Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy

Rick Kennedy is a veteran communications manager with General Electric Company and a former journalist. A freelance music writer for more than 30 years, he is author (with Randy McNutt) of Little Labels–Big Sound: Small Record Companies and the Rise of American Music (IUP, 2001).

• Foreword by Ted GioiaGennett Records TimelineIntroduction1. A Music Dynasty in Victorian Indiana2. A New Wind Is Blowing through Chicago3. Jazz Hysteria in the Hoosier State4. Old-Time Music in the New Electronic Era5. When Gennett Records Gets the Blues6. Yet the Music Lives OnSuggested Listening: Fifty Classics by Gennett RecordsNotesSelected BibliographyIndexIndex of Songs

Kennedy eloquently and informatively connects all these pieces together to form a clear, informative, and delightfully entertaining read. He breathes new life into the legacy of Gennett Records and fully enmeshes the readers into a world when then unknown musicians rambled to a dusty Midwestern piano factory to record their music. Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy will surely satisfy an audience of jazz buffs, historians, or anyone seeking a revealing account of a greenhorn music industry.(PopMatters) Kennedy's book comes highly recommended. His writing style is entertaining and informative. By describing the personal characteristics of Gennett's principal owners, the reader can easily keep all of the various characters straight. Further, Kennedy's wide-ranging appreciation for American music makes the reader want to hear these recordings. The Gennetts may not have fully appreciated the music they recorded, but Rick Kennedy makes up for that many times over.(Jazz History Online)