Charlie Barnet Tells All
Growing up in the heydays of the Big Bands, I thought I had a pretty good handle on the leaders of the better-known bands. One of my hobbies as a teenager was collecting autographed photos of the popular bandleaders of the 1940s. The scrapbook of some 70 photos I accumulated somehow survived the 80 years of my moving about the country and has since been donated to the American Big Band Preservation Society.
Ken Peplowski put me on to Charlie Barnet’s autobiography, Those Swinging Years, published in 1984 in collaboration with jazz historian Stanley Dance. It’s a real eye-opener (myself included) for those who knew little about the popular bandleader other than remembering him for his biggest hits: “Cherokee,” “Pompton Turnpike,” and “Skyliner.”
Born into a wealthy family (his grandfather was a prominent lawyer and a vice president of the New York Central Railroad), Charlie Barnet (1913-1991) rejected their urging that he become a corporate lawyer and instead turned to music. He had his first professional gig as a truant high school student, sneaking away after roll call to play three sessions a day with the dance band of a midtown Manhattan Chinese restaurant. After getting his union card, he played tenor saxophon
