Nonfiction Book Award Status: GOLD
Synopsis
What do a King, a Queen, a Duke, and a talking mouse all have in common? They are all part of the intricate tapestry that helped define American entertainment, built by two different, yet connected pioneering industries: jazz music and Disney.
Cool Cats and a Hot Mouse: A History of Jazz and Disney is a first of its kind. Award-winning composer, professor, and author Matthew Hodge offers this unique book as the first to entirely dedicate its pages to exploring the vast histories of these two worlds. While rising in popularity and importance during the same decades, jazz and Disney spent more than a century consistently intertwining in ways that are remarkable, inspiring, surprising, complicated, controversial, and everything in between.
Whether a jazz listener, a Disney lover, a fan of both, or unknowledgeable of either, this book will navigate readers through these fascinating stories. With nearly 300 significant jazz artists and Disney properties referenced in these pages, Cool Cats and a Hot Mouse guarantees to entertain and educate readers of all ages as they journey through America’s jazzy landscapes—sprinkled along the way with plenty of Disney magic.
Author Bio
Matthew Hodge is an award-winning composer, educator, and author who has worked with Emmy, Grammy, and Tony award winners from around the country. He has taught full-time and part-time at several universities and colleges, including his current position teaching music and theatre at William Peace University. His publications include multiple scholarly books and academic journal articles. His music credits include award-winning films, international television, commercials, award-winning videogame prototypes, and professional theatre.