It was 1955, and then-fourth-year College student Peter Levinson realized he had been born too late - the age of big band jazz was over.
Levinson, University Union's PK German vice president at the time, wanted to book a jazz act to play Cabell Hall for the November "Openings" weekend. But the big band jazz age had ended by the 1950s, and the Harry James band was out of commission because James temporarily had retired to train horses. So Levinson booked Count Basie's Orchestra, another big jazz act at the time whose success during the '50s later led James to come out of retirement.
While James never played at the University, Levinson, now his biographer, is returning this weekend for a presentation and concert that honors the trumpet player and bandleader.
Levinson, who wrote "Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James," published by Oxford University Press, described James as "one of the most talented trumpet players in American musical history," yet today he has fallen from the public consciousness.
"I saw that it was a very colorful but very sad life," Levinson said.
The Music Department, in conjunction with the University Jazz Ensemble's Fall Concert, invited Levinson to speak at the University today about the life and work of James. After a morning interview on WTJU, Levinson will appear in a panel discussion mediated by Jazz History Prof. Scott Deveaux. Other panelists include trumpeter Louise Baranger, vocalist Jeannie Dennis, and Jazz Ensemble Director John D'earth. The discussion is open to the public and will be held in Old Cabell Hall Room 107 at 2:15 p.m.
"I think we'll get a pretty rounded view of who this man was and why he is important," Deveaux said.
Harry James was born March 15, 1916, into a family of circus performers. His father was a circus bandleader, and James began playing the drums and trumpet at an early age.
"He grew up in a circus, which is a difficult and lonely environment to grow up in," Levinson said.
His father, Everette, instilled in him a discipline that Harry carried on until his death.
"His was extremely professional," Levinson said. "He probably played between 10 and 15 dates between the time he was diagnosed with cancer and his death."
As a young adult, James played in various dance bands in Texas. He developed a very distinctive style of playing, Levinson said.
"He was a very dynamic player," he said. "He knew the trumpet so well that he could do stuff other players couldn't do."
Eventually, James left Texas to travel with the Ben Pollack band, which led Benny Goodman to hire him. James left the Goodman band in 1939 and formed his own group, which would perform with varying rosters until his death in 1983.
In his brilliant career, James had his share of celebrity exposure. For a brief period early in the band's career, Frank Sinatra was the group's male vocalist. James also appeared in several films during his career - his second wife was actress Betty Grable.
Yet as Levinson notes in his book, James' success also came with a taste for fast living.
"The drinking and the gambling are what really did him in," Levinson said. James died in debt.
"From appearances and recordings he probably made $60 million in his career," Levinson said. "He died owing $400,000 to the IRS, and he left $11,000 to his two children with Betty Grable."
The Jazz Ensemble's Fall Concert this evening will feature a wide variety of James's compositions, including "Trumpet Blues," "You Made Me Love You," "Melody Makers" and "Corner Pocket."
"Harry James was a virtuosic trumpet player, and we're trying to show that side of him," D'earth said.
The concert will feature special appearances of Baranger and Dennis, both of whom performed in James's band in the years before his death as trumpeter and vocalist, respectively.
D'earth said the presence of these two performers gave the Jazz Ensemble an "insider's connection.
"It brings some authenticity," he said. "They'll be able to tell us how the band phrased the music when they played it."
Over the years, Levinson has carved his own career in jazz.
Levinson said he first became aware of jazz while attending The Hill School, a prep school in Pennsylvania, when he heard Benny Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall performance album.
"When I was in prep school, this guy brought in two LPs in a box he had bought downtown," he said. "He would play that record every day."
James played on the album and introduced Levinson to his music.
"I had known him through his hit records, but I wasn't aware he had been a jazz trumpet player," Levinson said.
"I loved this album, and that's how I got interested in jazz."
Cabell Hall has a special place in Levinson's heart - in 1955 he saw concerts in Cabell by jazz greats Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Errol Garner.
"I met Ed Thigpen, who played drums for Bud Powell and is probably my oldest friend in music, at Cabell Hall," Levinson said.
After a brief employment by Columbia Records, Levinson obtained a mailroom job at the MCA talent agency, which Levinson called "the biggest talent agency of its time." Shortly after he was promoted to assistant agent in 1959 and began his career as a publicist, Levinson met Harry James. They knew each other for 24 years.
Levinson went on to represent a wealth of well-known jazz performers, including Stan Getz, Willy Herman and the noted guitarist, the late Wes Montgomery.
Now an independent publicist, he took time off to write the book in 1997.
"Oxford has been publishing jazz books for 40 years," Levinson said. "That's the only publisher that has done a concentrated, dedicated program in jazz history."
Both Levinson and music faculty members like Deveaux see the book as an opportunity to expand the public's knowledge of a great musical figure who is largely overlooked today.
"He's really someone who has been neglected by jazz historians and this book will be useful for focusing attention on this remarkable figure," Deveaux said.
A major theme in James's life was the conflict between commercialism and straight jazz.
"Harry James was maligned by the jazz establishment because he wasn't 'hip,'" D'earth said.
Quoting from his book, Levinson summed his hopes for what readers can take from it.
"It is my sincere hope that "Trumpet Blues" will help to reassess the musical contributions of Harry James and rightfully place him as one of the most essential trumpeters and bandleaders in the history of American music," Levinson said.
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