Hutch: Amazon.co.uk: Charlotte Breese: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

Hutch was the nickname of Leslie Hutchinson, now forgotten but throughout the 1920s and 30s one of the most charismatic and fêted of all the great black cabaret artists. Charlotte Breeze's meticulously researched and breathlessly written biography takes us on a dizzying journey from his birth in Grenada in 1900 to his death under reduced circumstances in London in 1969. Breeze was certainly not short of material in Hutch's fascinating, scandal-packed life and the only problem that her biography encounters is being at times overwhelmed by the sheer weight of detail which her subject packed into his 69 years.

Escaping from enrolment at medical school the teenage Hutch made his way to Harlem, where he immersed himself in the world of jazz, becoming an accomplished pianist and singer, working with Mamie Smith and Duke Ellington, before heading off for Paris in 1924 and reaching London in 1927.His rise to fame and social notoriety was extraordinary. Along the way he worked for the Spanish royal family and Ataturk, the Turkish president; befriended Josephine Baker as well as the future Edward VIII; taught dance to the Aga Khan and slept with just about everyone of repute in the period, including Tallulah Bankhead, Cole Porter, Merle Oberon and Edwina Mountbatten. In the process Hutch launched an enormously successful recording career, appearing at the most exclusive clubs throughout Europe, Africa and the Far East, developing an inimitably elegant style, which seduced all who saw him perform. Breeze stresses that "Hutch's charm and talent for being what people wanted him to be caused many prejudices to be set aside, and many social barriers to melt." Yet his chameleon-like personae had its darker side; a disowned wife and heavy drinking took their toll after the Second World War, and Hutch was increasingly forced onto the road and into insalubrious bookings as his crooning fell out of fashion and his health began to fail. He became "a diffident ambassador from a golden era, gamely seeking to brighten an increasingly grey world." If Breeze's biography never reads quite as elegantly as Hutch's career, it's mainly because of the sheer weight of incident which this hugely enjoyable and sadly neglected character left behind him. --Jerry Brotton

Product Description

Born in Grenada in 1900, Leslie Hutchinson, known universally as Hutch, went to America in 1916, ostensibly to study medicine, but soon escaped to Harlem where he witnessed the birth of 'stride' jazz piano. Moving to France in 1923, he became the protegee and lover of Cole Porter and entered the vibrant milieu of Parisian cafe society. In 1926, encouraged by another admirer, Edwina Mountbatten, Hutch came to London where he was soon topping the bills in variety and on radio. Immaculate in white tie and tails, Hutch's enormous sex appeal and charm, his velvet voice and superb improvisation on the piano attracted legions of fans among both the impossibly rich and the slump-struck poor. Hutch's love life was rich and varied. Yet for all his glamour, Hutch was a profoundly insecure man in thrall to insatiable appetites for sex, drink, gambling and social status which precipitated his fall from stardom and fame to a squalid, hand-to-mouth existence by the late 1960s. In her riveting biography, meticulously researched over many years, Charlotte Breese has gathered material from an enormous range of sources and has written a vivid cautionary tale which throws new light on the development of jazz, the decline of music hall, the changing status of blacks in Britain as well as illuminating the life of an extraordinarily talented man.

Customer Reviews

5 star

4 star

3 star

2 star

1 star

8 reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars

Write a customer review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

A brilliantly researched account of a fascinating life. 12 Dec 1999

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

In this marvelously researched and evocative biography, the author has captured not just the soul of her subject, but the spirit of an exciting era. Hutch, a gifted musician and entertainer, comes to life in this richly documented and illustrated book. His conquests,both musical and sexual, were the stuff of gossip in the swinging set of London in the Thirties and Forties. Breese has wrought a literary miracle by giving us such adetailed account of what it must have felt to be a part of the vibrant nightclub scene of the era. Her depiction of night life in Paris and London, as well as the development of icons like Cole Porter deepens and enriches our understanding of society in a period of flux. In this sense, the book transcends its genre as it is as much a social history as it is a biography. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of this absorbing book is the study of a black entertainer who struggles for acceptance in an extremely racist milieu. Although he makes numerous conquests among both sexes of the elite of the day, he is painfully aware that he is invited to the homes of the aristocracy only for his entertainment value. If you have time for only one book over the Christmas holidays, make it 'Hutch'.

Comment |

Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

The best show-biz biography for ages 19 Nov 1999

Hutch, who was the greatest pianist of them all, has been largely forgotten over the years, despite his amazing life. Charlotte Breese has written not only a fascinating chronology of his life, but also a social history of the times which further illuminates the complex lives of the English aristocracy among whom he chose to spend his time, for as long as they would allow it. I cannot recommend this book too highly, it is an entertaining and accurate portrait of this outstanding man.

1 Comment |

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

A Spiffing Read 25 Jan 2001

Format:Paperback

"Who was Hutch?" - ask any Brit who is old enough to remember the WWII years and they will immediately say "Of course. The black piano-playing singer". At one time, he was probably Britain's most popular singer.

Born in the nineteen-fifties or later? - quite likely you never heard of him. But DON'T GO AWAY... If you find music or sex interesting (and even if you don't), I'm pretty sure you will find this an engrossing story.

It would be hard to imagine a more unlikely plot. Born and raised in the West Indies at the turn of the century. Seeking his fortune, on his own, as a teenager in Harlem at the start of the Jazz Age. Moving on to Paris at the age of 24, where he became an intimate of (and intimate with) Cole Porter. Three years later, on to London, where he became the Darling of London High Society, affecting an upper class English accent and invariably performing in white tie and tails. Add the ins and outs of his sex life - involving innumerable partners from all levels of society (and both sexes) - and the story becomes more enthralling still.

This is an amazing story that the author has unravelled through painstaking detective work, piecing together the jigsaw puzzle of Hutch's life story. And then telling it in a way that makes the book difficult to put down.

I enjoyed "Hutch" very much. As an extra bonus, it gave me much better insight into the Britain of the nineteen-thirties and forties - another world entirely from that of today.