New Blue Note Label Book On The Way (Apparently)

[sidewinder]

Just spotted this event coming up at this week's Cheltenham Jazz Festival..

http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/jazz/whats-on/2014/75-years-of-blue-note/

The book is up for pre-order on Amazon too (due out in October). Will be looking forward to this as I've enjoyed the Verve volume/tome that he previously put out.

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Note-Years-Finest-Jazz/dp/1452141444/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398708636&sr=1-1&keywords=Richard+Havers+Blue+Note

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I bet the 75 celebrated recordings run out well before 2014

MG

[fasstrack]

About time.

Forgive a silly question, but: Is there anything out on the label other than photo complitations?

[Big Beat Steve]

I am not familar with the Verve book but am wondering if this BN book maybe has conceptual similarities with Richard Havers' books publiashed by Cmopendium a couple of years ago:

- Jazz - The Golden Era (mostly 40s, swing and bop)

and

- The Golden Age of Rock'n'Roll (50s, of course)

Both are nicely done, include lots of photos, record cover and label shots and "ephemera" too but, honestly, their written contents, while well done, are more of the "introduction for starters" type and therefore not essential to long-standing collectors and fans of the music, so if you come across these books at cut-price bookstores, then, fine ...

I do suppose Richard Havers will have gone far, far beyond this level with the BN tome.

@fasstrack:

If you can read Japanese , check out the book listed at the end of the sources mentioned on this site (The Complete Blue Note Book ed. by Toyoki Okajima):

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BluenoteLabel.html

It's useful as a source book for the record details but the narrative unfortunately is in Japanese almost completely throughout.

Edited April 28, 2014 by Big Beat Steve

[fasstrack]

@fasstrack:

If you can read Japanese , check out the book listed at the end of the sources mentioned on this site (The Complete Blue Note Book ed. by Toyoki Okajima):

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/BluenoteLabel.html

It's useful as a source book for the record details but the narrative unfortunately is in Japanese almost completely throughout.

Unfortunately I don't read Japanese. A shame, since it's a beautiful, pictorial language in print.

I'm truly amazed, though, that there's no full-length book in English on this 75-year-old entity.

[jazzbo]

There's this:

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Note-Records-Richard-Cook/dp/1932112278/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398713675&sr=1-1&keywords=Blue+Note+Cook

Not in print, but not hard to find. Not the greatest book, but not too bad. I have a copy because my interview with Cuscuna is referenced a few times.

[Big Beat Steve]

There's this:

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Note-Records-Richard-Cook/dp/1932112278/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398713675&sr=1-1&keywords=Blue+Note+Cook

Not in print, but not hard to find. Not the greatest book, but not too bad. I have a copy because my interview with Cuscuna is referenced a few times.

The compiler of the info in that link I provided above more or less tears this book to shreds in his brief asessment.

Could it be that Richard Cook did that much worse there than with his "Jazz Encyclopedia", for example?

[jazzbo]

It's not the best, nor the worst book. Sometimes people tear things to shreds for personal reasons, jealousy perhaps.

[fasstrack]

Somehow you guys aren't tempting me

[clifford_thornton]

I wasn't that into the book, though not for reasons of jealousy.

[Homefromtheforest]

Agreed I bought Richard cooks book upon release...it was "okay".

[ghost of miles]

Wasn't Ashley Kahn supposed to be putting out a book about Blue Note? Any word on whatever happened to that?

[clifford_thornton]

"The House That Trane Didn't Build"

[colinmce]

I like Richard Cook so much, but his Blue Note book was a huge dud IMO. Literally nothing that couldn't be gleaned from reading Blumenthal's RVG essays and the like. It really read like he wrote it from memory.

Seems to be Kahn's M.O. too ...

[jazzbo]

Well, that's not literally true because he referenced my interview with Michael Cuscuna twice and that was information that had not been out before at all easy to find, and not avaiable from "Blumenthal and the like" --and I believe there were a few other instances where there was information not often or easily accessed in Cook's book. But you're right in that there was little to no original research and it didn't offer much to a connoisseur of the label. I do think it serves well for a neophyte.

Edited April 28, 2014 by jazzbo

[jlhoots]

I'll try to be optimistic re: this new book.

BTW, looks "pricey".

[sidewinder]

Wasn't Ashley Kahn supposed to be putting out a book about Blue Note? Any word on whatever happened to that?

My first reaction when I saw that this book was coming out was that maybe Ashley Kahn's book has been 'pulled' to make way for this one (with its official-looking '75 Years' sticker on the front).

I thought the Richard Cook book was, on the whole, disappointing but still a fairly enjoyable read. Somewhat cursory in terms of its level of coverage. The photos seemed almost like an afterthought too.

Edited April 29, 2014 by sidewinder

[JohnS]

I like Richard Cook so much, but his Blue Note book was a huge dud IMO. Literally nothing that couldn't be gleaned from reading Blumenthal's RVG essays and the like. It really read like he wrote it from memory.

My view too, nothing new or couldn't be gleaned from liner notes etc.

[king ubu]

Well ... uhm, okay ... but are Ashley Kahn's books much better? I only really read the one on KoB (and parts and bits of the others) and didn't think it was much more than a - well-written - compilation of all previous knowledge about the sessions (and the ones leading up to them) and the album. Not a bad book at all, mind me, but still ... not sure what people expect to read or get to know on subjects that have been treated many a time ... I'd surely expect no revelations from any book on Blue Note (unless it was a bit more creative and invented some crap that would then be revealed a hoax )

[Jim R]

"The roster of greats who cut indelible sides for the label include Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Bud Powell, Norah Jones, and many more."

[RiRiIII]

Wasn't Ashley Kahn supposed to be putting out a book about Blue Note? Any word on whatever happened to that?

Sure:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0670020664/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE