Retrato do autor
13 Works 446 Membros 4 Críticas

About the Author

Francis Davis is a contributing editor of the Atlantic Monthly.

Includes the name: Francis Davis

Obras por Francis Davis

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Membros

Críticas

A compilation of articles and reviews the author has written for newspapers and magazines.

Some interesting profiles, but why does the author seem a bit cranky to me?
 
Assinalado
jmatson | Oct 20, 2011 |
I picked this up to get a better idea of the social world of "jazz". Davis is a great writer, creating prose that is both accessible and deeply illustrative. Save for the many typos the writing is impeccable.

As a musician, and one who enjoys the sounds and craftsmanship of jazz, this is what I came away with, given my reasons for reading.

Jazz is more than music. It is a preservationist society. It is a highly guarded and regulated form that does not easily give way to new developments. Bebop — now over fifty years old — is still the touchstone of the institution, and any new players are weighed in the balance of Parker and Miles. It is institutionalized in the tax funded Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Thelonious Monk Institute and the NEA (Davis does not mention NPR, but this tax funded entity would fall under the same rubric as the others). These institutions are overseen by boards that maintain a strict definition of what constitutes "jazz". They are not profit making entities, but are funded by tax money (both local and federal), grants (more tax money) and other kinds of tax money. In other words — drawing a line here — jazz continues as an art form, not because there is a large audience for it, but because the government keeps it afloat. Not a happy thought.

There are few sympathetic characters in Jazz history. The early social world of jazz is filled with criminals, wife-beaters, dead-beat dads, philanderers, adulterers, pettiness, meanness, drug-soaked hubris, and general irresponsibility. Oddly, men and women who did not join the club of heroin use were viewed as outsiders. The characters types listed here are not the fringe, but rather constitute many of the central figures of the movement. Charlie Parker died at age 34 due to heroin abuse, a guilt-ridden and troubled man. He was viewed as a model for many who followed him into the drug as means of obtaining musical greatness. The word tragic sounds trite given the immense waste of the gifts of Parker and many others like him.

According to Davis there are currently two camps within the social world of "jazz": the entrenched rebel elite and the preservationist establishment. Neither have made any new headway in the art-form.

As a musician, entrance into the jazz world is a scary proposition, not because the music is opaque, although the necessary head-room to play is a challenge. Rather, it is because the social expectations and the critical judgment of the gate-keepers is so severe. "Jazz" has become a crystalized system that is all elbows. Strangely many jazz players still complain of a lack of audience, but I have to wonder if many of the players are simply blind to the fact that they work within an institution that does not appeal to the man on the street. One is made to feel that they need to know the secret hand-shake before they are permitted to the key that is supposed to enlighten them to the deeper pleasures hidden in the dusty archives of a dead form (bebop) that is kept alive by tax money.

I'll take "music" over "jazz".
… (mais)
½
 
Assinalado
chriszodrow | Dec 28, 2009 |
A highly-readable and up-to-date history of the blues. The author is not averse to debunking, whilst simultaneously indulging, many of the myths that have grown up around the music. For beginners this should provide an easy and enjoyable starting point. For the knowledgeable it serves as a refreshing corrective and brings to bear a contemporary sense of proportion. One missing dimension I personally would have liked to have seen included is more than a passing reference to the last wave of Mississippi musicians represented by the Fat Possum label and including artists such as RL Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, T-Model Ford, Cedell Davis. I think these have proved to be of far greater significance to blues discovery now in that they have introduced a new generation to the music and are of far more interest than Robert Cray, Chris Wiley, John Campbell and suchlike who are held up as continuing with the tradition. For the latter-day stuff you need to go to the late Robert Palmer's 'Deep Blues' (not the book, but the documentary available on DVD) and the 'You See Me Laughin'documentary (available on DVD).… (mais)
1 vote
Assinalado
atyson | Sep 15, 2006 |

Prémios

You May Also Like

Estatísticas

Obras
13
Membros
446
Popularidade
#54,979
Avaliação
½ 3.6
Críticas
4
ISBN
30
Línguas
2

Tabelas & Gráficos