Tonight's Book: Reading Jazz Edited by Robert Gottlieb
"The former Knopf and New Yorker chief was a late but vastly enthusiastic convert to the joys of jazz, as he explains in his introduction, and this vast compendium is certainly a labor of great love. There are more than 100 pieces here, most of them culled from out-of-print books, as well as magazines both prominent and obscure. The effort to pull together so large a collection of such pieces, on a subject that in general has defied analysis, has clearly been prodigious, and jazz buffs owe a great deal to Gottlieb for rescuing so much of this material from obscurity. There are plenty of dashing portraits, autobiographical and otherwise, of jazz greats ranging from Louis Armstrong to Charlie Parker (rightly seen as the twin pillars in jazz history to date), such curios as an early essay by the Swiss classical conductor Ernst Ansermet on the impact of jazz in Europe right after WWI and many fine accounts of memorable nights on the bandstands of the '30s and '40s. The reportage section reminds us again of how sterling a stylist the New Yorker's Whitney Balliett is, and there is a definitive piece on the essential differences between classical and jazz criticism by Winthrop Sargeant. Almost everything is worth its weight, including the reminders of the great debate that used to rage over the merits of bop versus classical New Orleans style, exemplified here in pieces by the French critic Hugues Pannassie and English poet Philip Larkin (himself a noted buff). It's a feast that also enshrines a great deal of American social history."
Tonight's Playlist
Note: I - click to buy from the iTunes store (Canada) (You must have iTunes installed on your computer in order to buy tracks from the iTunes store); A - click to buy from Amazon.ca (Canada) (All subject to availability)Theme - Oliver Nelson Big Band - "Stolen Moments" (excerpt) I A
JJohn Hendricks - "Cloudburst" I A
Dave Frishberg - "Drop Me Off In Harlem"
Dave Brubeck Quartet - "Unisphere" A
Blossom Dearie - "I Walk A Little Faster" I A
Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass - "Runaway Hormones"
Cedar Walton - "Someday My Prince Will Come" A
Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra - "Lunceford Special" I A
Don Byron - "I Cover The Waterfront" I A
Diane Reeves - "So This Is Love" A
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - "Didjeridoo" A
Mose Allison - "Lost Mind" I A
Miles Davis - "Limbo" I A
Marcus Roberts - "Jitterbug Waltz" A
Richard Underhill - "Waiting For Something To Happen" I A
Louie Bellson - "Back Home"
Red Mitchell - "Undertow" I A
Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra - "Blues In The Groove" A
Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra - "Swingin' On C" A
Oscar Peterson - "9:20 Special" A
Diana Panton - "I'm Old Fashioned" I
Duke Ellington - "Searching (Pleading For Love)" I A
Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines - "Weather Bird" I A
Miles Davis Quintet - "There's No You" I A
Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass - "Dirty Man"
Holly Cole - "Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries" i A
Keith Jarrett Trio - "You Took Advantage Of Me" I A
Billie Holiday - "A Fine Romance" I A
Kenny Burrell - "Midnight Blue" I A
Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra - "Wham" I A
Eddie Daniels - "Rainbow Shadows" I A
Sophie Milman - "Something In The Air Between Us" I A
Theme - Oliver Nelson Big Band - "Stolen Moments" (excerpt) I A
Stan Getz - "Autumn Leaves" I A
No comments:
Post a Comment