Overview

Cool Cat Blues is the story of singer/pianist Georgie Fame. Born Clive Powell, in Leigh, Lancashire, he rose from being a troubled kid to the very top of the British pop charts. Through conversations and correspondence with Fame, as well as diligent research, Ben Sidran traces Fame’s story from his long days touring the back roads of England with up-and-coming British acts, along with visiting American musicians, to his early 1960s residency at London’s Flamingo Club, where he began specializing in playing organ. This venue was a legendary melting pot of blues and jazz, and Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, the band that grew out of their work there, went on to chart success as the decade progressed, with three UK No. 1 chart hits. In the years that followed, Fame combined his solo career with collaborations with other artists, including Alan Price and Van Morrison. He was a founder member of ex-Rolling Stone Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, but also worked across the stylistic spectrum with musicians as varied as Count Basie, Muddy Waters and Joan Armatrading. The book also follows his personal life in the usually hidden world of British high society. The final chapters bring the story of a man who, all his life, has followed his head, heart and ears into the 21st century, with headline appearances at Ronnie Scott’s Club and Glastonbury, as well as recordings and concerts with the band he leads with his sons Tristan and James Powell.

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9781800509283

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Ben Sidran is widely recognized as the host of National Public Radio’s landmark jazz series “Jazz Alive”, which received a Peabody Award, and as the host of VH-1 television’s “New Visions” series, which received the Ace Award for best music series. A pianist, producer, singer and composer, he has recorded forty solo albums, including the Grammy nominated Concert for Garcia Lorca, and produced recordings for such noted artists as Van Morrison, Diana Ross, Michael Franks, Rickie Lee Jones, Mose Allison and Steve Miller (with whom he co-wrote the hit song “Space Cowboy”). He is the composer of the soundtrack for the acclaimed film Hoop Dreams, and scored the documentary Vietnam: Long Time Coming, which won both the Aspen Film Festival audience award and an Emmy. Sidran has authored two books on the subject of jazz, Black Talk, a cultural history of the music, and Talking Jazz, a series of conversations with inspirational musicians. He holds a PhD. in American Studies from Sussex University, Brighton, England, but has studiously avoided the academic life, preferring instead to spend his time performing, producing and writing. His written works include the memoir, A Life in the Music, the groundbreaking sociology text There Was a Fire: Jews, Music and the American Dream and the acclaimed biography, The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma; his most recent recordings include Dylan Different, Don’t Cry For No Hipster, Picture Him Happy, Ben There Done That, Who’s the Old Guy Now, and Swing State.

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