Life of the ``Divine One,'' by the author of the well-received Nat King Cole bio Unforgettable (1991). Gourse has a lively subject in Vaughan (1924-90), whose voice was a soaring and dipping bebop instrument that charmed most listeners but also bored or offended a few with its slow and seemingly overinvolved delivery. Musicians adored playing with Vaughan, although her later repertoire—with its saccharine Percy Faith strings, Beatles tunes, and pop sentiments—saddened purists. Vaughan doesn't provide Gourse with as dramatic a personal history as did Cole. Choir-singing Vaughan showed early talent in Newark, with an ear for copying with voice and piano anything she heard on radio. She skipped school or climbed out the bedroom window to hear musicians at clubs or in theaters. Despite adulation by Billy Eckstine, Earl Hines, and others who hired her, she was gap- toothed, rail-thin, and shy until her first husband, trumpeter George Treadwell, revamped her, had her teeth capped, and became her manager. With a phenomenal ear for chords, Vaughan always felt she'd learned most from her work with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, though she long thought her best recordings were with trumpeter Clifford Brown. Later, she took up concertizing and even worked with symphony conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. Life with her husband dissolved into fighting, with Treadwell overbearing, abusive, and jealous—though he could be charming and generous as well. Eventually, Vaughan had five, often jealous, husbands and won and lost several fortunes. She died of lung cancer and was mourned by musicians everywhere. Says Gourse: ``In her twenties and thirties, her voice had been as light and brilliant as fine wine; by her sixties it was as robust as cognac.'' Too much shifting bandstand personnel to keep steady interest. (Thirty-two photos.)
Pub Date: Jan. 12, 1993
ISBN: 0-684-19317-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1992
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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