Which jazz book are you reading right now?

[ghost of miles]

Revisiting some chapters in this book for an upcoming Night Lights show. Excellent work, if you haven’t already read it and are interested in the topic. Gioia spoke with quite a few musicians who are now gone.

[BillF]

9 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Revisiting some chapters in this book for an upcoming Night Lights show. Excellent work, if you haven’t already read it and are interested in the topic. Gioia spoke with quite a few musicians who are now gone.

Yes a good one. Been on my bookshelf for many years alongside this:

[gmonahan]

[Gheorghe]

On 3.5.2020 at 6:05 PM, gmonahan said:

This is one of the greatests jazz bios I´ve read. Really good with all the tunes and Analysis of Fats´ solos, and much About his live that I didn´t know. I love everything Fats did, he is a true master, his solos are so great, so perfect, he never played a bad note…..

[EKE BBB]

Revisiting

In parallel with

Edited May 5, 2020 by EKE BBB

[Big Beat Steve]

2 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

This is one of the greatests jazz bios I´ve read. Really good with all the tunes and Analysis of Fats´ solos, and much About his live that I didn´t know. I love everything Fats did, he is a true master, his solos are so great, so perfect, he never played a bad note…..

Hee heee .. the musician speaks ...

I bought the book when it came out (though Scarecrow Press usually frightens you off price-wise) but I found the musical analysis sections really heavy stuff for a non-musician and not easy to digest ... So this is one book where I have skipped quite a bit so far, partly because so far I just never got around to REALLY sit down for lengthier times to take in the recordings with the book in hand, following up all the writings note for note (though OTOH that Fats Navarro CD in my car is one of my favorite musics there, not least of all because of the perfect blend with Tadd Dameron's writing).

[gmonahan]

9 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

This is one of the greatests jazz bios I´ve read. Really good with all the tunes and Analysis of Fats´ solos, and much About his live that I didn´t know. I love everything Fats did, he is a true master, his solos are so great, so perfect, he never played a bad note…..

I've liked it so far Gheorghe. It's deeply researched, contrasts various accounts in tracing his life, and I like the fact that the musical analysis of each period is separated from the relevant biographical chapters. And, of course, one look at the photo on my profile will tell you what I think of Fats Navarro!!

 

 

 

gregmo

[Peter Friedman]

I just started reading the novel - Tiger Rag - by Nicholas Christopher.

This book combines the early jazz history surrounding trumpet player Buddy Bolden and his long lost recording cylinder, and the search for that cylinder  over 100 years later.

Thus far I am finding this novel extremely interesting.

I forgot to include this in my previous post.

[Bluesnik]

10 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

OTOH that Fats Navarro CD in my car is one of my favorite musics there, not least of all because of the perfect blend with Tadd Dameron's writing).

Do you mean that CD?

I also have it and it's absolutely brilliant.

[Big Beat Steve]

10 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

I just started reading the novel - Tiger Rag - by Nicholas Christopher.

This book combines the early jazz history surrounding trumpet player Buddy Bolden and his long lost recording cylinder, and the search for that cylinder  over 100 years later.

Thus far I am finding this novel extremely interesting.

I forgot to include this in my previous post.

I read that last winter and found it very interesting too. It's all fictional, of course, but there are enough actual facts and characters woven into the plot to make it a story that COULD have happened that way.

[Big Beat Steve]

10 hours ago, Bluesnik said:

Do you mean that CD?

I also have it and it's absolutely brilliant.

Your pic doesn not show up here but it would be a coincidence if it was the same. It's just a compilation reissue on the cheapie Italian Giants of Jazz label mostly made up of recordings featuring Navarro for Blue Note, Savoy, Prestige and Dial (all of which - and more - I already have on vinyl). The kind of compilation you buy cheaply at record sales for "minor uses" such as in-car listening. Great music anyway.

[Gheorghe]

13 hours ago, gmonahan said:

I've liked it so far Gheorghe. It's deeply researched, contrasts various accounts in tracing his life, and I like the fact that the musical analysis of each period is separated from the relevant biographical chapters. And, of course, one look at the photo on my profile will tell you what I think of Fats Navarro!!

 

 

 

gregmo

One Thing I really "learned" from Fats Navarro is the way he goes from the second A section of a song into the Bridge, so that´s this transitions from the A-Part into the Bridge were he really Plays. Before I noticed this, I was not pleased with my own playing, too many "holes" between the sections of the song structure, so when I started to Play more , Fats´ style helped me to make it Sound more "Pretty", not so stiff collared. 

I noticed the same Thing when I listened to Al Haig. When he first played on 52nd streed in 45, he still sounded "stiff", but listen to how he Plays a few years later, I think Fats was an influence for lot of musicians who Play other Instruments......

21 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Hee heee .. the musician speaks ...

I bought the book when it came out (though Scarecrow Press usually frightens you off price-wise) but I found the musical analysis sections really heavy stuff for a non-musician and not easy to digest ... So this is one book where I have skipped quite a bit so far, partly because so far I just never got around to REALLY sit down for lengthier times to take in the recordings with the book in hand, following up all the writings note for note (though OTOH that Fats Navarro CD in my car is one of my favorite musics there, not least of all because of the perfect blend with Tadd Dameron's writing).

yes you are Right. But what helped me a lot was that I allready knew Fats Music and could "hum" quite a few of his solos . There´s Always a lot of Melody in them, they are sheer Beauty, and so they are easy to remember, at least for me, and so when i read the Analysis I already knew the tune, the solo.....

[BillF]

Scarecrow Press is appropriately named. Don't know about the crows, but their prices certainly scare me! 

[Bluesnik]

10 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

The kind of compilation you buy cheaply at record sales for "minor uses" such as in-car listening.

But that's a very laudable purpose. I meant that one

It's a compilation from BN following in the footsteps of Mosaic featuring the complete BN & Capitol output of the pair. Hope the image is visible now.

Edited May 6, 2020 by Bluesnik

[gmonahan]

8 hours ago, BillF said:

Scarecrow Press is appropriately named. Don't know about the crows, but their prices certainly scare me! 

They sure ain't cheap! I had the Fats Navarro bio on my amazon wish list for a while before a more affordable copy finally showed up.

 

 

 

gregmo

[Gheorghe]

13 hours ago, gmonahan said:

They sure ain't cheap! I had the Fats Navarro bio on my amazon wish list for a while before a more affordable copy finally showed up.

 

 

 

gregmo

hi Greg, you also might like to read the great Tadd Dameron bio. Since they had such a close collaboration and played 39 weeks at the Royal Roost in 1948 and before that at the Onyx I think, it´s really a very fine Team. I think Tadd really got inspired to write for Fats, many of his tunes really are Fats´ favourites, like "Eb Bop", "Symphonette" , "Jahbeero" , "Tadd Walk", and so on......

[John Tapscott]

I am finding this one much better than his Ellington book. 

 

[HutchFan]

2 hours ago, John Tapscott said:

I am finding this one much better than his Ellington book. 

I agree. No comparison.  

I was so disappointed with Teachout's Ellington bio. ... I had high expectations, since I'd already read his Pops book -- and I think that one is very fine.

[gmonahan]

On 5/7/2020 at 0:12 AM, Gheorghe said:

hi Greg, you also might like to read the great Tadd Dameron bio. Since they had such a close collaboration and played 39 weeks at the Royal Roost in 1948 and before that at the Onyx I think, it´s really a very fine Team. I think Tadd really got inspired to write for Fats, many of his tunes really are Fats´ favourites, like "Eb Bop", "Symphonette" , "Jahbeero" , "Tadd Walk", and so on......

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll check it out!

[Gheorghe]

On 8.5.2020 at 9:58 PM, gmonahan said:

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll check it out!

 

you welcome !

Actually there are two books, the second one I post here is very rare, both are fine. 

[Peter Friedman]

Almost finished reading "My Dear Departed Past" by Dave Frishberg. I especially enjoyed the stories about Dave playing with Bud Freeman, Ben Webster, and Al Cohn & Zoot Sims. The book focuses on Frishberg as a pianist, and also as a composer/songwriter. It is a book that will  particularly appeal to those who like Dave's songs. He describes the circumstances  that resulted in many of his songs.

[T.D.]

On 5/10/2020 at 4:49 AM, Gheorghe said:

 

you welcome !

Actually there are two books, the second one I post here is very rare, both are fine. 

I've never been able to secure a copy of the MacDonald book . I have the Combs book, and it's quite good, but there's quite a bit of musical analysis that might go over the head of some readers (like me). Reading Combs, it's evident that Dameron was a highly enigmatic personality and biographical details are difficult to come by.

[mikeweil]

Got a used copy in excellent condition for a few bucks. Nice read.

[jlhoots]

3 hours ago, mikeweil said:

Got a used copy in excellent condition for a few bucks. Nice read.

Good one!

[sgcim]

Just started, "Rhythm Is My Beat" by Alfred Green- Freddie Green bio by his son Alfred.

I thought it was going to be a fawning tale of the relationship of father and son, but AG has done all his homework, with tons of footnotes and excerpts of interviews he did with various family members, musicians and jazz writers.

I'm up to the point where John Hammond 'discovers' FG at the local club where JH likes to get his rocks off watching nude 'mermaids' swimming around in a huge fish tank. JH is not spared critical review, as he takes apart the Basie Band to fit his perception of what the band should sound like, much to the consternation of both fired and retained band members. Lester Young and Billie Holiday's opinion of him is quoted in the book as a "Heartless meddler".

Hammond took the nine piece Basie band from KC, and started adding instrumentation of five or six men, which caused the band to "slow down and made it sluggish", according to Buck Clayton, who claimed they "never had a bad night in KC". When Hammond first unveiled his 'discovery' in NYC at Roseland, the Basie Band was a huge flop.