The Parisian jazz chronicles : an improvisational memoir / Mike Zwerin.

Author/creator Zwerin, Michael
Format Book
Publication InfoNew Haven : Yale University Press, ©2005.
Descriptionxiii, 214 pages ; 22 cm
Subjects
Jazz--France. --Paris. --History and criticism.

Contents 1. Poop and hasse-oles. Stevie Wonder -- Dexter Gordon: life and death in the margin. Ornette Coleman and Waylon Jennings -- Planeland: bringing up baby. Count Basie -- The slush pump and the silent letter. Elvin Jones -- Timothy Leary: voltage smart. Janos -- Jazz in Siberia: left-handed times. Willy (Mink) DeVille -- Chet Baker: how about a sniffette? Astor Piazzolla -- Bob Dylan: Dr. Pitre's nominal aphasia. Don Henley -- Don Budge: playing with wands. Bobby McFerrin -- Steppenwolf: brilliant eccentrics. Simon and Garfunkel -- Kenny G. Andy Bey -- Miles Davis: a mouthful of words. Ice-T -- Freddy Heineken: he brew. Brad Mehldau -- Serious music: kulture in the goyish Alps. Roswell Rudd -- Melvin Van Peebles: gone fishing. Steve Lacy -- Wayne Shorter: beyond a smile on a face. Gil Evans -- Orson Welles: patched and peeled in Mogador. Dizzy Gillespie -- The International Herald Trombone.
Abstract In his Beat-like jaunt through the Parisian and European jazz scene, the author is not unlike Jack Kerouac, Mezz Mezzrow, or Hunter S. Thompson--writers to whom, for different reasons, he owes some allegiance. What makes him special is his devotion to the troubled musicians he idolizes, and a passion for music that is blessedly contagious. Many jazz fans will know the author from his witty, irreverent, and undeniably hip music reviews and articles that have entertained us for decades in the International Herald Tribune. Based in Paris, or rather stuck there, as the author likes to say, he has been a music critic for the Trib since 1979. He also had a distinguished career as a trombonist. When he was just eighteen years old, he was invited by Miles Davis to play alongside Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, and Max Roach in the band that was immortalized as The Birth of the Cool. This book offers a personal account of the jazz scene in Paris in the 1980s and 1990s. The author writes lovingly but unsparingly about figures he knew and interviewed--such as Dexter Gordon, Freddy Heineken, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Chet Baker, Wayne Shorter, and Melvin Van Peebles. Against this background, the author tells about his own life--split allegiances to journalism and music, and to America and France, his battle for sobriety, a failing marriage, and fatherhood.
LCCN 2005008412
ISBN0300108060 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk ML3509.F7 Z47 2005 ✔ Available Place Hold