Download or read book Conversations with Charlie Haden written by Charlie Haden and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charlie Haden (19372014) was the rare sort of musician who transcended easy categorizationother than to say that his uniquely elegant and eloquent bass playing, with its readily recognizable sound, defined a certain pinnacle of musical communication in beautiful, spontaneous, and intensely emotional ways. Throughout his career, he worked with and influenced many of the most interesting musicians of the second half of the twentieth century, including Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Paul Bley, Carla Bley, Keith Jarrett, Billy Higgins, Paul Motion, Dewey Redman, Pat Metheny, Egberto Gismonti, Gavin Bryars, Geri Allen, Brad Mehldau, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and literally hundreds of others. In Conversations, Haden discusses his life and politics and music and aesthetics in a series of candid interviews conducted over two decades. While parts of this collection have appeared in various periodicals, much of it is in print here for the first time. Forewords by Bill Frisell and Alan Broadbent

Download or read book Charles Lloyd written by Josef Woodard and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saxophonist and composer Charles Lloyd has been a strong and important voice in the jazz world since the late 1950s. This freewheeling, fascinating unauthorized biography -- based on twenty years' worth of interviews -- covers the extreme ups and downs of an uncommonly eventful life, often in the musician's own words. The story begins in the heated musical milieu of Memphis in the Forties and Fifties, where Lloyd grew up with Phineas Newborn Jr and Booker Little and cut his professional teeth as a teen playing with such blues giants as Howlin' Wolf. After high school, he moved to Los Angeles, where he attended USC and began to work with the Gerald Wilson and Chico Hamilton bands, Scott LaFaro, Gábor Szabó, Don Cherry, and others. Following a notable stint with Hamilton's ensemble, contributing compositions and arrangements as well as playing, Lloyd joined Cannonball Adderley's band and moved to New York. There he worked with Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Richard Davis, Henry Grimes, Roy Haynes, and many others. In the mid-Sixties, Lloyd put together a landmark quartet, showcasing the young Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, and Cecil McBee. It skyrocketed the saxophonist to fame -- recording best-selling albums, winning Down Beat's 1967 Artist of the Year, and becoming the first jazz musician to play the famed Fillmore auditoriums. But just as suddenly, Lloyd vanished from the scene in the early Seventies, embarking on a fifteen-year spiritual quest. During this hiatus from the jazz world, spent in Big Sur and Santa Barbara, he occasionally worked with the Beach Boys and other pop musicians. To the delight of many, Lloyd reappeared in the early Nineties, recording for the ECM label, fronting a series of impressive bands featuring pianists Bobo Stensen, Geri Allen, Brad Mehldau, and Jason Moran; drummers Billy Higgins and Billy Hart; and other luminaries. Recent groups have included an eclectic array of performers, including Bill Frisell and Zakir Hussain. Lloyd's music is now stronger than ever, as is his career, with acclaim coming from both critics and the public. In 2015 he received a NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship and signed with the Blue Note record label.

Download or read book True Colors written by Anthony Haden-Guest and published by Atlantic Monthly Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Colors covers the past three decades of the American art scene, a period during which the prevailing artistic fashion has shifted as often as the focus of the Whitney Biennial, when art and money, talent and celebrity have often been confused. During this period, figures such as Julian Schnabel, Jeff Koons, and Keith Haring have crossed over from the rarefied world of high art into popular culture, and art dealers, like Hollywood power agents, have often claimed as much attention as those they represented. Anthony Haden-Guest has moved within this world, known the players, and delivers here an authoritative and deliciously inside account.Focusing on the lives and personalities of the art world's main players, and with a sure critical component, Haden-Guest gives us vivid portraits of the period's key artists as they strive to fulfill their ambitions. He does justice as well to the machinations of those who have come to control the larger drama -- the dealers, collectors, and museum curators. Filled with incredible anecdotes, dramatically told stories, and subtle critical assessments, True Colors tells the story of the art world that we have never heard before.

Download or read book Conversations in Jazz written by Ralph J. Gleason and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-28 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During his nearly forty years as a music journalist, Ralph J. Gleason recorded many in-depth interviews with some of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. These informal sessions, conducted mostly in Gleason’s Berkeley, California, home, have never been transcribed and published in full until now. This remarkable volume, a must-read for any jazz fan, serious musician, or musicologist, reveals fascinating, little-known details about these gifted artists, their lives, their personas, and, of course, their music. Bill Evans discusses his battle with severe depression, while John Coltrane talks about McCoy Tyner's integral role in shaping the sound of the Coltrane quartet, praising the pianist enthusiastically. Included also are interviews with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Quincy Jones, Jon Hendricks, and the immortal Duke Ellington, plus seven more of the most notable names in twentieth-century jazz.

Download or read book Walking Bassics written by Ed Fuqua and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2011-01-12 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book gives you all the basic principles underlying solid walking bass lines. Comprehensive, easy to understand, with page after page of great transcriptions of the author's walking lines on the accompanying CD. The CD of NY professional jazz players can also be used as a swinging play-along CD. Endorsed by Eddie Gomez, Jimmy Haslip, John Goldsby, etc.

Download or read book Guitar Talk written by Joel Harrison and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Secrets of master guitarists, revealed in conversation. Guitar Talk offers interviews with many of the most creative guitarists of our time. This new book presents these conversations, between Joel Harrison and Nels Cline, Pat Metheny, Fred Frith, Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, Elliott Sharp, Michael Gregory Jackson, Ben Monder, Anthony Pirog, Henry Kaiser, Mike and Leni Stern, Vernon Reid, Mary Halvorson, Nguyên Le, Rez Abbasi, Ava Mendoza, Liberty Ellman, Brandon Ross, Wayne Krantz, Dave Fiuczynski, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Miles Okazaki, Sheryl Bailey, Rafiq Bhatia, and Ralph Towner—twenty-seven great guitarists in all. An enormous range of approaches and sounds exist in the modern guitar. The instrument can howl, scrape, scratch, scream, sing, pluck, and soothe. What stands out in this book is not so much the instrument itself, rather the wonderful and idiosyncratic personalities of these bold souls, their sometimes wild, often zigzagging, and ultimately profound journeys toward beauty, meaning, and excellence in their work. We find out that jazz icon Bill Frisell won a high school band contest playing R&B tunes, beating out future members of Earth Wind and Fire. We learn which of Nels Cline's compositions he wishes to have played at his funeral. Michael Gregory Jackson recounts painful episodes of racism as he stretched between the chasm of avant jazz, rock, and blues in the 1980s. Many more revelations, amusements, and philosophies abound.

Download or read book Free Jazz written by Jeff Schwartz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-05-23 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Free Jazz: A Research and Information Guide offers carefully selected and annotated sources on free jazz, with comprehensive coverage of English-language academic books, journal articles, and dissertations, and selective coverage of trade books, popular periodicals, documentary films, scores, Masters’ theses, online texts, and materials in other languages. Free Jazz will be a major reference tool for students, faculty, librarians, artists, scholars, critics, and serious fans navigating this literature.

Download or read book The Jazz Ear written by Ben Ratliff and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2008-11-11 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intimate exploration into the musical genius of fifteen living jazz legends, from the longtime New York Times jazz critic Jazz is conducted almost wordlessly: John Coltrane rarely told his quartet what to do, and Miles Davis famously gave his group only the barest instructions before recording his masterpiece "Kind of Blue." Musicians are often loath to discuss their craft for fear of destroying its improvisational essence, rendering jazz among the most ephemeral and least transparent of the performing arts. In The Jazz Ear, the acclaimed music critic Ben Ratliff sits down with jazz greats to discuss recordings by the musicians who most influenced them. In the process, he skillfully coaxes out a profound understanding of the men and women themselves, the context of their work, and how jazz—from horn blare to drum riff—is created conceptually. Expanding on his popular interviews for The New York Times, Ratliff speaks with Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, Branford Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Wayne Shorter, Joshua Redman, and others about the subtle variations in generation, training, and attitude that define their music. Playful and keenly insightful, The Jazz Ear is a revelatory exploration of a unique way of making and hearing music.

Download or read book Uptown Conversation written by Robert G. O'Meally and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Uptown Conversation' asserts that jazz is not only a music to define, it is a culture. The essays illustrate how for more than a century jazz has initiated a call and response across art forms, geographies, and cultures, inspiring musicians, filmmakers,painters and poets.

Download or read book Jade Visions written by Helene LaFaro-Fernandez and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Best Book of 2009, Jazz Division, sponsored by AllAboutJazz-New York, 2009. Selected for "The Best of the Best" from University Presses, ALA Conference, 2010. Winner of the 2010 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research in Jazz, 2010. Jade Visions is the first biography of one of the twentieth century's most influential jazz musicians, bassist Scott LaFaro. Best known for his landmark recordings with Bill Evans, LaFaro played bass a mere seven years before his life and career were tragically cut short by an automobile accident when he was only 25 years old. Told by his sister, this book uniquely combines family history with insight into LaFaro's music by well-known jazz experts and musicians Gene Lees, Don Thompson, Jeff Campbell, Phil Palombi, Chuck Ralston, Barrie Kolstein, and Robert Wooley. Those interested in Bill Evans, the history of jazz, and the lives of working musicians of the time will appreciate this exploration of LaFaro’s life and music as well as the feeling they’ve been invited into the family circle as an intimate.

Download or read book Straight Life written by Art Pepper and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2024-09-17 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Art Pepper (1925-1982) was called the greatest alto saxophonist of the post-Charlie Parker generation. But his autobiography, Straight Life, is much more than a jazz book--it is one of the most explosive, yet one of the most lyrical, of all autobiographies. This edition is updated with an extensive afterword by Laurie Pepper covering Art Pepper's last years, and a complete and up-to-date discography by Todd Selbert.

Download or read book Talking the Walk Walking the Talk written by Marc Shell and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2015-09-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that we should regard walking and talking in a single rhythmic vision. In doing so, it contributes to the theory of prosody, our understanding of respiration and looking, and, in sum, to the particular links, across the board, between the human characteristics of bipedal walking and meaningful talk. The author first introduces the philosophical, neurological, anthropological, and aesthetic aspects of the subject in historical perspective, then focuses on rhetoric and introduces a tension between the small and large issues of rhythm. He thereupon turns his attention to the roles of breathing in poetry—as a life-and-death matter, with attention to beats and walking poems. This opens onto technical concepts from the classical traditions of rhetoric and philology. Turning to the relationship between prosody and motion, he considers both animals and human beings as both ostensibly able-bodied creatures and presumptively disabled ones. Finally, he looks at dancing and writing as aspects of walking and talking, with special attention to motion in Arabic and Chinese calligraphy. The final chapters of the book provide a series of interrelated representative case studies.

Download or read book Notes and Tones written by Arthur Taylor and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2009-08-05 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Notes and Tones is one of the most controversial, honest, and insightful books ever written about jazz. As a black musician himself, Arthur Taylor was able to ask his subjects hard questions about the role of black artists in a white society. Free to speak their minds, these musicians offer startling insights into their music, their lives, and the creative process itself. This expanded edition is supplemented with previously unpublished interviews with Dexter Gordon and Thelonious Monk, a new introduction by the author, and new photographs.Notes and Tones consists of twenty-nine no-holds-barred conversations which drummer Arthur Taylor held with the most influential jazz musicians of the ’60s and ’70s—including:

Download or read book Ornette Coleman written by Maria Golia and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2022-06-20 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With striking photographs and personal insight, a compelling biography of the great American saxophonist and free jazz innovator Ornette Coleman. Ornette Coleman’s career encompassed the glory years of jazz and the American avant-garde. Born in segregated Fort Worth, Texas, during the Great Depression, the African-American composer and musician was zeitgeist incarnate. Steeped in the Texas blues tradition, he and jazz grew up together, as the brassy blare of big band swing gave way to bebop—a faster music for a faster, postwar world. At the luminous dawn of the Space Age and New York’s 1960s counterculture, Coleman gave voice to the moment. Lauded by some, maligned by many, he forged a breakaway art sometimes called “the new thing” or “free jazz.” Featuring previously unpublished photographs of Coleman and his contemporaries, this book tells the compelling story of one of America’s most adventurous musicians and the sound of a changing world.

Download or read book I Want to Take You Higher written by Jeff Kaliss and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2024-06-18 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From his anthemic early hits (“I Want to Take You Higher,” “Family Affair,” “Dance to the Music”), through the moody meditations of “There's a Riot Going On” and beyond, Sly & the Family Stone left an indelible stamp on rock, funk, pop, and hip hop, and their enigmatic frontman in particular continues to inspire fascination and speculation. This fully updated edition fills in the gaps since the book’s original 2008 publication, including Sly’s successful legal action against his former manager, the death of band member (and mother of a child with Sly) Cynthia Robinson, and the new projects undertaken by family and former collaborators.

Download or read book Bill Frisell Beautiful Dreamer written by Philip Watson and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 499 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive biography of guitar icon and Grammy Award-winning artist Bill Frisell. FEATURING EXCLUSIVE LISTENING SESSIONS WITH: Paul Simon; Justin Vernon of Bon Iver; Gus Van Sant; Rhiannon Giddens; The Bad Plus; Gavin Bryars; Van Dyke Parks; Sam Amidon; Hal Willner; Jim Woodring; Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill 'A beautiful and long overdue portrait of one of America's true living cultural treasures.' JOHN ZORN 'The perfect companion-piece to the music of its subject.' MOJO 'Outlines the subject's life in a series of scrupulous strokes and intimate interviews that are rare in such undertakings . . . a cool, casual victory.' IRISH TIMES Over a period of forty-five years, Bill Frisell has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential musicians at work today. A quietly revolutionary guitar hero for our genre-blurring times, he connects to a diverse range of artists and admirers, including Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Gus Van Sant and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, all of whom feature in this book. A vital addition to any music lover's book collection, Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer tells the legendary guitarist's story for the first time. 'Stuffed with musical encounters, so many that every couple of pages there's an unheard Frisell recording for the reader to chase down.' NEW YORKER ' Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer is the definitive biography.' BILL MILKOWSKI, DOWNBEAT 'Superb . . . the book races along like Sonny Rollins in full sail. Like subject, like writer: this is super-articulate, adventurous prose.' PERSPECTIVE '[Watson's] writing balances unbridled passion and dispassionate research nearly as deftly as Mr. Frisell's playing does sound and silence . . . compelling.' WALL STREET JOURNAL

Download or read book All I Did Was Ask written by Terry Gross and published by Hachette+ORM. This book was released on 2004-07-07 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating collection of revealing and entertaining interviews by the award-winning host of National Public Radio's premier interview program Fresh Air. Over the last twenty years, Terry Gross has interviewed many of our most celebrated writers, actors, musicians, comics, and visual artists. Her show, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, a weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues produced by WHYY in Philadelphia, is one of National Public Radio's most popular programs. More than four million people tune in to the show, which is broadcast on over 400 NPR stations across the country. Gross is known for her thoughtful, probing interviewing style. In her trusted company, even the most reticent guest relaxes and opens up. But Gross doesn't shy away from controversy, and her questions can be tough--too tough, apparently, for Bill O'Reilly, who abruptly terminated his conversation with her. Her interview with Gene Simmons of Kiss, which is included in the book, prompted Entertainment Weekly to name Simmons its male "Crackpot of the Year." For All I Did Was Ask, Gross has selected more than three dozen of her best interviews--ones of lasting relevance that are as lively on the page as they were on the air. Each is preceded by a personal introduction in which she reveals why a particular guest was on the show and the thinking behind some of her questions. And in an introductory chapter, the normally self-effacing Gross does something you're unlikely ever to hear her do on Fresh Air--she discusses her approach to interviewing, revealing a thing or two about herself in the bargain. The collection focuses on luminaries from the art and entertainment world, including actors, comedians, writers, visual artists, and musicians, such as: Conan O'Brien Chris Rock Michael Caine Dennis Hopper Dustin Hoffman Jodie Foster John Updike Mary Karr Mario Puzo Nick Hornby Chuck Close Eric Clapton George Clinton Sonny Rollins Samuel L. Jackson Johnny Cash Isabella Rossellini Divine Uta Hagen Carol Shields