The Ladies Who Sing With the Band

by Betty Bennett

Overview

Betty Bennett evokes a bygone era when "territory" and "name" bands—each with its own "girl singer"—criscrossed the country in Ladies Who Sing With the Band.

The author's career intersected with many of the icons of jazz and popular music, among them Nat King Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Georgie Auld, Claude Thornhill, Charlie Ventura, Benny Goodman, and Charlie Barnet. Bennett's anecdotes about these personalities enlighten and entertain, as does her entirely unselfconscious discussion of her marriage to Andre Previn and her relationship with her husband, guitar great Mundell Lowe.

The book deals with several issues that transcend music. The entertainment industry—particularly the jazz world—was an early era of black/white professional and personal interaction. Moreover, the traveling big band represented a unique instance of women in an all-male workplace. Bennett confronts these issues of race and gender in a refreshingly forthright manner.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810837140
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	03/29/2000
Series:	Studies in Jazz , #36
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.62(w) x 8.72(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Betty Bennett began performing in territory bands in 1941, and since then has performed all over the world and with some of jazz's greatest performers.

Editorial Reviews

The book provides a glimpse of what attracted so many to the era when swing was king... Bennett was a survivor, and her book testifies to her perseverance and her admiration for a genre, that was once a key part of popular culture.

All Music Guide To Jazz

Betty Bennett's book has style. She writes as she sings, which is to say with easy grace and warmth and exquisite phrasing and a highly individual musical feeling. You sense a candlelight mood to the tone of her writing as it communicates, with unassuming strength, the intimate jazz flavor expressed in her voice.

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Bennett's recollections...enlighten and entertain.

Jazzwise

...the book is a pleasurable read.

JazzTimes Magazine

...insightful, often moving account. The Ladies Who Sing with the Band offers a personal glimpse into a unique time in popular music. Unlike many similar memoirs, this book is the genuine article, clearly not ghostwritten....The Ladies Who Sing with the Band contains abundant entertaining and insightful moments that should interest big-band enthusiasts.

The Mississippi Rag

Nobody had to change anything to make it juicier, more saleable, or whatever. The book reveals that she possesses a wonderful sense of humor...I was fascinated with this book from the first moment I picked it up, and I suspect that most of you would find it equally interesting.

The IAJRC Journal

If you've ever wondered about the off-bandstand life of the big-band-era female vocalist, there is a recently published book that tells it all... This book will be especially enjoyed by anyone who followed the big-bands and the major jazz notables. It brings back a lot of memories, and even answers some questions you wouldn't think of asking.

Song Talk

The book provides a glimpse of what attracted so many to the era when swing was king... Bennett was a survivor, and her book testifies to her perseverance and her admiration for a genre, that was once a key part of popular culture.--All Music Guide To Jazz

If you've ever wondered about the off-bandstand life of the big-band-era female vocalist, there is a recently published book that tells it all... This book will be especially enjoyed by anyone who followed the big-bands and the major jazz notables. It brings back a lot of memories, and even answers some questions you wouldn't think of asking.--Song Talk

...the book is a pleasurable read.--JazzTimes Magazine

From the Publisher

...the book is a pleasurable read.

JazzTimes

Nobody had to change anything to make it juicier, more saleable, or whatever. The book reveals that she possesses a wonderful sense of humor...I was fascinated with this book from the first moment I picked it up, and I suspect that most of you would find it equally interesting.

IARJC

Nobody had to change anything to make it juicier, more saleable, or whatever. The book reveals that she possesses a wonderful sense of humor...I was fascinated with this book from the first moment I picked it up, and I suspect that most of you would find it equally interesting.

Iajrc Journal

Chronologically (though very loosely) organized, Bennett's loquacious autobiography is entertaining rather than thought-provoking and offers little real insight into the world of jazz singing and life on the road. Almost every paragraph is either unrelated or very tenuously related to paragraphs before or after; it's as if Bennett--who was married to composer Andr Previn and worked with such luminaries as Nat King Cole, Benny Goodman, and Dizzy Gillespie--were sitting around a table with friends reminiscing. The conversation rambles, and folksy sayings, cute asides, and hip jargon abound. So while the book would benefit from judicious editing, part of its charm resides in its scattershot style. Her constant references to "girl" and "boy" singers, however, seem ironic considering her age (born 1921) and the negative connotations these terms have regarding true jazz vocalists. Bennett's advice to aspiring jazz vocalists also seems rather shallow: "I have no explanation for why some singers can swing and others cannot, unless perhaps listening, playing, and singing jazz all your life make it second nature." Recommended with hesitation for music, academic, and public libraries.--William G. Kenz, Moorhead State Univ., MN Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Library Journal