Stomp and Swerve

American Music Gets Hot, 18431924

By: David Wondrich

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Paperback | 1 August 2003

At a Glance

Paperback
256 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.6

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The early decades of American popular music-Stephen Foster, Scott Joplin, John Philip Sousa, Enrico Caruso-are, for most listeners, the dark ages. It wasn't until the mid-1920s that the full spectrum of this music-black and white, urban and rural, sophisticated and crude-made it onto records for all to hear. This book brings a forgotten music, hot music, to life by describing how it became the dominant American music-how it outlasted sentimental waltzes and parlor ballads, symphonic marches and Tin Pan Alley novelty numbers-and how it became rock 'n' roll. It reveals that the young men and women of that bygone era had the same musical instincts as their descendants Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and even Ozzy Osbourne. In minstrelsy, ragtime, brass bands, early jazz and blues, fiddle music, and many other forms, there was as much stomping and swerving as can be found in the most exciting performances of hot jazz, funk, and rock. Along the way, it explains how the strange combination of African with Scotch and Irish influences made music in the United States vastly different from other African and Caribbean forms; shares terrific stories about minstrel shows, "coon" songs, whorehouses, knife fights, and other low-life phenomena; and showcases a motley collection of performers heretofore unknown to all but the most avid musicologists and collectors.

Industry Reviews

"Wondrich never lets his knowledge of historical minutiae get in the way of a good story." -- Downbeat. "A lovingly written account." -- Esquire. "A cool book... bringing alive the deepest roots of American rock, R&B and rap." -- Discoveries. "Provides good guidance as the music gets hotter." -- Booklist. "Entertaining and engaging." -- Library Journal. "Appealingly irreverent." -- Chicago Reader. "A hot book about hot music... with a rare ear for its subject." -- Seattle Weekly. "Music book of the year? Probably 'Stomp and Swerve'." -- Austin American-Statesman. "Wondrich's own passion is infectious enough to make the reader retrieve the old marching band horn from the attic." -- Shepherd Express. "Groundbreaking." -- Robert Christgau, The Believer. "Saucy." -- The Village Voice. "Highly logical and entertaining... No other author has done a better job of putting all the pieces together." -- The New York Sun.

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