Jazz

I have just about finished reading Max Gordon's autobiography 'Live At The Village Vanguard' and there was a very interesting part which relates to Charles Mingus' autobiography 'Beneath The Underdog'.

I read the Mingus book a few years ago and have to say that I wasn't a big fan of it. There were very little musical elements to it and it almost read as an autobiography of a pimp over a musician. In the Gordon book, he recalls chatting to Dannie Richmond, the drummer who was in Mingus' group for 20 years before the bassist died. Gordon asks if Richmond had read Mingus' book yet and the drummer states that 'Beneath The Underdog' was not written by Mingus. Supposedly Mingus did write a short transcript which was full of anger and that didn't hold back, but a woman (Richmond does not state who) took over and actually wrote it.

Interesting as the book is always titled as an 'autobiography' and this is the first time I have seen otherwise.
A fascinating insight as always... I'm currently making the most of the lockdown and re-reading the Miles autobiography, and have also ordered the Mezz Mezzrow autobiography and Thelonious Monk: Life and Times....might as well add the Mingus one to the list if you recommend it! 😁
 
The Mingus 'autobiography' I read more than 30 years ago, it traumatized me. Vile.

The Miles autobiography is not qute as bad, at least it appears that Miles was being honest, but he sure does come across as a nasty piece of work.

A more balanced view of Miles is Ian carr's biography which I consider authoritative.
 
A fascinating insight as always... I'm currently making the most of the lockdown and re-reading the Miles autobiography, and have also ordered the Mezz Mezzrow autobiography and Thelonious Monk: Life and Times....might as well add the Mingus one to the list if you recommend it!
I agree with @RHANDMJ, I would avoid the Mingus 'autobiography'. There is very little jazz in it and instead its basically all about Mingus' incredibly poor view on women.

I have read a ton of jazz biographies/books and would recommend Art Peppers. It's chunky and he doesn't hold back at all. He messed up his life in many ways but is honest the whole way through. I have the Monk you mentioned and will get to it soon, its a behemoth of a book!

Every year I keep a list of books that I read. Last year I read 32 books and 19 of them were jazz-related.......I think I have a problem :ROFLMAO:
 
I agree with @RHANDMJ, I would avoid the Mingus 'autobiography'. There is very little jazz in it and instead its basically all about Mingus' incredibly poor view on women.

I have read a ton of jazz biographies/books and would recommend Art Peppers. It's chunky and he doesn't hold back at all. He messed up his life in many ways but is honest the whole way through. I have the Monk you mentioned and will get to it soon, its a behemoth of a book!

Every year I keep a list of books that I read. Last year I read 32 books and 19 of them were jazz-related.......I think I have a problem :ROFLMAO:

Always nice readings. BTW, any update on these tapes you bought? Did you found more treasures?
 
Always nice readings. BTW, any update on these tapes you bought? Did you found more treasures?
Yeah I have built up quite a bit of info. I know for certain who recorded them, and he was quite a well known person on the UK jazz scene. I have been listening to each cassette and filling out a word doc with basic info. Im currently 37 pages in (118 cassettes) and have barely made a dint. I'm chatting to the guy that sold them as he might have other interesting bits for sale. Problem is that with Covid and the lockdown its going to be a while until I can get to see what he has. Hopefully at some point this year I will have the chance. I will eventually post a load of them on my instagram I think, theres lots of treasure here.
 
The Mingus 'autobiography' I read more than 30 years ago, it traumatized me. Vile.

The Miles autobiography is not qute as bad, at least it appears that Miles was being honest, but he sure does come across as a nasty piece of work.

A more balanced view of Miles is Ian carr's biography which I consider authoritative.
I agree with @RHANDMJ, I would avoid the Mingus 'autobiography'. There is very little jazz in it and instead its basically all about Mingus' incredibly poor view on women.

I have read a ton of jazz biographies/books and would recommend Art Peppers. It's chunky and he doesn't hold back at all. He messed up his life in many ways but is honest the whole way through. I have the Monk you mentioned and will get to it soon, its a behemoth of a book!

Every year I keep a list of books that I read. Last year I read 32 books and 19 of them were jazz-related.......I think I have a problem :ROFLMAO:
Cheers, will keep those books in mind, that Art Pepper one seems like some story!

The Miles one is taking a bit longer than usual as I'm reading a few pages and then getting sidetracked into streaming some of the songs he's mentioning...that Miles Davis six album Legendary Prestige box set that's still available is now calling my name haha
 
Cheers, will keep those books in mind, that Art Pepper one seems like some story!

The Miles one is taking a bit longer than usual as I'm reading a few pages and then getting sidetracked into streaming some of the songs he's mentioning...that Miles Davis six album Legendary Prestige box set that's still available is now calling my name haha
It took me a while to read for the same reason. When I read the Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Lee Morgan biographies I listened to their complete works on spotify. Hundreds of hours of music. It was great but a hell of a lot of music :ROFLMAO:
 
Cheers, will keep those books in mind, that Art Pepper one seems like some story!

The Miles one is taking a bit longer than usual as I'm reading a few pages and then getting sidetracked into streaming some of the songs he's mentioning...that Miles Davis six album Legendary Prestige box set that's still available is now calling my name haha
That Prestige box is very very nice.
 
Cheers, will keep those books in mind, that Art Pepper one seems like some story!

The Miles one is taking a bit longer than usual as I'm reading a few pages and then getting sidetracked into streaming some of the songs he's mentioning...that Miles Davis six album Legendary Prestige box set that's still available is now calling my name haha
If you want a bigger (!) but more affordable Prestige box it's worth checking this one out Miles Davis - Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings I think I picked mine up for about $80 and it's got so much fabulous music on it.
 
Damn, I needed someone to tell me it was terrible and a complete waste of money 😁

Will have a look around, cheers for mentioning! (y)
My only complaint with it is that the box itself isn't really conducive to taking the albums in and out for constant play. I'll eventually get some empty sleeves to put them in to put on my shelves. I have this issue with a lot of box sets though.
 
My only complaint with it is that the box itself isn't really conducive to taking the albums in and out for constant play. I'll eventually get some empty sleeves to put them in to put on my shelves. I have this issue with a lot of box sets though.
Actually that's a good idea, I might look at doing that for some of the box sets I have that don't have individual album sleeves. They'd definitely get played more if they weren't in a box.
 
Hoping that Yussef Dayes gets a regular black press. Really think it's a great album and would be bummed if the vmp version was the only one.

In case anyone ends up with an extra copy from vmp let me know if we can work something out.
 
If you want a bigger (!) but more affordable Prestige box it's worth checking this one out Miles Davis - Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings I think I picked mine up for about $80 and it's got so much fabulous music on it.
@Poly-Rythmo raises a great point here.

I have found that in some cases it's worth searching Discogs to see if a 'complete __ recordings' of an artist already exists. A key example I have found is with the recent Charlie Parker Complete Savoy 10" set (4-lps). Its a decent looking set which looks to retail around £60-£70. I picked up the Charlie Parker ‎– The Complete Savoy Studio Sessions (5lp set with a really great book) from ebay a while ago for £16. It contains the exact same music from the exact same tapes at a fraction of the cost. In fact, there is more music on the 5lp set as it contains some of the alternative takes.
 
@Poly-Rythmo raises a great point here.

I have found that in some cases it's worth searching Discogs to see if a 'complete __ recordings' of an artist already exists. A key example I have found is with the recent Charlie Parker Complete Savoy 10" set (4-lps). Its a decent looking set which looks to retail around £60-£70. I picked up the Charlie Parker ‎– The Complete Savoy Studio Sessions (5lp set with a really great book) from ebay a while ago for £16. It contains the exact same music from the exact same tapes at a fraction of the cost. In fact, there is more music on the 5lp set as it contains some of the alternative takes.
There's the trade off too about buying new vinyl vs old, seems like all kinds of vinyl is being listed as NM when it's clearly not even visually NM. I've found Discogs has been getting frustrating recently.

For the price you paid it's a chance worth taking tho, seems a bargain at that price!
 
There's the trade off too about buying new vinyl vs old, seems like all kinds of vinyl is being listed as NM when it's clearly not even visually NM. I've found Discogs has been getting frustrating recently.

For the price you paid it's a chance worth taking tho, seems a bargain at that price!
Yeah that's very true. I bought 3 box sets off an ebay seller at the same time (the Charlie Parker, Art Blakey & Les Jazz-Messengers - Au Club Saint-Germain Vol. 1 to 3, and an 8lp Django Reinhardt) and luckily they were all in great shape. It can easily go the other way though. I guess with Discogs the rating system is a bit more clear cut and you could dispute if a set turned up that was not as described. Or even better, buying them in person at an actual shop......remember when that was a thing :ROFLMAO:
 
I'm probably behind the times here, but just noticed an upcoming re-issue of the Charlie Parker Mercury & Clef 10"s

In this review, it says, 'All the records are being reissued for the first time, with the exception of Bird and Diz.' surely that can't be right. Are these different to the previous clef re-issues?


I'll definitely not pick it up yet anyway, I still don't have any Charlie Parker & will probably go for some second hand re-issues first, unless I see another deal on the Savoy box, or maybe on this one.
 
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