Which jazz book are you reading right now?

[Bluesnik]

47 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

Speaking of Aja ... I was 9 years old when it came out 1977. 

I was 14, and I'm aware of it, but I have started to listen more accurately to it in the 10 last years. So I knew it but have come to fully appreciate it later. And it's great!

I'm rereading that book, that was my favorite book for a long time when I was younger. From Alberf Camus. And it's a very old edition (like from the 50s), which I think belonged to my mother.

Edited August 4, 2021 by Bluesnik

[Gheorghe]

10 hours ago, Bluesnik said:

I was 14, and I'm aware of it, but I have started to listen more accurately to it in the 10 last years. So I knew it but have come to fully appreciate it later. And it's great!

I'm rereading that book, that was my favorite book for a long time when I was younger. From Alberf Camus. And it's a very old edition (like from the 50s), which I think belonged to my mother.

Yeah,those ro ro ro books then. I had lot of them, they were cheap and good stuff to read. 
Yeah, Albert Camus also was a favourite of mine, especially when I was 17,18 or so. 

[ghost of miles]

[JSngry]

36 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

Started that one as well, earlier this week. I have some quibbles with the style of writin, some things are a little broadly/overly generally stated, but I've accepted that and am happily moving ahead. This is a history from inside my own time-span, told with just enough chronological distance to aim at history instead of fanbook, although...there's still that in there on occasion. Still better that than somebody doing it academically 50 years from now and missing the point(s) entirely.

[Gheorghe]

A very good book about Jackie McLeans recordings, very interesting thoughts. Really for musicians.

[sidewinder]

23 minutes ago, Gheorghe said:

A very good book about Jackie McLeans recordings, very interesting thoughts. Really for musicians.

Really? I found it disappointing, didn’t tell me much which was new.

[Gheorghe]

18 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Really? I found it disappointing, didn’t tell me much which was new.

Well, I also could not say there might be much which is new to me, but it´s a nice chronological thing about all his musical activities and recordings from the beginning until his late career. Not, that I wouldn´t know the records or other things, but it is easy reading before goin to sleep. I read a few lines and don´t have to count sheeps 

Like let´s say Carl Smith´s "All recordings of Bud Powell", also a chronological thing.

What I miss, and maybe never saw, would be something more personal, maybe some photos of his private live, his wife, his children, and I never knew what was the cause of his death. He was 74 and had a fantastic creative life and his education thing on Hartt, but I would have hoped he would have lived some more years. 

[sidewinder]

Yes, I thought the book lacked additional insight. To me, it seemed to be almost a compilation of facts that could be obtained from reading old record sleeves. Will need to take another look at it and maybe I’ll change my mind a bit !

[Gheorghe]

23 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Yes, I thought the book lacked additional insight. To me, it seemed to be almost a compilation of facts that could be obtained from reading old record sleeves. Will need to take another look at it and maybe I’ll change my mind a bit !

He writes, that Jackie McLean was working on his autobiography but then he died (never knew the causes), and that he was in contact with McLeans wife Dolly, who stated that she will complete the book, eventually with the help of family members. 

I hope there is something goin on in that direction, since I´m sure a lot of fans all over the world would buy it. 

[Lazaro Vega]

Steve Lacy (Unfinished)

[Bluesnik]

I am really enjoying this book. Had it for a long time (many, many years), but only got around to reading it now. It's interesting for how it depicts the jazz scene in LA in the 40s. And Granz' upcoming as a jew. And it's also interesting how it describes how the musicians he would champion in later years first introduced him to the jazz scene in the beginning igniting a passion that would remain for the rest of his life. People like Roy Eldridge, Lester Young or Nat Cole. They were his friends.

[BillF]

2 hours ago, Bluesnik said:

I am really enjoying this book. Had it for a long time (many, many years), but only got around to reading it now. It's interesting for how it depicts the jazz scene in LA in the 40s. And Granz' upcoming as a jew. And it's also interesting how it describes how the musicians he would champion in later years first introduced him to the jazz scene in the beginning igniting a passion that would remain for the rest of his life. People like Roy Eldridge, Lester Young or Nat Cole. They were his friends.

Yes, one of the better jazz biographies I've read. Thoroughly researched IIRC. 

[relyles]

On 8/31/2021 at 2:13 PM, Lazaro Vega said:

Steve Lacy (Unfinished)

I just received this in the mail yesterday.

[Peter Friedman]

Just finished reading this book. It is set in the early 1900's in New Orleans.  It is a murder mystery focused on the killing of 4 Jass musicians. Jelly Roll Morton turns up in the story a number of times. I very much enjoyed this book, and intend to read further books by this author.

[Big Beat Steve]

On 18.10.2021 at 7:26 PM, BillF said:

Yes, one of the better jazz biographies I've read. Thoroughly researched IIRC. 

And this despite the fact that (according to the foreword and apparently to the regret/dismay of the author and fellow researchers) Granz seems to have made a point of destroying HUGE amounts of personal/business-related documents and papers in his later years and before his death so that definitely no one else would ever get to see them ...

I took this book along as holiday reading matter a couple of years ago but only got about 40% into the book until the end of our holidays and when we returned I filed it away and forgot to continue. Time to remedy this now after it has been brought up here, I guess ...

[jlhoots]

On 10/21/2021 at 3:32 PM, Peter Friedman said:

Just finished reading this book. It is set in the early 1900's in New Orleans.  It is a murder mystery focused on the killing of 4 Jass musicians. Jelly Roll Morton turns up in the story a number of times. I very much enjoyed this book, and intend to read further books by this author.

They're all good. Wish he'd do a new one.

[jlhoots]

12 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

They're all good. Wish he'd do a new one.

Hold it. There is a 7th one I didn't know had been released. The Day Ends At Dawn - apparently the last in the series. I'm getting it immediately. Love how he incorporates Buddy Bolden into the stories. St. Cyr is also a great detective character.

[mjazzg]

23 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

Hold it. There is a 7th one I didn't know had been released. The Day Ends At Dawn - apparently the last in the series. I'm getting it immediately. Love how he incorporates Buddy Bolden into the stories. St. Cyr is also a great detective character.

Are they independent of each other, just sharing the same lead character, or sequential?

[jlhoots]

42 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

Are they independent of each other, just sharing the same lead character, or sequential?

You can read them independently, but I read them in order. I believe it helps especially to follow the St. Cyr "arc". OTOH, each one has a separate new storyline.

[Big Beat Steve]

37 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

Hold it. There is a 7th one I didn't know had been released. The Day Ends At Dawn - apparently the last in the series. I'm getting it immediately. Love how he incorporates Buddy Bolden into the stories. St. Cyr is also a great detective character.

Complementary to "Tiger Rag" by Nicholas Christopher? Not a mystery/detective story but a very interesting plot that shows just what MIGHT have happened to the Buddy Bolden cylinder. And as we'll never know for sure  ...

[jlhoots]

Just now, Big Beat Steve said:

Complementary to "Tiger Rag" by Nicholas Christopher? Not a mystery/detective story but a very interesting plot that shows just what MIGHT have happened to the Buddy Bolden cylinder. And as we'll never know for sure  ...

Not familiar with the Christopher.

[Big Beat Steve]

No everlasting work of high art in fiction but it will trigger your imagination ... and jazz buffs who know their music's history will find the portrayal of Bunk Johnson rather amusing ...

[mjazzg]

On 23/10/2021 at 5:41 PM, jlhoots said:

You can read them independently, but I read them in order. I believe it helps especially to follow the St. Cyr "arc". OTOH, each one has a separate new storyline.

OK, thanks

[HutchFan]

On 8/8/2021 at 4:06 PM, ghost of miles said:

Just received this book in the mail yesterday, and I read it until late in the night.  

Enjoying it very much. 

 

[Tom 1960]

Getting through this at a snails pace but that's just me. I do love the book.