Albuquerque, NM Author Publishes 3 Volume Book Series on Jazz

Jazz Trumpet Legends: Three Volume Series, a new set of books by Larry Kemp, has been released by RoseDog Books.

Early Jazz Trumpet Legends is an examination of the lives and contributions of jazz trumpeters born before 1925. Included are Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry James, Bix Beiderbecke, Bunny Berigan, and Roy Eldridge along with scores of other men and women who created jazz with a trumpet. This is an essential guide for the student of jazz, those interested in history, and those who just like to read entertaining true stories about the most colorful people. More than 320 trumpeters are discussed. There is a glossary of jazz terminology and a Forward explaining the nature of a trumpet, the nature of jazz, and what a legend is along with background information about New Orleans during the first 30 years of jazz. Those who travel to New Orleans will find the information in this book extremely useful to understand the soul of this exotic city and its role as the incubator of jazz.

Modern Jazz Trumpet Legends, Volume 2 in the Jazz Trumpet Legends series, is an examination of the lives and contributions of jazz trumpeters born between 1925 and 1940. Included are Miles Davis, Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen, Chet Baker, and Clifford Brown along with scores of other men and women who created jazz with a trumpet. This is an essential guide for the student of jazz, those interested in history, and those who just like to read entertaining true stories about the most colorful people.

In this book, 867 trumpeters are discussed. This second volume covers the trumpeters in the center of the history of jazz. There are the sad stories of those who died too young (Clifford Brown at 25, Ray Wetzel at 27 from automobile accidents; Joe Gordon at 35 from a house fire; Booker Little at 23 from uremia), balanced by the positive stories of those who accomplished much with their lives (Miles Davis invented cool jazz and fusion; Maynard Ferguson took the trumpet to new heights; Lionel Ferbos performed regularly for a couple of years after his hundredth birthday; Clora Bryant and Betty O'Hara showed that women could get the job done on the trumpet). Modern Jazz Trumpet Legends contains two appendices that apply to trumpeters in all three volumes: a yearly calendar showing, for each day of the year, the trumpeters born on that date; and a geographical listing of the states and countries showing, for each place, the trumpeters born there.

Current Jazz Trumpet Legends, Volume 3 in the Jazz Trumpet Legends series, is an examination of the lives and contributions of jazz trumpeters born after July 1, 1938. Included are Lee Morgan, Bobby Shew, Lew Soloff, Woody Shaw, Arturo Sandoval, Wynton Marsalis, along with scores of other men and women who created jazz with a trumpet.

More than 340 trumpeters are discussed in this third volume. There is a listing of female trumpeters and a listing of men whose first names might lead you to think they are female, but they aren't. There is an index of trumpeters discussed in this volume and an index of all trumpeters in the three volume series. The book concludes with a list of people whose help is acknowledged. The scholarship involved is impeccable, while the text reads as easily as a novel.

About the Author
Larry Kemp was born in Los Angeles and spent his preschool years living in Imperial County, California. In elementary school, he moved to Albuquerque and then to Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, for secondary school. He attended the University of Pittsburgh for seven years and earned his Bachelor's in Classics and a Juris Doctor degree. He was employed for a year at WNUF-FM, the big band station in Millvale, Pennsylvania, and then at WYDD-FM, the Pittsburgh jazz station, for two years.

Kemp practiced law in Western Pennsylvania for 33 years and retired early because of contracting Parkinson's disease. The freedom from the stress of practicing law enabled him to write this book. He and his wife Virginia moved to Albuquerque to escape the Pittsburgh winters and to live closer to his mother. His adult children, Paul and Carolyn, continue to live in and near Pittsburgh. In Albuquerque, Larry returned to jazz radio and has become the primary host of the program "The House That Jazz Built," on KUNM-FM, a show dedicated to modern, progressive, avant-garde, and free jazz.

Early Jazz Trumpet Legends is a 284-page paperback with a retail price of $19.00. The ISBN is 978-1-4809-7637-5. Modern Jazz Trumpet Legends is a 218-page paperback with a retail price of $17.00. The ISBN is 978-1-489-7649-8. Current Jazz Trumpet Legends is a 318-page paperback with a retail price of $21.00. The ISBN is 978-1-4809-7727-3.

Jazz Trumpet Legends: Three Volume Series was published by RoseDog Books of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more information, or to request a review copy of any or all three of the books, please go to our virtual pressroom at www.dorrancepressroom.com or our online bookstore at www.rosedogbookstore.com.