You Can't Do That and If It Doesn’t Kill You-bookcover

By: Vince Prudente

You Can't Do That and If It Doesn’t Kill You

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At the heart of these two stories is a deep love for jazz – the music that shapes lives, fuels dreams, and overcomes adversity.

In ‘You Can’t Do That,’ Louise, a young African American girl in 1940s Georgia, begins her musical journey with piano lessons. But when her father leaves, and money grows tight, her lessons come to an end. Years later, after moving with her mother and brother to Detroit, Louise’s passion for music is reignited, especially when she discovers the transformative power of jazz.

‘If It Don’t Kill You’ follows Bill, an accomplished jazz musician in his early thirties, as he fights to break into the highest levels of the jazz scene. But as success looms, so do challenges: romantic entanglements and life-altering events threaten to pull him away from his first love: writing and performing jazz.

Together, these stories celebrate the struggles, triumphs, and unwavering passion of musicians who live and breathe jazz.

Vince was born in Connellsville, Pa. on November 18, 1937. When he was 3, he heard Tommy Dorsey play the trombone, and was thrilled. He earned a BS in music at Duquesne University, and became a professional jazz musician. He joined Lionel Hampton in 1959 and toured and recorded with him. He moved to New York and worked, toured and recorded with Woody Herman. He also worked with Kenny Dorham, Joe Henderson, and Frank Foster. At 34, he joined Duke Ellington and toured and recorded with him until Duke’s death. He continued with the orchestra led by Duke’s son, Mercer; until 1976, then on and off until 1986, including on Broadway in ‘Sophisticated Ladies’. He also played with Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, and Illinois Jacquet. Moving to California, he worked with Bill Berry, Buddy Collette, Joe Henderson, and at CSU, Chico, where he earned a MA and started a trio/quartet playing trombone and piano. From 1994 through 2007, he taught Jazz workshops at NYU while continuing to play and record his CD, ‘The Treatment’, with his group. He and his wife moved to France in 2012 and he began to write.

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