Post by gregorythefish on Jun 10, 2017 14:49:12 GMT
Elsewhere, we are talking about reading a little bit, so I thought a dedicated thread to discuss jazz writing would be in order.
Some books I've read and enjoyed in the last year or two:
Miles' autobiography - you can feel Miles speaking throughout. Pretty fascinating.
"A Love Supreme" - Ashley Kahn - tells the story of the creation and 'backstage' info of the album. essential for trane fans.
"Blue Note Records" - Richard Cook - another really enjoyable read that details the entire history, top to bottom, of the label. essential for those wishing to appreciate the context of the music the label made
"Mingus/Mingus" - Coleman & Young - in the absence of a readable autobiography, i had to look elsewhere. this is two very long essays on the man himself by very close friends, and is really an intimate look into his life beyond the music, the weirdness, and the anger.
"Jazz: the 1980's resurgence" - stuart nicholson - honestly, this book didn't do for me what i had hoped. i was looking for a good reference for jazz in the 80's, perhaps along the lines of the great stuff on muse and such, but what i got was a lot of random pseudo-jazz angular crap with slap bass guitar, if i may be so bold, and i found a few things that were interesting at a passing glance, but didn't really hold my attention
"The House That Trane Built" - Ashley Kahn - if you only read one book off this list, make it this one. I've read this 3 times, and it is absurdly well-written, well-researched, and thorough. of course, it places trane as the man who made it all possible, in terms of mystique and record sales, but a lot is written of bob thiele, the main production man, who championed a lot of things that the top brass resisted, and made it into a great jazz label with a proud history. essential reading.
"Jazz: its evolution and essence" - andre hodier - this is a classic piece of jazz criticism written by a frenchman at the height of the be-bop revolution (on records, anyway), and urging fellow listeners and critics to take it seriously and see the value in it. of course, mine is an english translation, but it doesn't seem like much gets lost along the way. my only complaint is that hodier seems to think he is THE FUCKING MAN when it comes to jazz, and i think a good writer and critic needs to recognize that top honors go to the musicians, then the patrons and club owners and record men, and THEN the critics, but it's still good writing. fair warning, though, it was written in the 50's, and some of the terminology and such is a bit dated and somewhat racially insensitive, and would never fly today. requires many grains of salt.
"Jazz / Is" - nat hentoff - of course, nat needs no introduction, and this book is a collection of chapters of hentoff espousing what he sees as the essence of jazz in various things, such as the music of duke ellington or the free-wheeling of the avant-garde, and is really a nice relaxing read that can be disgested in disparate parts. good stuff.
I am currently in the process of reading Robin DG Kelley's mammoth volume on Thelonious Monk, and I am nearing the end. So far, I have found it to be perhaps my favorite piece of jazz writing yet. the way kelly brings monk and all of the relevant personalities around him to life is incredible, and right off the bat, he tells us that he won't be taking the easy road and writing monk's behavior off as just that of a wacky genius. really thoughtful, and has exponentially increased my enjoyment of monk's music, though it was already pretty up there. this takes a lot of effort and time to read, but is so worth it. and i am really lazy, so you know that review means something. ha.
coming up later: two books on miles davis that I honestly doubt I will read. i bought them awhile back after enjoying the autobiography so thoroughly, but i have lost interest in miles in recent years, and i see him as a great musician with a legenedary personality, as opposed to the other way around. but i fully intend to read the fascinating and morbid "Jazz & Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats", written by a doctor who is also a jazz fan (say, do we know of anyone like that around here?), and also Horace Silver's autobiography: Let's get to the Nitty-gritty. In addition, I have the book "Free Jazz/Black Power", which i am very excited to read, as i have read comparatively little about free jazz, and have trouble finding much dedicated writing about it. i also just ordered "the battle of the five spot", a book about the reaction in the world of musicians and critics upon the emergence in NYC of ornette coleman. looking forward to that. i intend to order two other books soon. one is a history of the AACM written by member George Lewis, and the other is a Mingus bio called "myself when I am real". i also just bought a book about the emergence of the black metal scene in norway and the way it evolved to be a lo-fi, cold, isolated type of music, but that is for elsewhere.
if anyone could recommend some great books on the avant-garde (especially without trane or coleman as a main focus), i'd be very grateful.
Some books I've read and enjoyed in the last year or two:
Miles' autobiography - you can feel Miles speaking throughout. Pretty fascinating.
"A Love Supreme" - Ashley Kahn - tells the story of the creation and 'backstage' info of the album. essential for trane fans.
"Blue Note Records" - Richard Cook - another really enjoyable read that details the entire history, top to bottom, of the label. essential for those wishing to appreciate the context of the music the label made
"Mingus/Mingus" - Coleman & Young - in the absence of a readable autobiography, i had to look elsewhere. this is two very long essays on the man himself by very close friends, and is really an intimate look into his life beyond the music, the weirdness, and the anger.
"Jazz: the 1980's resurgence" - stuart nicholson - honestly, this book didn't do for me what i had hoped. i was looking for a good reference for jazz in the 80's, perhaps along the lines of the great stuff on muse and such, but what i got was a lot of random pseudo-jazz angular crap with slap bass guitar, if i may be so bold, and i found a few things that were interesting at a passing glance, but didn't really hold my attention
"The House That Trane Built" - Ashley Kahn - if you only read one book off this list, make it this one. I've read this 3 times, and it is absurdly well-written, well-researched, and thorough. of course, it places trane as the man who made it all possible, in terms of mystique and record sales, but a lot is written of bob thiele, the main production man, who championed a lot of things that the top brass resisted, and made it into a great jazz label with a proud history. essential reading.
"Jazz: its evolution and essence" - andre hodier - this is a classic piece of jazz criticism written by a frenchman at the height of the be-bop revolution (on records, anyway), and urging fellow listeners and critics to take it seriously and see the value in it. of course, mine is an english translation, but it doesn't seem like much gets lost along the way. my only complaint is that hodier seems to think he is THE FUCKING MAN when it comes to jazz, and i think a good writer and critic needs to recognize that top honors go to the musicians, then the patrons and club owners and record men, and THEN the critics, but it's still good writing. fair warning, though, it was written in the 50's, and some of the terminology and such is a bit dated and somewhat racially insensitive, and would never fly today. requires many grains of salt.
"Jazz / Is" - nat hentoff - of course, nat needs no introduction, and this book is a collection of chapters of hentoff espousing what he sees as the essence of jazz in various things, such as the music of duke ellington or the free-wheeling of the avant-garde, and is really a nice relaxing read that can be disgested in disparate parts. good stuff.
I am currently in the process of reading Robin DG Kelley's mammoth volume on Thelonious Monk, and I am nearing the end. So far, I have found it to be perhaps my favorite piece of jazz writing yet. the way kelly brings monk and all of the relevant personalities around him to life is incredible, and right off the bat, he tells us that he won't be taking the easy road and writing monk's behavior off as just that of a wacky genius. really thoughtful, and has exponentially increased my enjoyment of monk's music, though it was already pretty up there. this takes a lot of effort and time to read, but is so worth it. and i am really lazy, so you know that review means something. ha.
coming up later: two books on miles davis that I honestly doubt I will read. i bought them awhile back after enjoying the autobiography so thoroughly, but i have lost interest in miles in recent years, and i see him as a great musician with a legenedary personality, as opposed to the other way around. but i fully intend to read the fascinating and morbid "Jazz & Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats", written by a doctor who is also a jazz fan (say, do we know of anyone like that around here?), and also Horace Silver's autobiography: Let's get to the Nitty-gritty. In addition, I have the book "Free Jazz/Black Power", which i am very excited to read, as i have read comparatively little about free jazz, and have trouble finding much dedicated writing about it. i also just ordered "the battle of the five spot", a book about the reaction in the world of musicians and critics upon the emergence in NYC of ornette coleman. looking forward to that. i intend to order two other books soon. one is a history of the AACM written by member George Lewis, and the other is a Mingus bio called "myself when I am real". i also just bought a book about the emergence of the black metal scene in norway and the way it evolved to be a lo-fi, cold, isolated type of music, but that is for elsewhere.
if anyone could recommend some great books on the avant-garde (especially without trane or coleman as a main focus), i'd be very grateful.