Synopses & Reviews
The son of a Vanderbilt heiress, John Hammond listened to jazz records with his parents' servants, went to Harlem as a teenager and became a regular in clubs where very few white faces ever appeared. Taking a little family money, Hammond went across racial lines in pre-WWII America and came back with recordings of some of the greatest jazz musicians in history. By age twenty-two, he had convinced Benny Goodman to integrate his band and made his first big discovery: Billie Holiday.
Then, as jazz gave way to pop and rock, Hammond championed Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Ray Vaughan in his life's extraordinary second act. In Dunstan Prial's hands, Hammond's biography becomes the story of American popular music since the 1930s, a tale of a man at the center of things, with his ears wide open. Dunstan Prial covered the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks for the Associated Press and the 1990s stock market boom for Dow Jones. He lives in Bloomfield, New Jersey. The son of a Vanderbilt heiress, John Hammond listened to jazz records with his parents' servants, went to Harlem as a teenager and became a regular in clubs where very few white faces ever appeared. Taking a little family money, Hammond went across racial lines in pre-WWII America and came back with recordings of some of the greatest jazz musicians in history. By age twenty-two, he had convinced Benny Goodman to integrate his band and made his first big discovery: Billie Holiday.
Then, as jazz gave way to pop and rock, Hammond championed Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Ray Vaughan in his life's extraordinary second act. In Dunstan Prial's hands, Hammond's biography becomes the story of American popular music since the 1930s, a tale of a man at the center of things, with his ears wide open. "Built upon interviews with musicians, family and colleagues, this admiring biography delivers a solid portrait of the famed 20th-century critic, journalist and producer. Known for his square crew cut, protuberant eyes and toothy grin, the sometimes arrogant, blues-loving Vanderbilt heir "seemed to know what America wanted to hear before America knew it," writes first-time author Prial . . . Prial's sedulous work pays off in the consistency of his narrative. His even-toned, chronological book is light on anecdotes, but his smart use of music histories, jazz autobiographies and Hammond's own Downbeat and Melody Maker writings results in an impressive and authoritative text . . . "Publishers Weekly "Hammond's felicitous life and career have now been chronicled and celebrated in worthy fashion in Dunstan Prial's elegantly written, substantive and exciting biography, The Producer . . . Prial has done a splendid job of telling the story of an almost completely admirable figure."Tom Nolan, Los Angeles Times
“Dunstan Prials exhaustively researched [biography of John Hammond] covers the career of this once legendary figure . . . This book corrects many of the errors of fact and omissions that appeared in Hammonds autobiography and includes well-placed biographies of the musicians he worked with and colorful details bout Harlem in the 30s, the 60s folk scene and the jazz geography of Kansas City and Oklahoma City.”Richard Hyfler, Forbes "[Prial] has conducted some solid research . . . he has fashioned the diverse strands of Mr. Hammonds life into a very readable narrative."Peter Keepnews, The New York Times “Prial leaves intact the central mystery of Hammonds lifework: how to account for a discernment so highly developed in its possessor that he could apply it reliably to genres and styles to which he was constitutionally indifferent.”Arthur Kempton, The News & Observer "If only producer and talent spotter John Hammond had convinced his brother-in-law Benny Goodman to integrate his band in the 1930s; if only Hammond had discovered jazz guitarist Charlie Christian, signed Bob Dylan to Columbia Records, and landed Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holiday their first recording contracts; if only he had helped bring William 'Count' Basie and bluesman Robert Johnson to national prominence; and if only he had staged the 1939 From Spirituals to Swing concert in Carnegie Hall. If Hammond had done only one of those things, he would have deserved to be remembered as a pioneer of 20th-century popular American music. Yet, in a career that spanned the 1930s to the mid-1980s, Hammond achieved them all. AP reporter Prial tells this man's story exceptionally well, drawing on his thorough research. He brings Hammond to life in clear, insightful prose and places him and figures such as Dylan, Franklin, and Springsteen in the proper historical context. Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries."James E. Perone, Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio, Library Journal "Sympathetic, admiring biography of the talent scout and record producer who helped propel into popularity such legendary performers as Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. In his debut, Prial begins and ends with his sighting of John Hammond (1910-87) at a 1984 Carnegie Hall concert. The author argues that Hammond was 'eerily prescient' in his recognition of talent: 'He seemed to know what America wanted to hear before America knew it.' Hammond came from big Vanderbilt bucks (on his mother's side), but he dropped out of Yale to pursue his true lovejazz. Prial portrays him as an anomaly: a dapper white man (he invariably sported a blazer and a crew cut) who hung out in Harlem and befriended musicians who would become some of the biggest names in jazz history, including Holiday, Benny Goodman and Count Basie. Hammond was also a devoted leftist; many performers recall him sitting in a studio corner reading stacks of liberal/radical magazines, and he gained early fame writing about the Scottsboro case for the Nation. The author credits his subject for integrating popular music: It was Hammond's constant lobbying that convinced Goodman, for example, to hire gifted black musicians Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton to make his orchestra the first racially mixed band. A remarkably generous man as well, he never negotiated producer's royalties and never expressed any subsequent regrets, despite the phenomenal success of some of his proteges. (A grateful Springsteen sang a Dylan song at his funeral.) Prial does not dwell on Hammond's failed first marriage, nor on his reputation as 'less than a doting father,' preferring to emphasize his professional achievements. He wasn't a producer in the contemporary sense (his studio style was laissez-faire) and as a talent-meister he was occasionally wrong (the Nutty Squirrels never caught on), but the man who nurtured and promoted iconic artists from the 1930s through the '80s gets from Prial the respect he deserves. Informative, compelling and gleefully, unapologetically tendentious."Kirkus Reviews "Built upon interviews with musicians, family and colleagues, this admiring biography delivers a solid portrait of the famed 20th-century critic, journalist and producer. Known for his square crew cut, protuberant eyes and toothy grin, the sometimes arrogant, blues-loving Vanderbilt heir 'seemed to know what America wanted to hear before America knew it,' writes first-time author Prial. Besides recording Bessie Smith's last studio sessions and Billie Holiday's first, Hammond is the nudge that gets Count Basie to leave Kansas City and the driving force behind Benny Goodman's decision to integrate his band by adding black vibraphonist Lionel Hamptonall this roughly two decades before he signs Bob Dylan to Columbia Records. Prial's sedulous work pays off in the consistency of his narrative. His even-toned, chronological book is light on anecdotes, but his smart use of music histories, jazz autobiographies and Hammond's own Downbeat and Melody Maker writings results in an impressive and authoritative text. Moreover, Prial's insights into Hammond's youth and two marriages transform his work from the tale of a jazz buff with money into an engaging study of a man with two obsessions'making music and promoting social reform.'"Publishers Weekly
Review
"An elegantly written, substantive, and exciting biography . . . as smooth and beguiling in its flow as one of John Hammond's 'look Ma, no hands' recording sessions."--
Los Angeles Times
"An elegant, winning biography."--The Boston Globe
"[Prial] has conducted some solid research, and has fashioned the diverse strands of Mr. Hammond's life into a very readable narrative."--The New York Times
"An engaging study of a man with two obsessions--making music and promoting social reform."--Publishers Weekly
"A fast-moving and very readable biography."--The New York Sun
Synopsis
The son of a Vanderbilt heiress, John Hammond listened to jazz records with his parents' servants, went to Harlem as a teenager and became a regular in clubs where very few white faces ever appeared. Taking a little family money, Hammond went across racial lines in pre-WWII America and came back with recordings of some of the greatest jazz musicians in history. By age twenty-two, he had convinced Benny Goodman to integrate his band and made his first big discovery: Billie Holiday.
Then, as jazz gave way to pop and rock, Hammond championed Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Ray Vaughan in his life's extraordinary second act. In Dunstan Prial's hands, Hammond's biography becomes the story of American popular music since the 1930s, a tale of a man at the center of things, with his ears wide open.
Synopsis
The son of a Vanderbilt heiress, John Hammond listened to jazz records with his parents' servants, went to Harlem as a teenager and became a regular in clubs where very few white faces ever appeared. Taking a little family money, Hammond went across racial lines in pre-WWII America and came back with recordings of some of the greatest jazz musicians in history. By age twenty-two, he had convinced Benny Goodman to integrate his band and made his first big discovery: Billie Holiday.
Then, as jazz gave way to pop and rock, Hammond championed Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Ray Vaughan in his life's extraordinary second act. In Dunstan Prial's hands, Hammond's biography becomes the story of American popular music since the 1930s, a tale of a man at the center of things, with his ears wide open. Dunstan Prial covered the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks for the Associated Press and the 1990s stock market boom for Dow Jones. He lives in Bloomfield, New Jersey. The son of a Vanderbilt heiress, John Hammond listened to jazz records with his parents' servants, went to Harlem as a teenager and became a regular in clubs where very few white faces ever appeared. Taking a little family money, Hammond went across racial lines in pre-WWII America and came back with recordings of some of the greatest jazz musicians in history. By age twenty-two, he had convinced Benny Goodman to integrate his band and made his first big discovery: Billie Holiday.
Then, as jazz gave way to pop and rock, Hammond championed Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Ray Vaughan in his life's extraordinary second act. In Dunstan Prial's hands, Hammond's biography becomes the story of American popular music since the 1930s, a tale of a man at the center of things, with his ears wide open. Built upon interviews with musicians, family and colleagues, this admiring biography delivers a solid portrait of the famed 20th-century critic, journalist and producer. Known for his square crew cut, protuberant eyes and toothy grin, the sometimes arrogant, blues-loving Vanderbilt heir seemed to know what America wanted to hear before America knew it, writes first-time author Prial . . . Prial's sedulous work pays off in the consistency of his narrative. His even-toned, chronological book is light on anecdotes, but his smart use of music histories, jazz autobiographies and Hammond's own Downbeat and Melody Maker writings results in an impressive and authoritative text . . . --Publishers Weekly Hammond's felicitous life and career have now been chronicled and celebrated in worthy fashion in Dunstan Prial's elegantly written, substantive and exciting biography, The Producer . . . Prial has done a splendid job of telling the story of an almost completely admirable figure.--Tom Nolan, Los Angeles Times
Dunstan Prial's exhaustively researched biography of John Hammond] covers the career of this once legendary figure . . . This book corrects many of the errors of fact and omissions that appeared in Hammond's autobiography and includes well-placed biographies of the musicians he worked with and colorful details bout Harlem in the '30s, the '60s folk scene and the jazz geography of Kansas City and Oklahoma City.--Richard Hyfler, Forbes Prial] has conducted some solid research . . . he has fashioned the diverse strands of Mr. Hammond's life into a very readable narrative.--Peter Keepnews, The New York Times Prial leaves intact the central mystery of Hammond's lifework: how to account for a discernment so highly developed in its possessor that he could apply it reliably to genres and styles to which he was constitutionally indifferent.--Arthur Kempton, The News & Observer If only producer and talent spotter John Hammond had convinced his brother-in-law Benny Goodman to integrate his band in the 1930s; if only Hammond had discovered jazz guitarist Charlie Christian, signed Bob Dylan to Columbia Records, and landed Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holiday their first recording contracts; if only he had helped bring William 'Count' Basie and bluesman Robert Johnson to national prominence; and if only he had staged the 1939 From Spirituals to Swing concert in Carnegie Hall. If Hammond had done only one of those things, he would have deserved to be remembered as a pioneer of 20th-century popular American music. Yet, in a career that spanned the 1930s to the mid-1980s, Hammond achieved them all. AP reporter Prial tells this man's story exceptionally well, drawing on his thorough research. He brings Hammond to life in clear, insightful prose and places him and figures such as Dylan, Franklin, and Springsteen in the proper historical context. Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries.--James E. Perone, Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio, Library Journal Sympathetic, admiring biography of the talent scout and record producer who helped propel into popularity such legendary performers as Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. In his debut, Prial begins and ends with his sighting of John Hammond (1910-87) at a 1984 Carnegie Hall concert. The author argues that Hammond was 'eerily prescient' in his recognition of talent: 'He seemed to know what America wanted to hear before America knew it.' Hammond came from big Vanderbilt bucks (on his mother's side), but he dropped out of Yale to pursue his true love--jazz. Prial portrays him as an anomaly: a dapper white man (he invariably sported a blazer and a crew cut) who hung out in Harlem and befriended musicians who would become some of the biggest names in jazz history, including Holiday, Benny Goodman and Count Basie. Hammond was also a devoted leftist; many performers recall him sitting in a studio corner reading stacks of liberal/radical magazines, and he gained early fame writing about the Scottsboro case for the Nation. The author credits his subject for integrating popular musi
About the Author
Dunstan Prial covered the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks for the Associated Press and the 1990s stock market boom for Dow Jones. He lives in Bloomfield, New Jersey.