cover image Swing It!: An Annotated History of Jive

Swing It!: An Annotated History of Jive

Bill Milkowski. Watson-Guptill Publications, $18.95 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-8230-7671-0

Bill Milkowski remembers clearly the moment he fell in love with jive: ""My ears burned, my foot patted involuntarily, I practically fell to the floor with my teeth chattering."" In Swing It!: An Annotated History of Jive, with a spirited foreword by contemporary jivester and founder of Manhattan Transfer, Tim Hauser, he takes readers on a fact-filled and affectionate journey along the boppin' lifeline of jive. From Louis Jordan, ""the Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler of Jive,"" to today's purveyors like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Milkowski focuses on ""those figures who have historically fallen through the cracks"" during the era of swing and big bands. ( Mar.)