How Hugh Hefner And Playboy Changed The Face Of Music

"A comprehensive and wildly entertaining new book from the author of The Persian Room Presents offers a fresh perspective on the Playboy empire and its influence on popular music."

Jul 23, 2015

All About Jazz

Since the launch of Playboy magazine in 1953, two elements have been remarkably consistent: the first is the celebration of the world’s most beautiful & desirable women and the second is its involvement with music. The Playboy experience was never just about sex—it was about lifestyle. And music—particularly the finest jazz, a personal passion of Hefner’s—has always been an essential component of that lifestyle.

While many books have been written about the Playboy organization and the ultimate playboy himself, Hugh Hefner, no book—until this one—has focused specifically on Playboy and the music scene, its impact on popular entertainment (and vice versa), and the fabulous cadre of performers who took to the stages of the mythic Playboy Clubs and Jazz Festivals. Patty Farmer’s Playboy Swings is a groundbreaking look at Playboy through a new lens: music.

In addition to its renowned coverage of music in the magazine, Playboy began to sponsor a series of historic jazz festivals, starting with the groundbreaking 1959 Playboy Jazz Festival in Chicago celebrating the magazine’s 5th Anniversary. Twenty years later in 1979, Hef enlisted George Wein, the world’s most famous jazz impresario, to help him revive the Playboy Jazz Festival at perhaps the most famous music venue in the world: The Hollywood Bowl. This annual event continues to this day, attracting legendary stars, tens of thousands of ticket-buyers and employing the talents of thousands of musicians.

It was the success of that inaugural jazz festival that gave birth to the idea of the Playboy Club which opened its first doors in Chicago on February 29, 1960. And once the clubs took hold, it was only natural that they would offer live performances featuring the sort of music the magazine endorsed. As much as anything—including the clubs’ iconic Bunnies—the music presented at the clubs set the tone of the organization and kept patrons coming back for more.

read more: http://www.jazzineurope.com