Maggin (Bankers, Builders, Knaves, and Thieves: The $300 Million Scam at ESM, 1989) essays a definitive biography of the tenor sax great. Stan Getz (192791) was the product of a difficult forceps delivery; in the process of extrication, the obstetrician almost tore off one of the baby's ears. One hesitates to make anything symbolic out of that event, but there's no question that Getz's life was as difficult and full of pain as his birth. Getz was the older of two boys born to a working-class Jewish family in living in Philadelphia and later New York City. Throughout his life he was driven to succeed, to achieve perfection, first by his overbearing mother (who favored him) and then by his own demons. It was a drive that carried in its wake bouts of depression and lengthy battles with drugs and alcohol. Maggin is admirably, almost compulsively candid about Getz's personal problems. Getz was a brilliant sight reader with a photographic memory for music, a multi- instrumentalist who finally settled on the tenor sax and quickly rose to the top of the jazz world and stayed there for virtually his entire professional career. Maggin tells the story in exhaustive detail. Along the way, he gives brief portraits of several other important musicians who helped Getz during his career, including Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, and Woody Herman. He also offers some excellent insights into jazz history, tailored to the novice rather than the hard-core aficionado. What the book lacks in the midst of its extremely detailed recounting of Getz's career and often violent and self-destructive private life is some idea of what made his playing so great. Maggin's analysis of Getz's recordings seldom goes beyond impressionistic adjectives. Definitive in its documentation of Getz's career but less successful as an analysis of Getz's art. (25 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: March 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-688-12315-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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