Now reading...

[mjazzg]

1 hour ago, ejp626 said:

I think her single best novel is Song of Solomon, though in my case (as I am rereading most of her novels in an irregular fashion), I want to end on a high note, so I will finish with Song of Solomon.

Yes of course, 'Song of Solomon'

[ghost of miles]

New book about Chinatown:

[jlhoots]

Don Winslow has a new book coming out in April with 6 new novellas. I pre-ordered it.

[sonnyhill]

 

The Way We Live Now - Anthony Trollope

[jlhoots]

Sally Rooney: Normal People

[Brad]

Here’s an article about books that, as the author puts it, “evoke a sense of place so strong that they make me forget, momentarily, that it’s March and I’m inside. Some are new, some old, some longstanding favorites, and some I’ll be reading for the first time. May they take you somewhere, too.”

In This Moment of Solitude, Books Can Be Our Passports

[Dmitry]

It's time to brush up on my reading. Maybe I'll finally be able to  focus on one book at a time. 

[ghost of miles]

A little light reading as a diversion from the present crisis: 

[BillF]

On 3/20/2020 at 8:30 AM, sidewinder said:

Bill Birch’s ‘Keeper of the Flame’ book about modern jazz in Manchester 1946-72. Should keep me going until Xmas !

I notice the cover photo of Griffin at Club 43. If he only made one visit, then I was there! He also appeared at the Peel Hotel in Leeds, a pub with a jazz policy that hosted everyone from Tubby Hayes to Jimmy Witherspoon. On both occasions John (as he seemed to be called) chatted nicely at the bar during the intermission. My bassist friend Danny Padmore asked him what it was like playing with NHOP. "Man, he's great!" was the reply.

[soulpope]

[sidewinder]

4 hours ago, BillF said:

I notice the cover photo of Griffin at Club 43. If he only made one visit, then I was there! He also appeared at the Peel Hotel in Leeds, a pub with a jazz policy that hosted everyone from Tubby Hayes to Jimmy Witherspoon. On both occasions John (as he seemed to be called) chatted nicely at the bar during the intermission. My bassist friend Danny Padmore asked him what it was like playing with NHOP. "Man, he's great!" was the reply.

I always regret not going to J Griffin’s in person book signing at Ray’s Jazz about a year or so before he passed away. Alas, the challenges of train travel to London. I did get to see him in what I think was his last London performance at either RFH or Barbican. I think it was with Bobby Hutcherson - must check.

I saw Witherspoon in LA very late in his career, the year before he passed on. It was one of his final appearances I think - quite possibly his last public one.

Edited March 31, 2020 by sidewinder

[ejp626]

I was very fortunate to see Griffin in probably his last appearance in Chicago (he had decamped for France long before).  Look at this line-up! 

March 19, 2005: The Great Chicago Tenor Saxes, featuring Johnny Griffin, Ira Sullivan, Von Freeman, Franz Jackson and Eric Alexander

I think there were only one or two true tenor battles after the intermission, but Griffin snuck on-stage during another number (maybe a piano trio piece?) and was enthusiastically added to mix.

I don't think it was officially recorded but maybe it will surface one day...

[BillF]

8 hours ago, BillF said:

I notice the cover photo of Griffin at Club 43. If he only made one visit, then I was there! He also appeared at the Peel Hotel in Leeds, a pub with a jazz policy that hosted everyone from Tubby Hayes to Jimmy Witherspoon. On both occasions John (as he seemed to be called) chatted nicely at the bar during the intermission. My bassist friend Danny Padmore asked him what it was like playing with NHOP. "Man, he's great!" was the reply.

I should add that NHOP was a recent discovery at the time.

[Dave James]

On 3/22/2020 at 10:34 AM, ghost of miles said:

New book about Chinatown:

Gotta get this.  It's far and away my all-time favorite film.  

[Simon8]

On 21/03/2020 at 11:13 AM, Brad said:

Starting on this:

 

[jlhoots]

James McBride: Deacon King Kong

[Bright Moments]

The Gentleman from Moscow

[Brad]

[ghost of miles]

Just finished the first (an intriguing look at crime and political corruption in 1920s/early 30s Los Angeles) and am halfway through the second (which is a 2020 reprint of the 1977 edition, with a new foreword by Gornick):

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by ghost of miles

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, ghost of miles said:

Just finished the first (an intriguing look at crime and political corruption in 1920s/early 30s Los Angeles) and am halfway through the second (which is a 2020 reprint of the 1977 edition, with a new foreword by Gornick):

 

[ghost of miles]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

 

 

 

[JSngry]

2 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

 

 

 

[jazzbo]

Speculative ancient history. I find this stuff fun to read and think about.

[ejp626]

On 2020-03-20 at 7:07 PM, Brad said:

I finished reading Home but found it a bit unsatisfying. It seemed to build a crescendo and then dissipates. One reviewer said it seemed that Morrison got bored with it and brought it to a swift conclusion. 

I'll be wrapping this up today (as it is when the e-book goes back to the library!).  I sort of see what's she's going for here (a bit of an inversion of the Odyssey but about a man who had no intention of returning home except for the bond with his sister), so I assume that as soon as he gets home the quest is over.  I do think her Korean war scenes are a bit over-the-top, and most of the characterizations are wafer-thin.  For sure not her best work...

[ejp626]

While it is quite good, I have stalled a bit on Camus's The Plague, but I'll likely finish it this week.

In other thematic reading, I have been dipping into Xavier de Maistre's Voyage Around My Room and A Nocturnal Expedition 'Round My Room.  My library doesn't have these, but the original translations are out of copyright and can be easily found on the internet.

After all this, it will be Kundera's The Incredible Lightness of Being, which I've never actually read (or seen the movie for that matter).

Edited April 12, 2020 by ejp626