.... ex libris ...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

on the spur of the instant ordered several books on jazz from amazon last week, all second hand for a penny plus p&P ... of that sort any way ... lovely little parcels have been arriving ...

Jazz Changes by Martin Williams [several of his] arrived this morning from the USA; it had clearly belonged to the Library at Western Nebraska Community College and still retained the date stamp leaf in the front .... i guess the eight people who took the book out between 1993 and 2005 were not sufficient to keep it on the racks ... so it finds it's way to me and very fine it is too ...immediately struck by a set of pieces he wrote in or around 1964 about four pianists ..Peterson Solal Shearing and Jamal ...now Solal was a very good spot back then [about the others he is scathing but the commentary will be familiar]

...wondered what if any, books boredees might be perusing about the noble art of jazz ... the 1p + postage is a great deal eh?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

S_A might i recommend an article by Benjamin Kunkel reviewing 'Introduction to Antiphilosophy' by Boris Groys in the current London Review of Books [you will need to be a subscriber to read it online]

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

S_A might i recommend an article by Benjamin Kunkel reviewing 'Introduction to Antiphilosophy' by Boris Groys in the current London Review of Books [you will need to be a subscriber to read it online]

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Ive been reading a large book of Gary Giddin's collected articles dressed up as a new history of jazz...OK but not a patch on Alyns. And a memoire of Bill Evans by his last partner Laurie. Frightening in its idiotic drug abuse.

BN.

[charles t]

***********
And a memoire of Bill Evans by his last partner Laurie. Frightening in its idiotic drug abuse.

BN.

Yea, Bluesie. I had ordered an Evans' bio and upon reading felt like throwing it across the room. I should have learned my lesson when I went to hear his Trio in the (re-opened) Shelley ManneHole on Wilshire Blvd. in 1973 or '74.

Evans - in his falling-into-the-keyboard manner - played the entire set in mid-tempo - a complete rip-off!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Yea, Bluesie. I had ordered an Evans' bio and upon reading felt like throwing it across the room. I should have learned my lesson when I went to hear his Trio in the (re-opened) Shelley ManneHole on Wilshire Blvd. in 1973 or '74.

Evans - in his falling-into-the-keyboard manner - played the entire set in mid-tempo - a complete rip-off!

**********

I think it was Gene Lees who said Evan's last years were one extended suicide note. I hadn't realised the extent of the cocaine use. Madness.

BN.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

the later trio lives sets are wonderful and highly varied in tempo, texture and feel ... Pettinger is good on Evans

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

the later trio lives sets are wonderful and highly varied in tempo, texture and feel ... Pettinger is good on Evans

Don't disagree Calum, but one of the effects of the coke/industrial was that he started to rush tempos, to the point that one of his later bassists refused to play with him any more. Such a waste.

BN.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

can not but agree El Senor .... now if only he had got together with Jackie Mac!

[charles t]

**********

I think it was Gene Lees who said Evan's last years were one extended suicide note. I hadn't realised the extent of the cocaine use. Madness.

BN.

Years ago - pre Web - Gene Lees had a subscription newsletter and we struck-up a correspondence. I recall that in one of mine to him, I lamented my disappointment in Evans's current stuff - compared to his blazing appearance in the jazz-world firmament.

Lees, whom of course was very close to Evans (he was the lyricist of Waltz For Debby) replied
that I literally 'had no idea' of what it was like to be - Bill Evans!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

solipsism is such a good excuse eh....

the Martin Williams books are great, but the Jazz Changes one especially so .... his piece on three bassists is a delight [La Faro, Swallow, Peacock] as are the ones involving Jimmy Giuffre

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

scored second hand for the postage [uk library this time] Richard Cook's Masterpiece: It's About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off Record

ahem, brilliant read effin brilliant

[Paul Campbell]

I've had Laurie's book on Bill on my Kindle for about 6 months; I keep putting off reading it - i think I'm too scared to. On the other hand, I am looking forward to opening my book of Blue Note cover art on Christmas morning. I too thought Pettinger good on Bill Evans.

[Tenor Freak]

I picked up a copy of Martin Williams' "The Jazz Tradition" for 50p last weekend...not read it yet, but I will over the Xmas break.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

this Laurie book on Evans Paul?

[Paul Campbell]

That's the one Calum, it opens with an account of the last day. For me, Bill can do no wrong. The music, as witnessed by Consecration and The Last Waltz, had a wonderful driven quality at the end. His last trio with Joe LaBarbera and Marc Johnson was very special and harked back to earlier days. The phrase about the "longest suicide in history" was sadly very apt, and the death of his brother Harry seems to me to have confirmed to Bill the direction in which he was heading. He seems to have been a really sweet guy, RIP Bill