Roy Eldridge, Little Jazz Giant (Bayou Jazz Lives)

Roy Eldridge, Little Jazz Giant is the first biography of the spectacular trumpeter, Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge, whose style is universally recognised as the all-important link between the playing styles of Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. Roy's daring harmonic approach and his technically awesome improvisations provided inspiration for countless jazz musicians. But he was also a star performer in his own right, whose exciting recordings gained him an international reputation. Eldridge's improvisations in the extreme high register always added a thrilling edge to his solos and his perpetually competitive attitude towards other trumpeters gained him a special place in the hearts of jazz lovers. From the late 1940s through the 1970s, he continued to develop his worldwide reputation by playing an important part in the famous Jazz at the Philharmonic tours, all the while adding to his impassioned recorded performances.John Chilton, who knew Eldridge for many years, sheds new light on the various occasions when Eldridge unwillingly became entangled with gangsters in New York and Chicago. There are revealing details about Eldridge's uneven working relationships with Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie.