I have 12 other books on Miles Davis and related subjects in my library, so I didn't expect much new stuff from this one. But I was wrong. Kaplan has I have 12 other books on Miles Davis and related subjects in my library, so I didn't expect much new stuff from this one. But I was wrong. Kaplan has dug up all kinds of useful new information, interviews, and a uniquely fresh perspective on the Dark Magus and his circle of magicians. Very engagingly written, too.
Recommended to jazz fans and newbies alike!...more
An exhaustive, sometimes exhausting in its obsessive details, chronicle of the early years of this groundbreaking, rule-breaking quartet/quintet/trio.An exhaustive, sometimes exhausting in its obsessive details, chronicle of the early years of this groundbreaking, rule-breaking quartet/quintet/trio. Along the way we get pretty much a complete history of vaudeville � both performers and managers, United States immigration practices, performing arts labor disputes, early 20th century railroad schedules, the Mann Act, Hollywood, the GOAT stage mother Minnie Palmer, the horses and the sawdust and the smells (the towel they've taken from the last hotel)... it's not always an enjoyable read, but I'm plowing through. The brothers get into enough trouble to keep you going.
n.b. A substantial motive for the book's publishing seems to be a wholescale and sometimes personally-inflected refutation of a previous Marx Brothers bio by one Kyle Crichton....more
I'm not sure I'll finish. I enjoyed reading about the punk+experimental scene in NYC.I'm not sure I'll finish. I enjoyed reading about the punk+experimental scene in NYC....more
The writing is high-school level. I tried to return it to the bookstore but they didn't want it.The writing is high-school level. I tried to return it to the bookstore but they didn't want it....more
Easy to read, story-packed life by and of Henry Threadgill, a great American composer and instrumentalist and bandleader. (He starts bands about once Easy to read, story-packed life by and of Henry Threadgill, a great American composer and instrumentalist and bandleader. (He starts bands about once a year it seems.) Deep insights into living the artist's life, being Black in America (and Vietnam), keeping yourself sane.
Exhaustive detail about Bach's choral works, not much about his other music. Worth plowing through all that stuff about cantatas just to glean tidbitsExhaustive detail about Bach's choral works, not much about his other music. Worth plowing through all that stuff about cantatas just to glean tidbits about his life and times, as the author takes a lot of pains to paint a complete socio-historic picture of the man (about whom there is very little direct evidence beyond the scores) and his times. The details about Bach's copyists, for instance, are fascinating, sometimes humorous....more
Take off a half star for the scarcity of in-depth musical analysis here. The author, to his credit, states up front that it's not that kind of a book.Take off a half star for the scarcity of in-depth musical analysis here. The author, to his credit, states up front that it's not that kind of a book. But it's pleasantly readable and dishes plenty about Hitch and his Hollywood years; he had the good or bad fortune to get swept up in the gravity well of David O. Selznick and His Way of doing things, even before Hitch got off the boat from England. The opening chapters on the English movies are thin (due to lack of archival material) but enlightening; in films like The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps, and The Lady Vanishes, the author points out that Hitch made up for a lack of budget resources with deeply embedded layers of creativity, and in particular creative and near-constant use of, and references to, music and musical cues that drive the action and inform the audience about character motivations. Fascinating perspectives. Big reco!...more
Loading...
