Close Enough For Jazz

Mike Zwerin played with Miles Davis in the original Birth of the Cool sessions, but most of the anecdotes from his life as a participant and observer of jazz come from his days in the big bands of Maynard Ferguson and Claude Thornhill. Plenty of goofy moments from musicians on the road, self-discovery in Paris, etc. Not quite a working-class session musician, but not a star either, Mike comes off as amusing and down-to-earth. A fun read for musicians.

'This mix of genuine humility and hard-won hubris, of mysticism and technical mastery ... makes Van Morrison quite simply, and quite indisputably, "The Bard of Belfast".' Paul Muldoon If I ventured in the slipstream Between the viaducts of your dreams Keep 'Er Lit is the second volume of Van Morrison's collected lyrics containing one hundred and twenty songs from across his storied career. It contains love songs, work songs, songs about the pains and anxieties of existence, songs of consolation, songs about various kinds of spiritual quest and the realms of the mystical, and songs which deal with healing and reconciliation, both with the self and with others. Then there are the songs of memory and of childhood; songs about the natural world and about the perspectives it can provide on time. Taken together with Lit Up Inside , this volume gives an overview of his fifty-year career, revealing why he is celebrated as one of the most innovative and enduring songwriters of our time.

This book presents interdisciplinary research on the aesthetics of perfection and imperfection. Broadening this growing field, it connects the aesthetics of imperfection with issues in areas including philosophy, music, literature, urban environment, architecture, art theory, and cultural studies. The contributors to this volume argue that imperfection has value in being open and inclusive. The aesthetics of imperfection is typified by organic, unpolished production and the avoidance of perfect finish, instead representing living and natural change, and opposing the consumerist concern with the flawless and pristine. The chapters are divided into seven thematic sections. After the first section, on imperfection across the arts and culture, the next three parts are on imperfection in the arts of music, visual and theatrical arts, and literature. The second half of this book then moves to categories in everyday life and branches this further into body, self, and the person, and urban environments. Together, the chapters promote a positive ethos of imperfection that furthers individual and social engagement and supports creativity over mere passivity. Imperfectionist Aesthetics in Art and Everyday Life will appeal to a broad range of scholars and advanced students working in philosophical aesthetics, literature, music, urban environment, architecture, art theory, and cultural studies.

A persuasive appreciation of what jazz is and of how it has permeated and enriched the culture of America

Quick Reference for Band Directors is a go-to guide for new and experienced band directors. With tips on recruiting and retaining members, preparing lesson plans and program objectives, developing a booster group, budgeting, classroom management, using technology, and making emergency repairs, this book will soon number among your closest advisors. Learn how to build, maintain, and improve your program. Get tips on how to structure concert band, symphonic band, wind ensemble, marching band, small ensembles, jazz band, and pep band while developing musicianship. The book focuses on high school band programs but offers advice for elementary and middle school directors as well. Read it sequentially or select the chapters most pertinent to you. You'll come back again and again to benefit from the author's thirty years of teaching.

Covering over 10,000 idioms and collocations characterized by similarity in their wording or metaphorical idea which do not show corresponding similarity in their meanings, this dictionary presents a unique cross-section of the English language. Though it is designed specifically to assist readers in avoiding the use of inappropriate or erroneous phrases, the book can also be used as a regular phraseological dictionary providing definitions to individual idioms, cliches, and set expressions. Most phrases included in the dictionary are in active current use, making information about their meanings and usage essential to language learners at all levels of proficiency.

Ken Prouty argues that knowledge of jazz, or more to the point, claims to knowledge of jazz, are the prime movers in forming jazz’s identity, its canon, and its community. Every jazz artist, critic, or fan understands jazz differently, based on each individual’s unique experiences and insights. Through playing, listening, reading, and talking about jazz, both as a form of musical expression and as a marker of identity, each aficionado develops a personalized relationship to the larger jazz world. Through the increasingly important role of media, listeners also engage in the formation of different communities that not only transcend traditional boundaries of geography, but increasingly exist only in the virtual world. The relationships of “jazz people” within and between these communities is at the center of Knowing Jazz. Some groups, such as those in academia, reflect a clash of sensibilities between historical traditions. Others, particularly online communities, represent new and exciting avenues for everyday fans, whose involvement in jazz has often been ignored. Other communities seek to define themselves as expressions of national or global sensibility, pointing to the ever-changing nature of jazz’s identity as an American art form in an international setting. What all these communities share, however, is an intimate, visceral link to the music and the artists who make it, brought to life through the medium of recording. Informed by an interdisciplinary approach and approaching the topic from a number of perspectives, Knowing Jazz charts a philosophical course in which many disparate perspectives and varied opinions on jazz can find common ground.

The Culture of Jazz is a collection of essays that view jazz from an anthropological perspective. It focuses on aspects of jazz culture and the ways in which jazz scrutinizes the American lifestyle. Jazz musicians filter their perspective on culture based on African roots. They have an obligation to tell truth to power and provide views of alternative realities. These essays explore many dimensions of the jazz life and its perspectives on cultural realities. Heavily influenced by the perspectives of Neil Leonard and Alan Merriam, The Culture of Jazz covers a broad range of topics making it an unparalleled compilation.