Stormy Monday: The T-Bone Walker Story

T-Bone Walker, ace electric guitarist, blues- and jazzman, charismatic performer and writer of enduring songs, deserves to be much better remembered than he is, and his music more widely available, because it is thoroughly modern and enjoyable. Helen Oakley Dance, an elegant, self-effacing writer who depends on the intelligence of her readers to fill in the historical gaps of T-Bone's far-flung adventures, spent substantial time with the man, his family and friends during his final years, and having followed his career for a couple of decades (in company with her husband Stanley Dance, biographer of Duke Ellington and Count Basie, among others) had unique access and perspective on Walker's salad days on Los Angeles' Central Avenue and subsequent conquering of African-American entertainment throughout the U.S., as well as his international tours starting in the '60s. Her focus is so close to her subject that the broad social perspective and definitive chronology is underplayed -- if you want to know exacting details of T-Bone's engagements and discography you'll have to look elsewhere. But for a portrait of the man, told in his own words and those of his mother, wife, children, friends and proteges who was adventurous, generous, ingeniously creative, a family man as well as gambler and rambler, you must start here. Ignore the 2-star review in this queue, whose writer wanted a beginner's book. Dance's "Stormy Monday" conveys the true flavor of life in the blues world from the '20s through the '70s. Characters come and go, reminiscences flow over the years, as in life itself. But very little of significance is missing from this book, with T-Bone's on-stage persona as well as his private self portrayed economically but vividly. You will definitely want to hear him after reading this, and if you already know his music you'll appreciate it all the more.