Toby Keith opens his new album, "Drinks After Work," with a song that utilizes the hip-hop rhythms dominating contemporary country music these days. "This book may not be the definitive study of his (life), but I hope it will open up his world to a new generation." Eckstine's name is scarcely known today," Ginell writes. His chance at true across-the-board success melted in a firestorm of racial bias. No longer was he just a big-band leader he was a romantic singing idol wooing audiences with his velvety vibrato.Įckstine had the talent and charisma to become a superstar ? not just in music, but in movies and television ? but his career was compromised by a 1950 Life magazine photo showing white female fans fawning over him. After signing with MGM in 1947, his popularity exploded. Over the course of 188 pages, he traces Eckstine's rise from Cab Calloway imitator in the late '30s to jazz orchestra leader (for three years, Eckstine led an ensemble that featured such bebop legends as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie). B: The Music & Life of Billy Eckstine," a richly detailed biography of the late jazz singer (Hal Leonard Books $18.99). Thousand Oaks musicologist Cary Ginell thinks Mr. Billy Eckstine was an A-list talent who's been relegated to pop culture's D-list margins.
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