Friday, January 13, 2012

BUT BEAUTIFUL A BOOK ABOUT JAZZ by Geoff Dyer

Finished Fr 1/13/12

Beautifully written 'prose poems' about seven jazz greats.

LESTER YOUNG; Alcoholic 'sweet' sax player. The opposite of Coleman Hawkins. In Army prison during WWII for pot and booze.

THELONIOUS MONK; Lived in NYC and cared for by his wife, Nellie. Madman piano player.

BUD POWELL; Incipient mental illness aggravated by a beating by police in 1945. Alcoholic.

BEN WEBSTER; Sax player out of Kansas City- "The Brute". Lived in Europe.

CHARLES MINGUS; Bass player/Composer. Wildly moody and known for trashing hotels a decade before The Who. "EPITAPH" Over 2 hour orchestral composition.

CHET BAKER; West Coast trumpet player. 'Cool Jazz' Style. Junkie, and lived way beyond his time....Like A Ghost.

ART PEPPER; White Alto Sax; Junkie and spent many years in San Quentin.

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