Ross Firestone

Swing, Swing, Swing

"The season's big jazz biography." —Christian Science Monitor

Before Elvis Presley and rock 'n' roll, another King ruled the roost of American popular music. His name was Benny Goodman and his domain was the gilded age of Swing. Benny's concerts, records, and radio shows catapulted the hot and controversial sounds of jazz into the hearts and homes of a hungry public.

Swing, Swing, Swing at once illustrates Goodman's enormous impact on American music and culture, reflects the rich textures of the times in which he lived, and evokes the very private life of a complicated, difficult man.

"First rate. . . . [Brings] Benny Goodman back to life in remarkably vivid fashion." —Washington Post

"Horation Alger had nothing on Benny Goodman. . . . A." —Entertainment Weekly

"Highly readable. . . . Firestone is an outstanding storyteller." —San Francisco Chronicle

"A first-rate biography. . . . The narrative flows like a swinging jazz solo." —Dan Morgenstern, director, Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies