Summer Reading List

When I was first got interested into digging deeply into Black Music in the late 1970s, a friend recommended I read "Notes and Tones: Musician-to-Musician Interviews" (Da Capo Press), a collection written by drummer Arthur Taylor. Taylor (1929-1995) had a long and busy career working and/ or recording with artists such Coleman Hawkins, Thelonious Monk, Gene Ammons, Red Garland, Gigi Gryce, Jackie McLean, and John Coltrane.  Between 1968-1972, Taylor compiled the conversations that make up his book; musicians such as Ornette Coleman, Art Blakey, Carmen McRae, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Betty Carter, and others. Taylor's insightful questions pulled no punches and while many of the answers may have shocked White audiences, they gave great insights into the lives of these musicians.  In the decades since its publication, I have rarely encountered a book like "Notes and Tones".  

Photo: Gari Garalalde

Earlier this year, trumpeter, composer, and educator Jeremy Pelt released his latest album "GRIOT: THIS IS IMPORTANT!"  The recording not only featured music but also spoken word excerpts from interviews Pelt had conducted with Larry Willis, J.D.Allen, Harold Mabern, Bertha Hope, Ambrose Akinmusire, Paul West, Rene Marie, and Warren Smith.  The words the listener hears give real insights into the life of modern musicians, new and old veterans, trying to make a living doing what they love.

At just about the same time, Pelt self-published "GRIOT: Examining the Lives of Jazz's Great Storytellers, Vol. I".  The book is only available from the author's website and I can tell you from personal experience that the shipping is fairly quick, at least in the U.S.  The book contains interviews with the people from the album (except the late Mr. Mabern who will appear in "Vol. II") plus Robert Glasper, Terri Lyne Carrington, Lewis Nash, Greg Hutchinson, Dr. Eddie Henderson, Justin Robinson, and Wynton Marsalis.  The book is similar to "Notes and Tones" as are the responses. While Black Music has changed in the four-plus decades, issues with racism, musicians rights, how poorly people and record labels treat the artist, and much more.  If you only know these people through their music, you should be fascinated by who they are are human beings.   

For more information, go to http://jeremypelt.net/home.html.  

The day before my wife and I left for vacation, I received "Guitar Talk: Conversations with Visionary Players" (Terra Nova Press), a collection of interviews guitarist Joel Harrison (pictured left) conducted with his contemporaries. 26 different players, ranging from Ralph Towner to Pat Metheny to Michael Gregory Jackson to Ben Monder to Liberty Ellman to Mary Halvorson to Ava Mendoza and so many more. At the end, the author includes a "Catalogue of the Missing", a long list of guitarists who Harrison says the reader should give as much attention to as the ones who are in the book. 

The book is available at www.terranovapress.com/books/guitar-talk-conversations-with-visionary-players, from traditional book stores, and various online sources. Harrison has also released an album of the same name that features duos with Ben Monder, Steve Cardenas, Pete McCann, David Gilmore, and electric bass innovator Steve Swallow. That recording is the first for Harrison's new label Alternative Guitar Summit Recordings. Check it out  at 

https://agsrecordings.bandcamp.com/releases.