Just for a Thrill: Lil Hardin Armstrong, First Lady of Jazz
Author(s): James L. Dickerson (Author)
Publisher: Cooper Square Publishers Inc.,U.S.
Publication Date: 22 Jan. 2002
Language: English
Print length: 272 pages
ISBN-10: 0815411952
ISBN-13: 9780815411956
Book Description
“Hot Miss Lil” Hardin was the star pianist of King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band when, in 1922, a trumpet player named Louis Armstrong joined the band in Chicago. The educated and polished Hardin was decidedly unimpressed with Armstrong’s lack of sophistication, yet she recognized a wealth of untapped potential in the shy young trumpeter. Over the course of the next few years, Hardin taught Louis how to read music, urged him to take the spotlight, and eventually became his second wife. Encouraging his own natural talent, Lil Hardin Armstrong helped turn Louis Armstrong from a gifted second coronet into a jazz legend. In Just for a Thrill, biographer James Dickerson tells Lil’s remarkable story, from her childhood in Memphis with a mother who beat her for playing ‘the devil’s music,’ to her death onstage during a memorial jazz concert for Louis in 1971. Her marriage to Louis and the musical innovations that came from their years as jazz’s first power couple forms the centerpiece of Lil’s story. Their divorce, according to Dickerson, was a blow from which Lil never recovered. Dickerson guides readers through the underworld of jazz’s past, when Memphis’s red light district and mob clubs in Chicago were among the only places jazz musicians could perform, and when, despite Lil’s warnings, Louis took on gangsters as business partners. His account of Lil’s years with Louis recalls the landmark recordings they made together, the career lows that followed the highs, and Lil’s commitment to free Louis from the poverty and racism that he never thought he could escape. A prolific songwriter, an energetic recording artist, and an exemplary entertainer, Lil Hardin Armstrong has been overlooked for decades. Dickerson’s book sets the record straight, revisiting the triumphs and heartbreaks of her life and calling overdue attention to her remarkable contributions to American music.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Just for a Thrill brings the roots of jazz to life by telling the dramatic story of one young woman who became the ‘brains’ of the operation and, in the process, helped kickstart one of the greatest careers in jazz. A fast read and a key piece of the puzzle. — Ben Sidran, author of Black Talk and Talking Jazz Just for a Thrill is a welcome and enthusiastically recommended contribution to the growing library of biographies and memoirs of the men and women who significantly contributed to the development of jazz. Midwest Book Review This is Lil’s story, to be sure, handled with intelligence and sensitivity. Library Journal Dickerson, an experienced storyteller and jazz and blues historian, has delved into the meager sources on Hardin’s early life and used them to construct a fascinating, sometimes surprising book. Women’s Review of Books
About the Author
James L. Dickerson is the author of Colonel Tom Parker: The Curious Life of Elvis Presley’s Eccentric Manager and Goin’ Back to Memphis: A Century of Blues, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and Glorious Soul (both available from Cooper Square Press) in addition to Dixie Chicks: Down-Home and Backstage. He is also the co-author of That’s Alright, Elvis: The Untold Story of Elvis’ First Guitarist and Manager, Scotty Moore. He lives near Jackson, Mississippi.
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