The remarkable and
historically accurate book Playboy Swings: How Hugh Hefner and
Playboy Changed the Face of Music, author Patty Farmer explores
the remarkable way Hugh Hefner’s efforts resulted in a legacy that continues to
influence the American music and entertainment landscape.
“The Playboy phenomenon was
not just about sex and glamorous women, it was more about lifestyle and music,”
Farmer says. “The finest jazz, in particular, was a personal passion of Hefner.
Farmer, who was given
access to Hefner’s personal archives, created a well-documented and illustrated
chronicles of the decades of musical events and performances with musicians and
artists and people who became legends in our history.
Hugh Hefner and Playboy,
the glossy magazine he published, may best known for introducing an entire
generation to the beauty of the female anatomy.
But truth be told, one of
the most lasting impressions and important impacts is his role and
contributions to music in America.
For almost two decades,
Playboy was the largest employer of entertainment—singers, musicians and
comedians—in the country.
He supported and promoted
jazz musicians from the very beginning in writing, on stage, and even with his
own record label. The very first issue of Playboy, graced by the stunning
Marilyn Monroe, also contained a detailed feature story about Tommy and Jimmy
Dorsey. His emphasis on musicians transcended racial divisions and opened up
social dialogue and discourse in ground-breaking ways.
To celebrate Playboy’s fifth
anniversary in 1959, Hefner produced the first Playboy Jazz Festival in
Chicago. His TV show, "Playboy's Penthouse" aired nationwide from
1959 to 1961, and “Playboy After Dark,” from January 16, 1969 to 1970. In
the 40 worldwide Playboy Clubs, he showcased jazz musicians and provided black
entertainers invaluable exposure in a defiance of segregationist laws and
attitudes of the time.
In 1962, Playboy published
the first of the iconic Playboy interviews with Miles Davis (conducted by
"Roots" author Alex Haley).
Aretha Franklin played
piano and sang at the Chicago Playboy Club when just 18 years old. It was her
first professional singing job outside of church.
Playboy's Penthouse broke
all the rules with Hef's integration of races. Nat King Cole appearing and
sitting on the couch with a white woman- Rona Jaffe--to discuss her new book
was scandalous and resulted in both networks and sponsors dropping the show.
Farmer’s insights into this
amazing chapter of American cultural history is told through interviews with
those involved present in the actual events, including Hugh Hefner, and his
Playboy cohorts, and the cadre of jazz artists, performers, show business legends
and entertainers who performed at the Playboy venues, and thereafter became
well known around the world.
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Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski enjoying opening night at the London Playboy Club. Photos courtesy of Playboy Swings.
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The opening night crowd for
the London Playboy Club, in 1966, was as famous and attractive, as one could
imagine. A short list of the attandees included: Julie Christie,
Ursula Andress, Roman Polanski, Michelangelo Antonioni, Sidney Poitier,
Laurence Harvey, Peter Sellers, David Frost, Peter Cook, Kenneth Tynan, Rudolf
Nureyev, Woody Allen, Lee Radziwill, and many, many others.
Playboy Swings: How Hugh Hefner and Playboy Changed the Face of Music
Patty Farmer
With contributions from Will Friedwald
Complied through interviews
with hundreds of people who were on the scene throughout Playboy’s rise, fall,
and on-going renaissance, Playboy Swings carries readers on a seductive journey
through the history of the empire―all the while focusing on the musical
entertainment that made it unique. Hef’s personal passion for music―and his
belief in it as a cornerstone of the Playboy ethos―has expressed itself in a
wide range of media over Playboy’s 60-year history, and all of it comes alive
in these pages.
Famer takes the reader from
the inception of the Playboy empire through the 1959 jazz festival, to the
opening of club after club.
With approximately 60 black
and white photos, and a complete Playboy music reference guide, readers will
think of music, not just Bunnies, when thinking about Playboy.
Throughout the book, it is
the artists who do most of the talking―and they have a lot to say about the
golden era of Playboy entertainment.
For more information
visit http://patty-farmer.com/
About the Authors
Patty Farmer is acknowledged as the leading expert on all things
pertaining to music, entertainment—and the entertainers—of Playboy.
She’s also a businesswoman
and former model, and has followed the entertainment industry as an insider, as
well as an avid fan and archivist all her life. Her work draws upon a lifetime
of friendship and socializing among personalities and celebrities around the
world.
In her previous book, The Persian Room Presents, she transported readers
back to the halcyon days of New York City nightlife. Patty splits her time
between New York, Texas, and France.
Will Friedwald writes about
jazz and popular music for The Wall Street Journal, where he has written the
weekly column The Jazz Scene since 2010.
He is the author of eight
books on music and popular culture, has received ten Grammy Award nominations
for album notes and production, and is internationally recognized as a leading
authority on jazz and adult pop music, as well as Broadway shows, jazz and pop
vocalists, big bands, and classic American pop.
The BOOK:
List $24.95 Hardcover,
$16.99 Kindle
320 pages 6.3 x 1.2 x 8.9
inches
Publisher: Beaufort Books
(November 30, 2015)
ISBN-10: 0825307880
ISBN-13: 978-0825307881
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