For More than half a century, jazz writer and lyricist Gene Lees has been the friend of many in the world of jazz music. In this delightful book he offers minibiographies of fifteen of these friends - some of them jazz greats, some lesser-known figures and some up-and-comers. Combining conversations and memoirs with critical commentary, Lee's insightful and intimate profiles will captivate jazz fans, performers, and historians alike.

The subjects of the book range from the versatile orchestrator and arranger Claus Agerman to legendary jazz broadcaster Willis Conover, from the gifted young Chinese violinist Yue Deng to undersung pianist Junior Mance. Lees writes about these figures both as musicians and as human beings, and he writes out of a conviction that jazz as an art form represents the highest values of American culture. Inviting us into the lives of these unique individuals, Lees offers an affectionate view of the jazz community that only an insider could provide.

GENE LEES is the publisher of the Jazzletter. He is also a song lyricist and the author of more than a dozen volumes of jazz history and criticism. A book on songwriter Johnny Mercer is forthcoming.

CONTENTS:
The Journey: Milt Bernhart
Two of A Kind: Stan [Kenton] and Pete [Rugolo]
A Walking Sound: Ray Brown
The Man From Powell River: Don Thompson
Remembering Dizzy: Junior Mance
The Pittsburgh Connection: Stanley Turrentine
The Good Gray Fox: Lou Levy
The Hug: Hugo Friedhofer
Claus Ogerman
The Hot Potato: John Bunch
The Boy in the P-38: Allyn Ferguson
Early Autumn: Ralph Burns
The Man Who Won the Cold War: Willis Conover
Helen and Bill
The Adventures of Yue Deng
The Wombat Chronicle

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