On the road with the Jimmy Dorsey aggravation, 1947-1949

On the Road with the Jimmy Dorsey Aggravation chronicles the musical career of Eugene D (Gene Bockey) Bockemuehl, with the emphasis on his two-and-a-half years traveling with the fabulous Jimmy Dorsey big band of the late 1940s. The Book's title doesn't refer to the band or to Jimmy, but to the "Flying Eagle" band bus, the incredible number of one-night stands the musicians played, and the antics of the "band of crazies" both on and off the bandstand. Upon his discharge in 1946 Bockey joined Jack Teagarden's band. That same year he went to see Dorsey at Pacific Square, sat in with the band, and was hired in early 1947 to go On The Road With The Jimmy Dorsey Aggravation - a congregation of top musicians, including Ray Bauduc, Maynard Ferguson, Charlie Teagarden, Brad Gowans and Geaorge Masso, plus others of like talent. The anecdotes contained herein are all factual; the humor and pathos are real. Anyone who remembers the big bands of that era, be they musician, aficionado or just plain nostalgia buff, will start reading and not put this book down until they've finished it. And as the author succinctly puts it, "Hey THIS was a band!"