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

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Thelonious Monk Plays Standards - Volume 1: Piano Transcriptions (Artist Transcriptions) [Paperback] Review

you have no vision of jazz piano until you see the Solo, away from the group who's keepeen the beat, and laying down the bass for you, this just frees you up a bit, Monk created his greea-test solos in the group, all those spiky chords, Ab-D-G, or cd-Ab-Db,also the suspension(S) of the beat attest to his interest in expanding what we call music, But if you've never heard Solo you really haven't heard anything, Also Cecil Taylor, needs a review of Solo, what he creates, the bonfires he sets with the Solo Piano,

But Monk equally did Solo Work,n'had a way of practicing, taking only one song and playing it for hours, to see what was in it, He did this with all the tunes here, and I guess you can say that what is here was the best reading of possibly I don't know 10 different reading of each tune. Still you get the interesting dimensions of what Monk could do with harmonies, and chords,-flatted and sharped 5ths and Ninths, is where the tension comes from, in a Blues progression you need to sharp the Ninth, as in C-Major, Tonic Chord is now E-Bb-D#, and F-Chord, is F-A-B-Eb, greet stuff.When he Went Solo he kept the traditional stride Left Hand, something if you look for it in group Work it remains but, He began to use his Left Hand in the Group as rhythm as percussion products, with cluster chords, even in "Bright Mississippi", he uses his whole arm for accents.

My favorite here is "everything happens to me", sums up the state of the globe now for us down here, you can play this over and over again and still find different voices between the hands, I found myself developing from what is written out, and it is fairly faithful to the recording, well one of them in that Monk always took multiple taks on all the Tunes herein. "Don't Blame me" as well, has great dissonances, that you can develop even more, and the classic now, "just a gigolo', who would think this Vegas tune could be made into a classic, but again the dissonances are incredible, it lives forever because of the unresolved tensions you have here;and there are more hesitations in Live than in the transcription; I found that you can really make your own half hour solos from what is written here, and apply the chords in and around the other tunes, like a paradigm that lives throughout all the tunes herein.There are other more strenuus as "devil and Deep Blue Sea", difficult to bring off, and Gershwin's "Liza" you really need to work with vision. . . This is the best book I've found thus far on Monk or any jazz transcriptions, the other are too skeletle,too obvious to do you any good, if you really want to learnnn jazz. But please listen to Monk play without the music first, and bring that experience internally inside yourself, then you can go and play from this Book. . . it will change the way you think about music. . .

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Product Description:
Volume 1 features note-for-note transcriptions of Monk's renditions of 11 jazz classics: April in Paris * Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea * Dinah * Don't Blame Me * Everything Happens to Me * I Should Care * I Surrender, Dear * Just a Gigolo * Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away) * Nice Work If You Can Get It * Sweet and Lovely. Includes a biography and a discography.

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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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Jazz in Black and White: The Photographs of Duncan Schiedt [Hardcover] Review

If you recall those days of creative Jazz Cats & Kittens jammin' with their new sounds - you need this book.

No time in modern music has there been more creativity and long hours of enjoyment.

Dig this one ~ NOW!

Curt Erler
[...]

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Monk's Music: Thelonious Monk and Jazz History in the Making (Roth Family Foundation Music in America Imprint) [Paperback] Review

Monk's Music is a fine read that will repay your attention.It will appeal to you if you are interested in music, especially jazz, and the way it interacts with and is given context by the culture it exists in.Jazz fans, Monk fans, music fans, and anyone with an itnterest in music and culture will want to read this book.

This is a book grounded in the academic tradition--yes, it uses big words and knotty concepts.It requires focus and attention to read.On the other hand, if you are willing to put in a bit of effort, the average music fan will find much of interest, and your effort will be repaid amply.

Solis sets about examining some very interesting questions, like "how does someone become a Jazz icon?""In an evolving musical genre, where slavish reproduction of a musical work is not valued and is indeed a source of disrespect, how does the ongoing evolution of a set of musical works take life and substance?"

If you are expecting a biography of Monk, or a simple analysis of his music, you will be disappointed--although the book does provide an excellent synopsis of Mon's life to provide contest, and also provides lucid analysis and commentary on the music.

Solis gives life and context to his discussion by incorporating the results of extensive interviews with musicians who played with Monk, a primary resource that has depth.

A unique and interesting book, I recommend it to anyone interested in jazz, music, and culture, and of course anyone interested in Monk and his music.

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Product Description:
Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) was one of jazz's greatest and most enigmatic figures. As a composer, pianist, and bandleader, Monk both extended the piano tradition known as Harlem stride and was at the center of modern jazz's creation during the 1940s, setting the stage for the experimentalism of the 1960s and '70s. This pathbreaking study combines cultural theory, biography, and musical analysis to shed new light on Monk's music and on the jazz canon itself. Gabriel Solis shows how the work of this stubbornly nonconformist composer emerged from the jazz world's fringes to find a central place in its canon. Solis reaches well beyond the usual life-and-times biography to address larger issues in jazz scholarship--ethnography and the role of memory in history's construction. He considers how Monk's stature has grown, from the narrowly focused wing of the avant-garde in the 1960s and '70s to the present, where he is claimed as an influence by musicians of all kinds. He looks at the ways musical lineages are created in the jazz world and, in the process, addresses the question of how musicians use performance itself to maintain, interpret, and debate the history of the musical tradition we call jazz.

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