Review by Choice Review
Dorsey was a major figure in the halcyon age of big-band music, and his career spanned the last days of vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood musicals, and the early days of commercial television--from the infant days of jazz to the early days of Elvis Presley. His contacts in the world of American popular music during the first half of the 20th century read like a Who's Who. He set impressively high standards as a soloist and bandleader but could be difficult to work with; his numerous public feuds with his bandleader brother, Jimmy, and their estrangement of nearly two decades made headlines. This book falls short of the standard that Levinson set with Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James (CH, May'00, 37-5022), in which he successfully integrated his research into a cohesive, readable whole. The amount of information about Tommy Dorsey with which Levinson hits the reader is impressive, but it remains undigested. Convoluted sentences that dull the senses yield an overwhelming, unsatisfactory result. A good editor could have improved this book. Interesting photographs and an excellent bibliography derived from many footnotes help to offset some of the book's deficiencies. ^BSumming Up: Optional. Extensive popular music collections. C. W. Henderson emeritus, Saint Mary's College (IN)
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Marking the great bandleader's centenary, the first biography of Tommy Dorsey (1905-56) in more than 30 years offers a multifaceted portrait of a complex man. Levinson begins where Dorsey did, in the hardscrabble anthracite--mining towns of eastern Pennsylvania and in a family of self-taught musicians. Dorsey eventually became as famous (notorious) for the disciplined work ethic and toughness his perfectionist father instilled in him as for his trombone skills. Levinson traces Dorsey and his reed-player brother Jimmy from early gigs in Pennsylvania dance halls to Paul Whiteman's orchestra to forming their own ensemble, from which Tommy seceded to create one of the most popular big bands ever and launch two supernova stars, Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra. Hot-tempered, impetuous, prone to violence, stubborn to a fault, a problem drinker, Dorsey wasn't easy to be around, and after Sinatra left, Dorsey's popularity plummeted. But when reunited with Jimmy for a short-run TV show, it was Frankie all over again: Dorsey, not Ed Sullivan, introduced the nation to Elvis Presley. --June Sawyers Copyright 2005 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Levinson, a former entertainment publicist, booking agent and personal manager, delivers a definitive biography of trombonist-bandleader Dorsey (1905-1956). As children in Pennsylvania coal mining country, brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey practiced daily, and music became their ticket out. By 1930, their versatility was evident; they did 15 radio shows a week in New York, while also performing for movie soundtracks, dance dates and theater pit jobs. Hit records followed after the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra signed with Decca in 1934, but blow-ups between the brothers led Tommy to quit the following year. The split led to two bands, both successful, and in 1939, Tommy wisely hired Frank Sinatra away from Harry James. Reunited as the Fabulous Dorseys, the brothers introduced Elvis Presley to the national TV audience on Stage Show, their 1954-1956 CBS series. Levinson's authoritative approach, layered with details, makes this book a bonanza for big band fans. He shares an arsenal of anecdotes, having interviewed over 160 people, including family, friends and ex-Dorsey musicians. The result is a striking portrait of Tommy Dorsey-"volatile, demanding, yet charming and engaging"-and a successful recreation of the swing era's glory days. 32 photos. Agent, Sasha Goodman. (Nov. 30) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Levinson (Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James) has produced a portrait of big-band trombonist Tommy Dorsey (1905-56) as being so much a part of his times that no biographer could ever do otherwise. The narrative derives its power from a rich stock of anecdotes gathered from Dorsey's family and contemporaries, the well-judged use of which frees the author from the mundane necessity of starkly recorded facts. Levinson demolishes the general perception of Dorsey as a sweet and mellow trombonist typified by his solo lines in "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" and "I'll Never Smile Again." Apart from his extraordinary control in the upper register and his sensitivity to the temper of his era, Dorsey was also a hot musician, highly respected by the most celebrated jazz musicians of his time. What readers of music biographies come to dread are the inevitable sections devoted to recording sessions. While these sessions are usually documented in the most pedestrian manner possible, here they're little more than speed bumps owing to Levinson's entertaining style. Readers will come away with an understanding of who Dorsey was and how he got to be that way. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.-Harold V. Cordry, Tecumseh, KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
"The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing," the embodiment of a leader of the big-band era, was actually a temperamental martinet of the age, says music biographer Levinson (September in the Rain, 2001, etc.). Dorsey (1905-56) was a coal miner's boy. He and his talented brother Jimmy were taught music by Pop Dorsey as a way out of the anthracite fields of Pennsylvania. The Dorsey Brothers traveled a long way, indeed: Gentle Jimmy, on the sax, may have been more talented, but younger Tommy, with his trombone, was the boss, able to shout louder and longer. For a while, they had a joint band, but fraternal altercations (in which they often demolished each other's brass) ended that enterprise. With the heart of a latter-day corporate raider, firing players arbitrarily and stealing talent from other bands, Tommy went on to stardom and riches. Levinson knows the music business as it was practiced at the Birth of Swing. He follows Dorsey's career from speakeasies, nightclubs and roadhouses through radio and movies. Here, from Bunny Berigan to Zeke Zarchy, are all the sidemen, band singers, band boys, agents and arrangers. (Perhaps the only missing personnel: Jan Garber, Ish Kabibbile). Featured are Buddy Rich and Ziggy Elman, Jackie Gleason and, up front, Frank Sinatra--with details about the notorious contract abrogation. The exhaustive catalogue of names and recording gigs occasionally smacks of liner notes gone wild, but the evocation of what was for many The Golden Age of Pop works as well as mere words, without the music, can. An extensive presentation of life on a bandstand and the man who blew his own horn that will be of special interest to jazz buffs and swing groupies. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
