Graham Colombé
Graham Colombé was emotionally overwhelmed by jazz as a teenager and was fortunate enough, not many years later, to meet some of his heroes (such as Roy Eldridge, Jo Jones and Budd Johnson) on the pretext of interviewing them for Jazz Journal. Though his primary concern was to see what these men were like away from the bandstand or studio, the interviews did indeed appear in the magazine as promised. He has also very much enjoyed playing jazz, in both England and Spain, and as a bonus has sometimes been paid for it. "Jack-Of-All-Trades and Master-Of-None" would accurately describe his abilities as clarinetist, guitarist or drummer. The jazz he plays is pre-bop, in the area where his appreciation is most strongly focused, but he also enjoys a lot of Coltrane and some of Ornette's early work and as a reviewer tries to keep mind and ears wide open.(This also means producing music outside the jazz boundaries and an example can be found on Youtube by entering: Colombé in Cadaqués.)
A Trumpet Around The Corner – The Story of New Orleans Jazz
Samuel Charters traces how jazz arose from the Afro-European melting pot that was nineteenth century New Orleans
At The Vanguard Of Vinyl
The language may challenge comprehension, but the book has good detail on Ellington, Gillespie, Adderley and Mingus
Knowing Jazz / Learning Jazz
Two books by American academic discuss the jazz community, jazz education, jazz criticism and the interest in jazz history
Dreams In Double Time
Californian English prof discusses four non-native US jazz players, including himself, in the context of sociology, racism and politics
- Advertisement -
Prehistory Of Jazz
Maximilian Hendler minimises the significance of Africa in the development of jazz, pointing out that much came from Europe
Debt And Redemption In The Blues – The Call For Justice
Scholarly treatise finds that complaints in the blues about unfaithful women are metaphors for dissatisfaction with socio-economic conditions
Making The Low Notes – A Life In Music
Bill Harrison, sometime bassist with Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach, writes engagingly about his life and work
Rifftide – The Life And Opinions Of Papa Jo Jones
Book of nominal 'interviews' tries to contain the Joyceian stream of consciousness that was the drummer's method of discourse
- Advertisement -
Kansas City Jazz – A Little Evil Will Do You Good
New study tells the story of KC jazz in a more free-flowing style than the dense 2005 Driggs and Haddix book and throws fresh light on it
The Old Familiar Places
Jazz novel traces the life of a young English pianist and illustrates the emotional support offered by music in general and jazz in particular
Eric Dolphy
Guillaume Belhomme feels that Dolphy is underrated and works to rectify the deficit with impressive biographical and discographical detail
Beyond Sketches Of Spain – Tete Montoliu And The Construction Of Iberian Jazz
Arizona prof connects the swinging Catalan with 'the speed, spontaneity and shifting conditions of urban modernity'
- Advertisement -