Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way: A Biography

Although an icon of the big band era, there hasn't been an updated biography of Tommy Dorsey written in many years. It is based largely on some 180 interviews conducted mostly in the coal country where Dorsey grew up. This is excellent timing, as the people who knew and worked with Dorsey are all now becoming aged. Writers in the future will have to work from sources more distant. Mr. Levinson has been in the entertainment business as an agent, freelance, writer, personal manager, publicist and more. This is his third book, with the first two being biographies of Harry James and Nelson Riddle. He is an accomplished biographer. Tommy Dorsey, like many big name entertainers was a tower of strength, developing new forms of music that changed the way people lived. He worked with the big name entertainers of the time including Sinatra, Elvis, and of course his brother Jimmy. At the same time he had serious problems with drinking, drugs, and women which led him to death at the very early age of 51. Mr. Levinson has done an excellent job of presenting both aspects of Dorsey's life.

Celebrating the centennial of Dorsey's birth is Tommy Dorsey: Livin' In A Great Big Way, a biography reaching through the hype to provide a definitive account of the jazz icon. New research and interviews with fellow musicians provides depth and insights into the musician's eccentric lifestyle and destructive behavior. His volatile personality often led to both career launches and career crises, and this is the first biography in more than thirty years, providing insights into the Big Band era's most notable star.

Two kids from the hard coal mining area of Pennsylvania become famous band leaders. The brothers Dorsey, Tommy & Jimmy,elevate sibling rivalry to new heights. Brother Tommy is dominant; his record sales are surpassed only by Elvis Presley. How this tough taskmaster became King on the Hill is a fascinating read, peppered with the names of big band-dom's key players.

Harry James was a titan of the trumpet and Big Bands. We have sorely needed a biography, and I think that this first biography is absolutely superb. Harry James has always been my #1 favorite. "Trumpet Blues" confirms for me James' extraordinary musical contributions but also fleshes out his story with a rich, full treatment of the realities - both good and bad - of his professional and personal lives. Included are excellent materials on his grand musical history, his first wife, the appealing singer Louise Tobin, and his second wife, the marvelous Betty Grable. I came away from the book with a much different and far more realistic vision of Harry James than I had going in - that he indeed was a musical giant (he is still my #1 favorite) but that he also was a human being with his share of personal flaws and imperfections to go with his fine qualities. I am glad that "Trumpet Blues" is here and that I read it.

At last a biography that reads like a novel. From the first page this book pulls in the reader. I relived an era that took place long before my birth. Harry James is a musical legend hard to capture in written word. Levinson did just that. After a tearful farewell to Harry I watched "Springtime in the Rockies".