John Szwed on Alan Lomax

[AllenLowe]

It's acutally pronounced Z-wed. John's an old friend, just talked to him last week.

and Alan - he's actually living in Philly now.

Edited April 3, 2014 by AllenLowe

[alankin]

Did he teach at Penn around 1980?

[AllenLowe]

possibly; that's where he graduated from. Major folklore program.

[alankin]

I think I had him for a teach in a class on jazz. I write one of the two papers I remember writing in college—it was an analysis Jelly Roll Morton's arrangement of one of his tunes. (The other paper was on Australopithecus.)

Edited April 3, 2014 by alankin

[Rooster_Ties]

His book on Miles is probably my favorite Miles bio. Partially for the material covered, but as much for how beautifully well-written it is. I haven't read it in years, but I'm tempted to dig it out again soon.

[JETman]

His book on Miles is probably my favorite Miles bio. Partially for the material covered, but as much for how beautifully well-written it is. I haven't read it in years, but I'm tempted to dig it out again soon.

Please check out what Paul Tingen has to say about THAT here (March 2014 news entry, last few paragraphs), and get a clue:

http://www.miles-beyond.com/news.htm

[AllenLowe]

I wouldn't believe that; there is NO documentation there of the alleged plagiarism, which is a pretty serious (and potentially libelous) charge; I know John pretty well, and that's also a very unfair characterization of his take on Miles; methinks Tingen may be jealous that Szwed got more attention. But until I see relative passages and proof of this I honestly don't believe it. And btw, look at Tingen's web site; you can't even determine his name from it; I searched and searched. Doesn't give me much faith in the detail of his work.

[JETman]

I wouldn't believe that; there is NO documentation there of the alleged plagiarism, which is a pretty serious (and potentially libelous) charge; I know John pretty well, and that's also a very unfair characterization of his take on Miles; methinks Tingen may be jealous that Szwed got more attention. But until I see relative passages and proof of this I honestly don't believe it. And btw, look at Tingen's web site; you can't even determine his name from it; I searched and searched. Doesn't give me much faith in the detail of his work.

Read his book. The guy has written what many consider to be the definitive tome on Miles' electric period. I have no reason to doubt him. He's English; they don't get jealous The post above was just another example of misplaced "hero worship" which has no place here, or anywhere for that matter. More in line with the "every note Cecil plays is magical" mentality

[AllenLowe]

I don't question that he's written a good book; my question is, what has Szwed copied? I've seen no examples.

[Steve Reynolds]

His book on Miles is probably my favorite Miles bio. Partially for the material covered, but as much for how beautifully well-written it is. I haven't read it in years, but I'm tempted to dig it out again soon.

I just finished it and it was very well written and the best book on Miles I've read. It inspired me to do much listening to Miles over the last few weeks.