leroy Gordon (Hezekiah) Smith 167

28 Discovering, Befriending, Recording Erroll Garner 173

29 A Great, Big, Fat White Christmas '44 179

30 Timme's Recording Service and Threatened Jazz Concert 182

31 Zeb Julian's Dream and Claude Thornhill's Joke 187

32 Bud Powell Plays Not Being There 191

33 Jam Sessions Outlawed? Come to Café Bohemia! 194

34 Tatum Leads a Black Sheep into Piano Battle at Ruben's 198

35 A Last Record Session and Tour of Haunts 202

36 Coleman Hawkins: The Picasso of Jazz 212.

Notes:

"Adapted from the first-edition Danish book, Dus med jazzen mine jazzmemoirer : en bog om jazz--og andet godtfolk, and Timme Rosenkrantz's and Inez Cavanaugh's English draft translation, by Fradley Hamilton Garner"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references, discography and indexes.

ISBN:

9780810882096

0810882094

9780810879782

0810879786

OCLC:

744300490