Vladimir Simosko has written the book I have been trying to write since I became an Artie Shaw fan and collector in 1938 when I was 13. Mr. Simosko has assembled all the information I have collected over the years regarding recording dates, musicians involved, and covers many of the questions I have asked as well. Of most interest will be the years before Shaw recorded Begin the Beguine when he was a sideman with many large radio orchestras. Simosko uses conversations he had with Artie Shaw to backup much of the information. As Shaw wrote the introduction, the book becomes "authorized" and must be regarded as the ultimate record of one of the most complex jazz musicians in the jazz world, and at the age of 90 one of the last living members of the Big Band Era.

I have been a professional jazz musician for as long as I remember. But it wasn't untill the concert in 1964 just before Eric Dol;phy died that I became serious in my approach to practice. The concert took place in Wuppertal in Germany with Charles Mingus. Johnny Coles was on Trumpet, Jacky Byard on piano. The others I forget. Danny Richmond on drums. The audience was so jammed into the town hall that everybody was standing for the entire performance. It was such a moving experience that there was almost no applause. This must have been very disturbing to the musicians. At one point Erics Bass Clarinet fell off its stand and he spent no little time examining it to make sure it was ok. The concert was an experience that I will never forget because it quite literaly changed my life. This was because of one tune that Dolphy and Mingus played as an encore , also as a duet on flute and arco bass. This was "what love" So wonderful was this presentation that people where openly crying with emotion. It is perhaps difficult to explain the impact of musicians who can bring about such feelings in an audience. and it is indeed a rare thing to experience within any artistic performance. To listen to artists on record does not do the true greats justice. Suffice to say that for me I became a serious jazz musician from that day forward. People. myself included where still choked up even after leaving the town hall and walking out into the afternoon sunshine. Little did we know how prophetic our tears were because less than one month later Eric Dolphy died in Berlin. I can only owe this wonderful human being, Eric Dolphy a reason and a shape for all of my life. from that day untill whenever. Grahame Rhodes Jazz Musician Sat 13 march 1999

Although this book was widely reviewed, I did not see any review in which the essential drama of Chaloff's life was reflected. Of course, the focus of the book is on his music and legacy but while his importance as a premier jazz baritone saxophonist seems beyond question, the Chaloff story also involves fascinating and ultimately inspiring swings of lifestyle: youthful enthusiasm and breathtaking development as a musician; a phase as "out-of-control junkie" eventually transcended and followed by impressive artistic rebirth; then his tragic illness and early death as he heroically continued playing at his peak to the end. Potential readers might like to know this dramatic story is in there along with the documentation of his musical legacy and career.