Cool Cats and a Hot Mouse: A History of Jazz and Disney
(2020, Theme Park Press, 190 pages)
Foreword by Emmy-Nominated Composer Don DiNicola
***Winner 2021 Independent Press Award (Music Category)
*** Distinguished Favorite in NYC Big Book Award (Music Category)
***Winner 2020 NFAA Gold Award (Nonfiction Authors Association)
***Winner 2020 BIBA Best Indie Book Award (Nonfiction Category)
***Winner 2020 Literary Titan Silver Book Award
***Nominee 2021 ARSC Award (Association for Recorded Sound Collections)
***Amazon Best Seller (Kindle and Paperback)*
All That DISNEY Jazz
What does 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.
PRESS & REVIEWS
"I am excited by Matthew Hodge's evident enthusiasm for this valuable subject and his approachable writing style. The result is a book that helps teach about important histories in a way that is at once accessible, relatable, and entertaining."
-Don DiNicola
Emmy-Nominated Composer and Award-Winning Filmmaker
(An excerpt from his Foreword)
"One sensational book that delivers intriguing facts with surprising bits of insider knowledge...One of the most surprising books I've read this year. I did not expect to be so fully entertained."
-LITERARY TITAN Review
"Hidden in this well-organized and mostly-chronological study of how Walt Disney, a jazz aficionado, employed jazz to score his films, is the story of how one man became and continued to be a cultural influencer...A fun read about the inner workings of the Jazz and Disney worlds!"
-NONFICTION AUTHORS ASSOCIATION Review #1
"Matthew Hodge introduces readers to Disney's rich and long-lasting relationship with jazz music...Hodge tells a story that is both captivating and written in an easily digestible manner. Readers will enjoy this fun and enlightening journey through America's jazzy landscapes that celebrates the soul of America."
-NONFICTION AUTHORS ASSOCIATION Review #2
"An expertly-written piece of text. I'd highly recommend this read...[Hodge] hits all the right notes."
-NOTABLY DISNEY PODCAST
Reviews from Amazon Customer Readers
"A nostalgic look. With its snappy title and cover art, Cool Cats and a Hot Mouse is sure to catch the eye, though what lies behind the cover is equally unique. Well-researched and well-written, this retrospective of jazz's influence on Disney movies and Disney's influence on jazz combines an academic's eye for detail and a musician's understanding of music's power upon cinema."
"This is an interesting exploration of the intertwining of the rise of jazz and Disney. The author has a lot of enthusiasm for and knowledge of the topic. It is a quick informative read for anyone who is interested in either sides of the book's focus."
"Interesting! Mickey Mouse and Jazz music may not, at first thought, seem connected...This book goes on to dissect the shared history of both entertainment genres. The writing is academic, in style, but the information is interesting and educational."
"Engaging Read...The foreword is fantastic, the stories are engaging and the narrative is well put together. Enjoyed reading this book a lot and would definitely recommend."
"It's amazing. Great book! Def check it out."
"Cool book. Unique topic and well written."