In a Silent Way: A Portrait of Joe Zawinul [Illustrated] [Hardcover] Review

One of the things that makes this such an interesting book is that it is about the music as much as it is about the personality of Joe. It has details such as how two Drummers were used on one of the Black Market Tracks. I so enjoyed listening to the songs after reading about them.

Half the book is about the Weather Report years, the other half is pre and post Weather Report.

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Product Description:
Joe Zawinul pioneered a seismic shift in American jazz, incorporating international rhythms and new electronic tonalities.

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So What: The Life of Miles Davis [Hardcover] Review

Prior to SO WHAT I felt that, as revealing as many prior Davis bios were (including Miles' own book), their sum was somehow less than the parts.That is, there was more to understand about Miles Davis than what was collectively written.Along comes SO WHAT, the most balanced and coherent one-stop source yet for getting to know about the entirety of Miles Davis' life.As much as Miles urged us to let the music speak for itself, the context and environment in which Davis' art was created is important, and author John Szwed is up to the challenge to walk down the many paths that lead to and from Davis' music and life (e.g., discussing the aesthetics of artists as wide-ranging as Stockhausen and Sly Stone, both of whom impacted Miles' musical vision in the 1970s).Szwed doesn't attempt to cram every interesting, revealing, or just plain provocative story from prior books into his bio.Still, his research does come up with some errors previously presented as facts, and there are plently of newfound "Miles Davis stories" to amuse and/or amaze the reader, for better and worse.
What the author seems to do is pick and choose among the previously-revealed tidbits about Miles and use them as supplements to 1) his open-minded knowledge about the entirety of Davis' music (as well as the cultural and commercial environment in which it was created), and 2) fresh, revealing interviews he conducted with family members and others close to the subject at key points in his life.Having unprecedented access to Davis' family was possibly the missing piece of the puzzle needed to really reconcile what was already known about Miles with the many contradictions that sat unresolved for decades (e.g., tough exterior, insecure interior).Even as Szwed stays in tune with Davis' music from beginning to end, he reveals with unprecedented detail just how chaotic his personal life was.Previously I thought Davis was unlucky to have died so relatively young...albeit at age 65.Given all of the substance abuse and other problems he faced (and created for himself), I'm now amazed that Miles lasted so long, and how he could--with a bare minimum of lulls over nearly a half-century--be artistically creative right up to his final hospitalization in 1991.
Being that Miles' life was often sensationalistic to begin with, Szwed plays it cool with this hot topic, writing the way that Davis played, sans ornamentation.SO WHAT stays focused on the big picture...with details that dip beneath the surface throughout Miles' entire life.The information seems mostly accurate; among the errors that I caught were that Szwed states the 1985 Artists United vs. Apartheid SUN CITY project in which Davis participated was a Quincy Jones production (in reality it was led by Little Steven and Arthur Baker). The author is confusing that benefit recording with WE ARE THE WORLD from the same year which Jones did direct (this error undermines Szwed's critique of the SUN CITY album).Also, it's unfortunate that the 20-CD COMPLETE MONTREUX boxed set came along too late to be included here, because the high quality of that music is the best evidence yet that Miles' final years were musically-productive ones.However, all this means is that understanding Davis remains an ongoing process.Even with its few minor flaws, no oneto date has better unraveled the enigmatic genius of Miles Davis than Szwed.I recommended this book first, with Paul Tingen's MILES BEYOND next in line.

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Open Sky: Sonny Rollins and His World of Improvisation [Paperback] Review

Eric Nisenson claims that this is not a definitive biography of Sonny Rollins.I would have to agree.Not only does this book tell us hardly anything about Sonny's personal life (his inpirations, his heartbreaks, his relationships with other jazz musicians), it has neither a discography nor an index. It's list of sources is only a page and a half, half of which seem to be previous books by Nisenson.After an inspired first chapter, Nisenson just seems to list through Sonny's albums and notable achievements, using generous quotes from Sonny describing events that were just described by the author himself.There were some good discriptions of some of the albums and some of Sonny's better solos, but most of it reads like a textbook.I would suggest that someone wait for either Sonny's autobiography (for which he's obviously saved a lot of info) or a "definitive" biography.

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Jazz and Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats (American Made Music Series) [Hardcover] Review

This is an excellent reference work which should be on the shelf of most serious jazz collectors and anyone who writes about jazz or does discographical work in this field. Dr. Spencer very clearly explains numerous medical conditions and provides death certificates and other pertinent illustrations. He also clears up a number of mistakes/misunderstandings which have appeared in the literature. The references are annoying (the superscripts are tiny for my ancient eyes) and you must look in the back of the book to find the reference. The illustrations could have been sharper. Lastly, I understand that Dr. Spencer submitted a 660 page manuscript and only then was told that 300 pages was the goal. Thus, a great deal has been cut. He did a remarkable job but no doubt a lot of information got left on the cutting room floor!

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Living the Jazz Life: Conversations with Forty Musicians about Their Careers in Jazz [Paperback] Review

As Continental forces and Virginia militia units were engaged in winning independence, American quartermasters and provisioners struggled to provide these units with all the necessities of life, from meals and guns to meat, fodder for horses, the horses themselves, firewood, and every other type of material. Much of this was requisitioned from the civilian population and certificates were issued payable in either continental or state funds, depending on the units supplied, upon presentation to court authorities. Thousands of these certificates issued to Virginians were duly entered by the courts, and they provide a fascinating insight into the period of the Revolution. These "Publick" Claims booklets contain interesting and useful information about the contributions of ordinary people to the Revolutionary War. They provide some details of people's service in the militia or as guards for prisoners of war; they indicate where some bodies of troops were at particular times; and they identify providers of horses, wagons, cattle, grain, or other supplies. Much of the information in these booklets cannot be found anywhere else, which makes the surviving records particularly valuable. Also remarkable is the fact that records survived from virtually every county in the state at that time with the exception of the newly formed Kentucky counties. This makes the collection even more valuable in covering areas which heretofore in this time period have suffered from a lack of personal data. The "Virginia Publick Claims" are published by counties. In addition to a faithful transcription by Janice Luck Abercrombie and the late Richard Slatten, a complete index is provided for each county booklet. This series is an extremely important genealogical tool for searchers in Revolutionary-era materials.

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