Unheralded jazz books

[garthsj]

Now I'ld like to add another opus:

'A Life In the Golden Age of Jazz: A Biography of Buddy deFranco' by Fabrice Zammarchi and Sylvie Mas, a heavy 384-page volume with splendid illustrations, layout plus text and discography. It should not really qualify since it was published by Parkside Publications, out of Seattle, but I'm sure it got pretty little distribution.

And it is a labour of love judging from the copy I just lay my hands on. Great photos (324 of them) including manyI had not seen yet of deFranco with Billie Holiday, Art Blakey, Sonny Clark and others. A beautiful tribute to a great musician!

You just beat me to suggesting this wonderful book . pricey yes, but for true DeFranco fans it is a must. The book illustrates just how significant Buddy has been in the evolution of modern jazz .. and he is still doing it almost better than anyone else!

Somewhat off the actual topic, but also worth seeking out are those Esquire Books of Jazz ... The large-sized volume from 1962 (called ESQUIRE'S WORLD OF JAZZ), with the wonderful "tipped-in" illustrations (this is the original edition; there were later reprints), is particulary worthy of a place in any respectable jazz library.

Garth,

Houston.

Edited August 5, 2004 by garthsj

[Bright Moments]

Marla,

One is for sale on Amazon.com for $750

chan parker's book for $595.

disclaimer: i don't know the seller.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/offer-lis...4?condition=all

B-)

[wigwise]

"I, paid my dues, good times... no bead. A story of Jazz" is a great read. Written by Babs Gonzales and published through his company Expubidence in 1967. From what he describes in his book, he lived a very interesting life. Crazy to imagine that he once worked for Errol Flynn.

[Joe]

Not sure how rare, unheralded and / or valuable these are -- actually, any furher info regarding these items would be most welcome -- but I am gald to have the following books:

King Joe Oliver, by Walter C. Allen and Brian A L Rust (1958; London, Sidgwick and Jackson)

Hot Jazz : The Guide To Swing Music, by Hugues Panassié, Lyle Dowling, and Eleanor Dowling (1936; New York, M. Witmark & Sons)

Blues: An Anthology, edited by W. C. Handy, illustrations by Miguel Covarrubias [an important Harlem renaissance figure] (1926; New York, Albert & Charles Boni)

Finally, I think this volume contains some marvelous writing about the music:

[blajay]

I like this thread a lot--cool stuff. I just returned Hendersonia to the library--pretty dedicated work! I obviously didn't read it all, but it was fun to glance through. On another note, the Main branch of the San Francisco Public Library has a copy of To Bird With Love! Nice to know I don't have to pay a thousand bucks to see it.

I was at the Jazz Quarter down the street yesterday, and I got to look through Charlie Parker and Jazz Memorabilia by Norman Sacks (it is from his private collection). It is page after page of pretty much all the memorabilia you can find about Charlie Parker--posters, billing, album covers, letters. Unfortunately, it's not publicly distributed, and is only available at the the Lincoln Center Gift Shop

Oh, it's also $75. May be worth it, though...

[blajay]

Chris, it looks like your buddy Phil Schaap is the publisher too.

Edited September 21, 2008 by zanonesdelpueblo

[BruceH]

I like this thread a lot--cool stuff. I just returned Hendersonia to the library--pretty dedicated work! I obviously didn't read it all, but it was fun to glance through. On another note, the Main branch of the San Francisco Public Library has a copy of To Bird With Love! Nice to know I don't have to pay a thousand bucks to see it.

I will have to check that out. Literally.

[blajay]

I like this thread a lot--cool stuff. I just returned Hendersonia to the library--pretty dedicated work! I obviously didn't read it all, but it was fun to glance through. On another note, the Main branch of the San Francisco Public Library has a copy of To Bird With Love! Nice to know I don't have to pay a thousand bucks to see it.

I will have to check that out. Literally.

Haha. I wish--it's LIB USE ONLY--but I'm sure it's worth the visit. SFPL is great--I've been going through their entire jazz catalog of books and cds for the past couple years. Incidentally, I received my copy of the Norman Sacks Collection book "Charlie Parker and Jazz Club Memorabilia" the other day . Really comprehensive collection of acetate pressings, concert bills, and 45s. Sort of like if gokudo guy had a book.

[blajay]

I was at the Jazz Quarter down the street yesterday, and I got to look through Charlie Parker and Jazz Memorabilia by Norman Sacks (it is from his private collection). It is page after page of pretty much all the memorabilia you can find about Charlie Parker--posters, billing, album covers, letters. Unfortunately, it's not publicly distributed, and is only available at the the Lincoln Center Gift Shop

Oh, it's also $75. May be worth it, though...

I should mention, I got it for $60 instead--not autographed by Saks. It isn't like you'd be paying the extra $15 to have it autographed by Bird himself, anyway.

[Guest Bill Barton]

Perusing the Jazz Programmers List this morning I came across this link, posted by Tom Reney:

Hayden Carruth obituary from The New York Times

Sad news...

His book Sitting In: Selected Writings on Jazz, Blues and Related Topics (University of Iowa Press) is highly recommended as a passionate, opinionated and thought-provoking read.

When he lived in Johnson, VT from 1977 to 1979, hardly a week went by when I didn't get a call from him at WNCS-FM in Montpelier, where I hosted "Jazz Spectrum." Sometimes he called to make a request (often for Buddy Tate, one of his favorites) and other times it was just to chat or say "thanks" for playing something that - most likely - he never expected to hear on the radio. When he moved to Syracuse I really missed those calls.

Even though we never met "face-to-face" I felt like I knew him after all of those late-night phone conversations.

His passion, compassion, and eloquent writing will be missed.

R.I.P. Hayden Carruth

[medjuck]

B-)

Edited October 3, 2008 by medjuck

[AndrewHill]

I was curious if anyone has read Northern Sun, Southern Moon: Europe's Reinvention of Jazz. I picked it up at Half Price for cheap the other week and have plans of digging in it soon. Thoughts?

[clifford_thornton]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I didn't like it that much. Ambitious, but too many errors and some unfollowed-through ideas kinda ruined it for me.

Here's one: Bill Dixon's L'OPERA: A Collection of Letters, Writings, Musical Scores, Drawings, and Photographs (1967-1986), vol. I, is fantastic.

[Larry Kart]

I was curious if anyone has read Northern Sun, Southern Moon: Europe's Reinvention of Jazz. I picked it up at Half Price for cheap the other week and have plans of digging in it soon. Thoughts?

Bought my copy at the same place. So far it strikes me as near-unreadable b.s., and this comes from someone who likes much of the music the book extols. A near certain sign of a book's b.s. quotient BTW is when it cites, as this one does, other texts to support virtually everything the author says, and these texts -- while typically quite heterogeneous in authority, historical point of origin, cultural context, you name it -- are all given equal weight. Thus (say) Eduard Hanslick, Frank Kofsky, Paul Henry Lang, Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Ben Sidran might rest side by side. Revealing and amusing in its own small way is the citation of Hanslick's touchy response to the sound of Adolph Sax's saxophone; there Hanslick is identified solely as a "Czech-born, Viennese aesthetician." Clearly (or so it seems to me) the author doesn't really know who Hanslick was. To describe him that way is like describing Edmund Wilson as "a former Princeton University student who wrote about the U.S. Civil War."

[AndrewHill]

Thanks for the reviews CT and LK. Man, that's too bad, it seems that this would be a fascinating era to read about. Nonetheless, I will try to read it and at least give it a shot (love the dust jacket photo though; I'll keep it just for that).

CT: I will keep my eyes peeled for that Dixon book-now that sounds really interesting.

[clifford_thornton]

The Dixon book is rare as hen's teeth. He may still have a few and if I see him over the holidays like I plan to, I'll ask. He wanted to revise it but that seems like a lower priority than other projects.

The Heffley sucked. I was going to be nice, but Larry did an excellent job of telling the real story with that one. I don't think he was as knowledgeable about his subject or as good a writer as he thought he was...

[1009]

Also disappointed in the Heffley. Some weird factual errors, like claiming Jacques Thollot was a bassist (twice, if I recall correctly), & I believe crediting Schlippenbach for European Echoes (or at least including it in the discography under AvS' name). Can't say it was a waste of time as it did get me searching out a number of other texts & records, but in itself & for its own argument it's probably missable (meaning you won't miss it?).

Shit, I want that Dixon. Anyone want to dictate it for me? I type pretty fast.

[AndrewHill]

The Dixon book is rare as hen's teeth. He may still have a few and if I see him over the holidays like I plan to, I'll ask. He wanted to revise it but that seems like a lower priority than other projects.

I didn't realize its rarity, but that would be great if you can ask Bill about it and see if he'll consider revising and reissuing the book.

[blajay]

Somewhat off the actual topic, but also worth seeking out are those Esquire Books of Jazz ... The large-sized volume from 1962 (called ESQUIRE'S WORLD OF JAZZ), with the wonderful "tipped-in" illustrations (this is the original edition; there were later reprints), is particulary worthy of a place in any respectable jazz library.

Garth,

Houston.

I just received a first printing of this one in excellent condition from amazon marketplace for $20!! This has to be the most beautiful book I own. The tipped-in illustrations are radiant, and the rest of the book is just really well designed. :rsmile:

[Big Beat Steve]

With "tipped-in" I take it that you all mean "glued in" (along one side of the pic)?

Not that this would have struck me as anything that special; this technique was quite current in Europe in the 50s/early 60s when it came to using color pics in books.

That aside, this Esquire book is a nice one, though I admit I find the graphism not that striking. Somehow I am not a fan of the design of exactly those times.

But I guess beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

Speaking of beautiful (and huge-format) jazz books, has "Jazz in L.A." featuring the photographs of BOB WILLOUGHBY (published by Nieswand in the early 90s) been given adequate mention here yet?

[Quasimado]

SIDEMAN the autobiography of Billy Bauer (WH Bauer Inc) from 1997 would seem to be close to what you (Brownie) were looking for ... some really nice remembrances, observations and photos of BB with Herman, LT, Konitz, Bird etc.

example with Bird:

BB: Charlie, while I have you alone I wanted to ask you ... every time in Birdland you'd come in this Cadillac. You just get out and little Pee Wee Marquet would park it. How did it feel to be in that Cadillac?

CP: Well, BB Here's what it is. I go out of the house, get in the car, go to Birdland, get out of the car...

Q

[Niko]

I was curious if anyone has read Northern Sun, Southern Moon: Europe's Reinvention of Jazz. I picked it up at Half Price for cheap the other week and have plans of digging in it soon. Thoughts?

now that the thoughts have come in... is there an alternative book on the subject? say, a book that tells the real things about thollot (put differently, France 1965-1975 or so, is what interests me the most at present, but a broader scope is also appreciated...)

[umum_cypher]

Marla,

One is for sale on Amazon.com for $750

chan parker's book for $595.

disclaimer: i don't know the seller.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/offer-lis...4?condition=all

B-)

London users - a copy of this book has just this month been donated to the National Jazz Archive, which is held at Loughton Public Library.