[Trombone-l] TD Bio

[Bill Dinwiddie]

I would like to recommend a very good book to the list members. The book is 
"Tommy Dorsey, Livin' In A Great Big Way" by Peter J. Levinson. DaCapo 
Press, 2005, 354 pg.

I don't read a lot of books about musicians, but when a friend lent this one 
to me, I went through it like a hot knife through butter. Tommy was an 
unbelievable character, sometimes violent, sometimes extremely generous and 
kind. He fought with his brother, Jimmy, like they were two pit bulls. So 
many famous musicians played in the Dorsey bands that virtually every page 
has stories about players whose names are recognizable by most who have read 
about the Swing era.

The other thing that I find fascinating is the descriptions in this book 
about a time in music which has, unfortunately, long past. The Swing/Big 
band era was a time in the music business that almost cannot be compared to 
any other period....certainly not today's world. The opportunities for good 
players were almost unlimited. At one point, the author says that, in a 
single year, over $110 million dollars were raked in by the hundreds of 
bands that were active across the country. $110 million sounds like chump 
change today, but this was in an era when $125 a week was very big bucks 
(this is the figure that is mentioned as the amount being paid by Tommy to 
Sinatra and Buddy Rich). The average wage earner was probably making more 
like 20 or 30 bucks a week or less. It was also the time of the Depression 
and WWII, neither of which seemed to slow the business down one bit.

All in all, and great read.

Bill Dinwiddie
billdin at comcast.net