by Mike Errico | Apr 6, 2012 | So Good, Video
Video Tour of Geoff Dyer’s But Beautiful While reading this amazing book about jazz lives, I listened along to the chapters, using Spotify and YouTube. For each chapter, I’ve posted great videos of Lester Young and Billie Holiday, Bud Powell, Ben Webster, Charles Mingus, Chet Baker, Art Pepper, and Thelonious Monk. Treat yourself to this book, and click through to hear these amazing...
by Mike Errico | Feb 4, 2012 | So Good
The seventh and final chapter of “But Beautiful,” by Geoff Dyer deals with Art Pepper. My guess is that Dyer put him last because he seems to embody so much of the other six players – his sound has hints of each, and his life had chaos and jail and tragedy to burn. ~FIN~ There is an afterword that discusses the major themes in jazz history, and also includes a great discography that I’ll be listening through, perhaps over years. I didn’t know some of these players, but I know them now, far better than I would have by simply listening. I’m going to miss this book. You really should pick it up. More video accompaniment to the jazz artists in Geoff Dyer’s “But Beautiful”: http://www.errico.com/tag/but-beautiful/ More So Good:...
by Mike Errico | Feb 3, 2012 | So Good
Chapter six of “But Beautiful,” by Geoff Dyer finds a way into the void of Chet Baker’s tone, vocally as well as on the horn. He’s just…gone, ghost like and out of frame. A glimpse. More video accompaniment to the jazz artists in Geoff Dyer’s “But Beautiful”: http://www.errico.com/tag/but-beautiful/ More So Good:...
by Mike Errico | Jan 27, 2012 | So Good
Chapter five of “But Beautiful,” by Geoff Dyer: Mingus is hard. There’s a bullying, angry quality to him, an angular poke in the chest at each chord change, a snarl in the attack of his bass. Meanwhile, the form feels like it’s deconstructing as he pushes it relentlessly forward. Dyer captures it in lines like, “If he had been a ship the ocean would have been in his way.” More video accompaniment to the jazz artists in Geoff Dyer’s “But Beautiful”: http://www.errico.com/tag/but-beautiful/ More So Good:...
by Mike Errico | Jan 24, 2012 | So Good
Chapter four of “But Beautiful,” by Geoff Dyer: I’ve had a love affair with Ben Webster from before this book, mostly from his recordings with Duke Ellington. His lines ache, swoop, then dissolve into breath and vibrato, as if they went up in smoke. To me, he is the sound of late nights. “If you love jazz, you have to love Ben. You could love jazz and not like Ornette, maybe not like Duke even, but it’s impossible to love jazz and not love Ben.” – Geoff Dyer, “But Beautiful” “When he played the blues or “In a Sentimental Mood,” you realize how irrelevant the entire notion of sentiment is. He was never cloying, because no matter how soft he played, that growl was always lurking somewhere.” – Geoff Dyer, “But Beautiful” More video accompaniment to the jazz artists in Geoff Dyer’s “But Beautiful”: http://www.errico.com/tag/but-beautiful/ More, because how can I not: “Perdido” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CeSrOAcTXI “Over the Rainbow” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXUOJa_XgGU w/Oscar Peterson, “I Got It Bad” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LUr6czjwlA “Cotton Tail” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_W1lQc_7yU Ben, Rehearsal in Holland, calling out arrangement, tempos etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEobA-dU1d0 More So Good:...
