In A Silent Way
So I've decided to take the plunge on this whole jazz thing. Yesterday I went out and bought a book about it: Jazz: The Rough Guide, by Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather and Brian Priestley (hmm, where do you suppose these guys hail from? If you guessed the U.K., you're right!). I spent some time last night thumbing through it, reading entries of a few people, and drawing up a list of stuff I could conceivably buy.
The book is not bad, although it seems like it does skimp on mentioning some key albums of a few artists; I was quite disappointed in their entry for Oscar Peterson, who I know contributed to many, many albums (his own, and those of others), and hardly any specific albums are actually mentioned. And what little there is on The Crusaders is, well, next to nothing. On the other hand, the entry for Miles Davis is meticulous and about as complete as a three-page summary could be. I haven't seen a better book about jazz artists of this type in the stores.
And then today I went out and actually bought a bunch of albums, and I do mean a bunch:
I'm listening to the Brecker Bros album right now. It's not as good as the first collection; the live material is perhaps a little too up-tempo, hard to keep up with as a listener. I haven't listened to the other two yet.
Tracy commented that when I get into something I tend to be very "thorough". I replied that I'd probably use the term "serious" instead. I like to explore things and understand them, and having a book to peruse gives me a frame of reference from which to start. At the very least, it can inform me which albums are considered the seminal ones in jazz history - something I'd have had a hard time figuring out myself. And I can overlay what few preferences I have on that (for instance, I plan to pick up some Ella Fitzgerald, too).
I think this is going to be fun. Karen reminded me that I can also check out albums from the Madison Public Library, and I think I might do that to sample some of the pre-1955 music (Louis Armstrong, Thelonius Monk, Lester Young, and the like), since I suspect that much of it will nto be to my taste as much as the later stuff (in much the same way that most rock music before about 1965 doesn't do anything for me).
And it'll be a busy weekend, too: Tomorrow is a lengthy 4th of July party a local fan throws every year, and Sunday Karen and I and a friend of hers are going to Summerfest, mainly to see Sonia Dada. It should be fun, but meanwhile it seems like "stuff" just keeps piling up at home.
Well, at least I read the last of the Prince Valiant collections I have... and ordered 15 more, since Bud Plant Comic Art is having a sale...
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