Peter Pullman-- Bud Powell Biography

[AllenLowe]

Bill was a character - and to my money, when at his peak, in the '50s, one of the two or three best bop pianists of the era.

Edited February 20, 2012 by AllenLowe

[Face of the Bass]

Well, I already have a Kindle so I got the book and started reading it yesterday. I'm only one chapter in but I think it's going to be good. I also think (and no disrespect intended) the book could have used some heavier editorial intervention. There are some sections that are really not necessary at all to the narrative, some clunky sentence constructions, and his insistence on using neologisms like "afram" and "euram" to refer to blacks and whites is distracting.

That said, I expect this to be a good book, if a bit long.

[Fer Urbina]

It's also available from Barnes & Noble (for Nook reader).

F

[Gheorghe]

I also got a mail yesterday that the book is finished.

I must admit, until I heard about the book as being released as a kindle, I didn´t even know what kindle is.

I also must admit I like to read a book in the traditional manner, the way I read since I can read. But I´m such a big fan of Bud I got to get this.

Since my knowledge of all that "modern stuff" incl. "kindle" is zero, I got to get an advice how to do it, how to order, how to use it, anything. I´m lazy learning new technologies, but I´ll manage it with the help of someone I know. But as I said, if it´s for Bud.... I´d do anything....

[Pete C]

I'd be afraid of dropping a Kindle in the toilet and thus lose my library.

Your Kindle may be in the toilet, but your library is in the cloud.

[Pete C]

I also got a mail yesterday that the book is finished.

I must admit, until I heard about the book as being released as a kindle, I didn´t even know what kindle is.

I also must admit I like to read a book in the traditional manner, the way I read since I can read. But I´m such a big fan of Bud I got to get this.

Since my knowledge of all that "modern stuff" incl. "kindle" is zero, I got to get an advice how to do it, how to order, how to use it, anything. I´m lazy learning new technologies, but I´ll manage it with the help of someone I know. But as I said, if it´s for Bud.... I´d do anything....

As has been mentioned above, you can download a free app for whatever device you want to use (e.g., tablet, computer, phone). Here's the link to the book from both Amazon and Amazon.de. Both have links on the right side to download the free reader app.

http://www.amazon.com/Wail-Life-Bud-Powell-ebook/dp/B0079NR9IC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1329863417&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.de/Wail-Life-Bud-Powell-ebook/dp/B0079NR9IC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329863247&sr=1-1

So if you have an Amazon account, the app will link to any e-books you buy, as well as public domain works that are free through Amazon and Project Gutenberg.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Pete C

[Pete C]

I suppose it's on a Kindle only so the publisher can save on costs.

Especially considering the publisher:

Publisher: Peter Pullman, LLC; 1 edition (February 14, 2012)

Agreed, Brownie... and I should hasten to add that I truly don't mean to "attack" Francois Paudras. He did much to help Bud, obviously. I'd like to see the French edition of that book some day--I've heard a lot about it.

One thing that struck me about the English edition I did read is how many of the incidents in Round Midnight were paralleled in the book.

[Gheorghe]

I also got a mail yesterday that the book is finished.

I must admit, until I heard about the book as being released as a kindle, I didn´t even know what kindle is.

I also must admit I like to read a book in the traditional manner, the way I read since I can read. But I´m such a big fan of Bud I got to get this.

Since my knowledge of all that "modern stuff" incl. "kindle" is zero, I got to get an advice how to do it, how to order, how to use it, anything. I´m lazy learning new technologies, but I´ll manage it with the help of someone I know. But as I said, if it´s for Bud.... I´d do anything....

As has been mentioned above, you can download a free app for whatever device you want to use (e.g., tablet, computer, phone). Here's the link to the book from both Amazon and Amazon.de. Both have links on the right side to download the free reader app.

http://www.amazon.com/Wail-Life-Bud-Powell-ebook/dp/B0079NR9IC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1329863417&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.de/Wail-Life-Bud-Powell-ebook/dp/B0079NR9IC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329863247&sr=1-1

So if you have an Amazon account, the app will link to any e-books you buy, as well as public domain works that are free through Amazon and Project Gutenberg.

Thanks Pete!

actually I knew the amazon link, I got an amazon account since I purchase my CDs, books and DVDs from amazon which I do since we don´t have record stores anymore, about since 1999 or so. Actually , I was aware about that forthcoming "kindle" book about Bud and I had a look at amazon every day to see if it´s finally published.

Well, the other things, "download a free app" etc. it´s all greek to me, but I got somebody who will check it for me. I just purchase the stuff and he will fix it for me so I can finally read it...

What can I do? All I know is the music, that´s the important thing....

[Pete C]

Pretty good book, but I find his politically correct neologisms re: race rather annoying, and always breaks the flow of any sentence. No commercial or university press would have accepted his coinages "afram" and "euram", and every time he uses the word race or color it's preceded by "so-called." He should be trying to write the best book about Powell, not trying to change common usage, IMO.

[Larry Kart]

Pretty good book, but I find his politically correct neologisms re: race rather annoying, and always breaks the flow of any sentence. No commercial or university press would have accepted his coinages "afram" and "euram", and every time he uses the word race or color it's preceded by "so-called." He should be trying to write the best book about Powell, not trying to change common usage, IMO.

The refusal of the university press he had a contract with to accept those coinages was among the chief reasons he left them and decided to publish to book himself. Pullman would say (indeed, IIRC, has said) that his desire to change common usage (or at least make it clear where he himself stands politically on this topic) was essential to the whole project. He does, after all, again IIRC, see prevailing racial assumptions-attitudes, etc. impinging directly and perniciously on Powell's life throughout, and no doubt feels that it would be morally wrong for him to step back from the present-day consequences-implications of that view, as though that socio-political "story" effectively ended with Powell's death. Rather, he wants to make those connections to the present unavoidable.

[Pete C]

Well, I think he shot himself in the foot then, by passing on the university press. I'm sure he could have gotten his concerns in the introduction. He's also deluded if he thinks his humble effort will have any effect on common usage.

In addition, it's a bad move vis a vis jazz scholarship, as he would have had plenty of university library sales of a physical book.

Edited February 29, 2012 by Pete C

[Face of the Bass]

Pretty good book, but I find his politically correct neologisms re: race rather annoying, and always breaks the flow of any sentence. No commercial or university press would have accepted his coinages "afram" and "euram", and every time he uses the word race or color it's preceded by "so-called." He should be trying to write the best book about Powell, not trying to change common usage, IMO.

The refusal of the university press he had a contract with to accept those coinages was among the chief reasons he left them and decided to publish to book himself. Pullman would say (indeed, IIRC, has said) that his desire to change common usage (or at least make it clear where he himself stands politically on this topic) was essential to the whole project. He does, after all, again IIRC, see prevailing racial assumptions-attitudes, etc. impinging directly and perniciously on Powell's life throughout, and no doubt feels that it would be morally wrong for him to step back from the present-day consequences-implications of that view, as though that socio-political "story" effectively ended with Powell's death. Rather, he wants to make those connections to the present unavoidable.

Yeah, that was a disastrous error, I'd say. When reading, all the use of afram or euram does is require me to make the necessary substitution. It's a bit like saying "the n-word" instead of "nigger," as Louis C.K. has pointed out in a brilliant sketch.

[JSngry]

When reading, all the use of afram or euram does is require me to make the necessary substitution. It's a bit like saying "the n-word" instead of "nigger," as Louis C.K. has pointed out in a brilliant sketch.

Not exactly...that's a word that I heard used casually, used without a second thought, multiple times daily when I was growing up... I know what the word sounds like coming out of different minds' mouths, I recognze it's intent(s), I know the toxicity it brings with it nd the crippled minds that the whole concept of the word creates,

My kids "know of" the word a helluva lot more than they actually know it. As far as I know, they've heard it come out of Black mouths far more than Whites' and they know it to be either a bad word from the past, or a casual "inside" cultural thing. If using "the n-word" has gotten us to that point, hey, I'm fine with it.

There's different ways to know a word...

[MomsMobley]

I'm STRONGLY against the use of anachronistic terminology in historical narrative; it only confuses things further. you start calling everyone "African-American" or whatever BEFORE such a term existed and it obscures the gradients of written (or reported oral) language and their myriad meanings implied by each usage. This is especially telling in mid-to-late 19th century (i.e. antebellum rumblings to post-Reconstruction withdrawals) but the idea is the same any time. thus it is VERY interesting-- and telling-- to know who at what time and from what source is "negro," "colored" or "black." Pullman's momomania might have its virtues-- I dunno-- but he prob should have read a lot more Douglass, Chesnutt, DuBois, Quarles, John Hope Franklin, Baldwin etc before pretending to be a philosopher of language too.

p/s: "Ethiopian delineators"

Pretty good book, but I find his politically correct neologisms re: race rather annoying, and always breaks the flow of any sentence. No commercial or university press would have accepted his coinages "afram" and "euram", and every time he uses the word race or color it's preceded by "so-called." He should be trying to write the best book about Powell, not trying to change common usage, IMO.

The refusal of the university press he had a contract with to accept those coinages was among the chief reasons he left them and decided to publish to book himself. Pullman would say (indeed, IIRC, has said) that his desire to change common usage (or at least make it clear where he himself stands politically on this topic) was essential to the whole project. He does, after all, again IIRC, see prevailing racial assumptions-attitudes, etc. impinging directly and perniciously on Powell's life throughout, and no doubt feels that it would be morally wrong for him to step back from the present-day consequences-implications of that view, as though that socio-political "story" effectively ended with Powell's death. Rather, he wants to make those connections to the present unavoidable.

Edited March 1, 2012 by MomsMobley

[Brad]

Some very good points by MM as we start interpreting or judging history through 21st century standards.

[Face of the Bass]

I'm STRONGLY against the use of anachronistic terminology in historical narrative; it only confuses things further. you start calling everyone "African-American" or whatever BEFORE such a term existed and it obscures the gradients of written (or reported oral) language and their myriad meanings implied by each usage. This is especially telling in mid-to-late 19th century (i.e. antebellum rumblings to post-Reconstruction withdrawals) but the idea is the same any time. thus it is VERY interesting-- and telling-- to know who at what time and from what source is "negro," "colored" or "black." Pullman's momomania might have its virtues-- I dunno-- but he prob should have read a lot more Douglass, Chesnutt, DuBois, Quarles, John Hope Franklin, Baldwin etc before pretending to be a philosopher of language too.

So does that mean that, for instance, when describing the Khoikhoi people of Southern Africa we should call them "Hottentots" when referring to the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries? Language is about power, most precisely the power to define. If we were to follow your proposed rule then we would have to define subjugated peoples by the words picked by the people that were oppressing them.

[AllenLowe]

no, just by terminology that was current - does not have to denigrate.

[king ubu]

But no matter how much we try, we won't be able to reproduce terminology of a by-gone era nowadays... I mean I would have issues if quotes got mis-treated by fitting them into current terminology or if old books would be adapted.

But I really do think Pullman is entitled to use the terminology he wants to for his own narration.

[Pete C]

It's a subject fraught with risks, but I don't think Pullman's solution advances anything, it just supplies substitute terminology for the same constructs and in a way, by being so obtrusive, just brings more attention to those constructs by making a big thing of it. But I don't think we want to go back to many "once accepted" terms, be it regarding race or medical conditions and birth defects. Even if they were once commonly used, I don't think we'd want to refer to people as Mongoloids, spastics, cretins, imbeciles, etc.

One thing that has always bothered me was the need for some writers to describe the relative skin tone of African Americans when it really does nothing to advance the narrative, things like, "He was a handsome man with a cafe au lait complexion." (Not a real example, but I've seen lots of similar descriptions).

[AllenLowe]

I like "high yaller" myself -

[JSngry]

One thing that has always bothered me was the need for some writers to describe the relative skin tone of African Americans when it really does nothing to advance the narrative, things like, "He was a handsome man with a cafe au lait complexion." (Not a real example, but I've seen lots of similar descriptions).

In January of 1982, I was working with a "hotel show band" with a husband & wife duo as front people. These guys had a very, very diverse ancestry, but their cosmetic appearance could best be described (for those who had that need) as "light-skinned black". They had been touring for years and wanted to settle in Vegas. So they hired a publicist, got fancyass photos, hired a choreographer, did all the showcases, etc.

Well, lo and behold, their first writeup in the local Vegas entertainment press described them as "That Sensational Sepia Duo"...I was like,,,ok...this is enough of this for me, where am I, the Cotton Club? and left the band about a month later.

People just need to realize that this country, its institutions, its collective attitudes, you name, were built for the advancement and convenience of "white" people, sometimes quite deliberately, sometimes inadvertently, sometimes innocently, sometimes malevolently, but the America societal dynamic has always worked on the premise that "white" is the default, and everything else works through, around, with, against that (with jazz, though, it's been the opposite, the default has been "black" and everything else works through, around, with, against that - at least as much as "white" will allow for..."white" does enjoy its indulgences that its powers allows it the luxury of).

That's the history, those have been the numbers, and unless and until a change in the numbers meets up with a change in the control of the societal/economic mechanics, that will be the future as well.

Which is just to say, "language games" such as these under discussion here...I understand the motives (usually, I think), but they're an implicit admission of "weaker position" in the power structure, and attacking power from weakness might be fun, but the results are pretty much always what you'd expect.

Edited March 1, 2012 by JSngry

[Dan Gould]

Its unbelievably asinine to believe that he can somehow change the language into something he's coined.

Its unbelievably asinine raised to the 100th power to walk away from a U-press contract over it.

IMHO of course.

[Brad]

Its unbelievably asinine raised to the 100th power to walk away from a U-press contract over it.

IMHO of course.

I agree. That's just exalting principles or whatever a bit too far.

[Larry Kart]

Its unbelievably asinine to believe that he can somehow change the language into something he's coined.

Its unbelievably asinine raised to the 100th power to walk away from a U-press contract over it.

IMHO of course.

That wasn't the only reason.

[Face of the Bass]

It's a subject fraught with risks, but I don't think Pullman's solution advances anything, it just supplies substitute terminology for the same constructs and in a way, by being so obtrusive, just brings more attention to those constructs by making a big thing of it. But I don't think we want to go back to many "once accepted" terms, be it regarding race or medical conditions and birth defects. Even if they were once commonly used, I don't think we'd want to refer to people as Mongoloids, spastics, cretins, imbeciles, etc.

One thing that has always bothered me was the need for some writers to describe the relative skin tone of African Americans when it really does nothing to advance the narrative, things like, "He was a handsome man with a cafe au lait complexion." (Not a real example, but I've seen lots of similar descriptions).

Exactly, saying Euram and Afram doesn't change anything...it's just putting different labels on the exact same categories. It does nothing to challenge the categories themselves.