Stanley Crouch Parker biography reviewed

[JSngry]

That's Joan Watson. Hell yeah.

[John L]

I hadn't read this thread is some time, but I independently ended up taking a similar approach to Jim S. I really wanted to like this book and went out of my way to buy it. I DO like parts of it. Other parts really drag, and Crouch's tendency to go off for pages on distant tangents of little relation to Bird can be annoying. After more than a month, I have also have not been able to finish it, but will keep plugging away every now and again.

[AllenLowe]

want a second copy? In case you accidentally set fire to the first?

[John L]

If I set fire to the first, it probably won't be an accident.

[Quasimado]

Enjoying it - looking forward to part 2 where the real action lies - and Stanley's take on that.

Q

[Larry Kart]

FWIW, I'll bet that part 2 never emerges -- given the amount of material involved, Stanley's approach in part 1, and the time it took him to write part 1.

[Dan Gould]

FWIW, I'll bet that part 2 never emerges -- given the amount of material involved, Stanley's approach in part 1, and the time it took him to write part 1.

Well I'd say that pointing this out here, now, is better than jumping in to the inevitable RIP thread with "hey, at least he never finished Volume 2 of his Bird book!"

[JSngry]

Finally finished. Overall, glad that I read it, although damn, that was a lot harder than it should have been. Great raw data about Bird, good intentions (sincerely, I believe that), just...not a good final product. Or perhaps more accurately, a lot more necessary of a writing than a successful one.

I anxiously await the white label remix.

[Brad]

I finally got around to reading the book and thought it was great; the digressions enlivened the book. It’s not a straight biography and once you recognize a lot of his extemporaneous riffing or talking you settle into the rhythm of the book. The parts about the Savoy Ballroom, Buster Smith and Biddy Fleet (especially Fleet) were very informative. As I said I enjoyed it. 

Edited May 3, 2024 by Brad

[Ken Dryden]

Crouch was always a crashing bore who wasn’t worth my time. I remember when he bulldozed his way into a Jazz Journalist Association Awards Show (he was not a member and once threw a punch at its president), where he spoke for a few minutes then played a very forgettable drum solo. Francis Davis had a few humorous remarks about it when he took the stage, but guest host Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster) stole the show when he commented, “I remember 52nd Street in the 1940s and Big Sid Catlett, now there was a real drummer!” The audience howled at this Crouch insult.

[AllenLowe]

I never could get through it though its value is in the people he interviewed; I would prefer to see the raw research instead of his weird and perverted comments about women who wet themselves in excitement while watching the music (as soon as I saw this somewhere in the text I closed the book). I really think he was a smart a-hole; he once also said that women who saw Miles spread their legs while they were watching him play. This is past disgusting to a level of rape ideation.

Edited May 3, 2024 by AllenLowe

[Dan Gould]

49 minutes ago, AllenLowe said:

; he once also said that women who saw Miles spread their legs while they were watching him play. This is past disgusting to a level of rape ideation.

First, I think I have read that is the most common sexual fantasy of women so ... but regardless I would say its a huge leap from spread legs to "rape ideation". 

Maybe Crouch took something that was said to him by one woman and he expanded from that small sample size?

[rostasi]

ummmm, I don't think watching Miles Davis
is the most common sexual fantasy of women.

[Dan Gould]

14 minutes ago, rostasi said:

ummmm, I don't think watching Miles Davis
is the most common sexual fantasy of women.

Rape is and that's obviously what I was referring to.

[rostasi]

Actually, I think watching Miles Davis rates higher than rape as a sexual fantasy.
In the normal world, I think it's having sex in either a romantic or unusual location,
but I'm not all that acquainted with the seedy lit that might say otherwise.

[Brad]

I’d say that some of these posts are getting strange but then most of this thread is. 

[AllenLowe]

5 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

First, I think I have read that is the most common sexual fantasy of women so ... but regardless I would say its a huge leap from spread legs to "rape ideation". 

Maybe Crouch took something that was said to him by one woman and he expanded from that small sample size?

I think it is rape ideation because it substitutes a male fantasy of women's submissiveness, as though they want it whether they know it or not.