Jazz Odyssey: The Autobiography of Joe Darensbourg - Hardcover

Born to a French-speaking Cajun family in Baton Rouge in 1906, clarinetist Joseph Wilmer Darensbourg was active in the jazz world until his death in California in 1985. In these reminiscences, compiled by critic Vacher from correspondence and conversations over a period of 20 years, he tells the story of his wonderful experiences as a performer in carnivals, circuses, medicine shows, West Coast bands and combos, on the clarinet and soprano saxophone. Darensbourg, a Dixieland stylist, is particularly interesting when detailing his work with Kid Ory and Louis Armstrong. There is probably no better personal book on the life of a traveling jazzmanand certainly not of so important a Dixieland figureas well as on jazz activities in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and the Hollywood studios. Photos.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Clarinetist/saxophonist Darensbourg came to national prominence through recordings and performances in the 1940s and 1950s with Kid Ory and in the 1960s with Louis Armstrong. Compiled from interviews, this autobiography (published in Great Britain as Telling It Like It Is ) displays a colloquial first-person style and relates everything from Darensbourg's being shot in the midst of a prohibition-era gang war to his worldwide tours sponsored by the State Department. In a larger sense, Darensbourg's story relates the growth and continued vitality of traditional New Orleans jazz. William Brockman, Drew Univ. Lib., Madison, N.J.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.