One of my all-time-favourite books is: "And They All Sang", by Studs Terkel. Studs Terkel, Pulitzer- winning author and the famous interviewer of ordinary American people, workers and musicians, a beloved Chicagoan institution, died at the age of 96 in Chicago in 2008.
In "And They All Sang" Studs Terkel interviews famous musicians of the last century. He has a very knowledgeable and "tender", sensitive way to conduct the conversations and it's pure pleasure to read these most interesting life stories. Among others he talks to Louis Armstrong, Dizzie Gillespie, Janis Joplin, the 22-year-old Bob Dylan, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Andrés Segovia, Mahalia Jackson or Woodie Guthrie.
This is what Josef Krips, an Austrian conductor, says about art in the conversation with Studs Terkel:
"You have the feeling you experience the peace of true humanity. That is in reality the goal of art. Art is not entertainment. Art is a gift of God. It should give uplift. It should be able to give consolation. What you get from it, you can't count in dollars and cents."
This is my book jacket I made for this lovely book:
