I ended my first Hodeir book by listening to some Charlie Parker tracks while reading the final chapter of the book, which was about the state of Jazz in the wake of Charlie Parker's death.
After spinning the cd through, I listened to it again. Then I had some bidness to attend to, so I did that. When I got home, I started up the CP CD again. That sixth track sounded SO familiar, but I couldn't place it. I checked the track listings: "A Night in Tunisia." Of course. I'd heard several versions of it. I wondered which versions I'd heard previously, so I Googled. Found a Dizzy Gillespie version (of course--he wrote it). Found cover versions by Art Blakey (with Lee Morgan!) Clifford Brown, Dexter Gordon, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Erics Dolphy, and Sarah Vaughan. I knew those names, but I was pretty sure it would have to have been Miles Davis that I heard, since I haven't really listened to a lot of Jazz music. Or possibly Eric Dolphy. ANYway...I then went on and listened to a couple of different versions of the song, and it was really interesting. You know how when you listen to a cover version of a song and you wonder why the cover version exists, because it's just a weak attempt to sound like the original? That happens to me a lot. Most of the time. But that wasn't the case with these versions. I felt like each of the musicians was trying to find his / her own way into the song, and it was exciting and inspiring to listen to them working it out.
And then...I felt the pull of Toward Jazz, and it was too strong to resist. I opened it up and started to read, thinking I would just go through a few pages and then let it sit until tomorrow.
The first chapter was about Charlie Parker. It formed such a natural bridge with the last chapter of the original version of Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence that I was even more baffled as to why it had been excised from the later printing. This time around, Hodeir was still mourning what had become of Jazz, but there were indications that he would be moving beyond that as well. Good thing, since what would there be to write about if he didn't intend this?
Near the end of my reading for today, he compared two versions of Duke Ellington's "Koko." The first, recorded in 1940, he regarded as a masterpiece. The second, recorded (by Duke Ellington) in 1956, he regarded as a sham, as evidence that Duke Ellington had lost his musical sensibilities. I listened to the 1940 version twice before spinning the 1956 version. And I definitely got what Hodeir was talking about. The 1956 version, which has been speeded up considerably, sounds thin and hokey. You can imagine Ellington giving cheesy grins (and winks, of course) to the audience as he conducts his orchestra.
Hodeir has basically been saying that this is what happens to musicians in most cases: they go from unpopular because their sound is different to being accepted, and when they are accepted they cease to innovate and begin to fail as musicians. The only way to avoid that fate is either to flee from success or die young.
Makes you think, doesn't it? I mean, so many of the great musicians have died so very young, and often at their own hands. Does that verify what Hodeir is saying here? Dunno, but sounds like at least maybe to me.
Oh...so this was Day 1,591 for my DDR, but it was both Day 13 of Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence and Day 1 of Toward Jazz. Read to page 30. I'm guessing it's only going to take me a week to finish this book off.
Maybe less.
Oh...P.S. At the end of Jazz: Etcetera Hodeir made reference to jazz as being "an example of the triumph of primitivism over the European tradition...." (245) It's awfully hard not to hear that as racist. Which is puzzling. Hodeir clearly loves Jazz music...reveres the Black musicians who created and perfected Jazz...and yet there's a steady beat of racism throughout this book. Is it just me being an overly sensitive 21st century liberal...or is it the realism that is so pervasive that the speaker doesn't even think that it's racist...or something else? I dunno.
Day 2 (Jazz Day 14 / DDRD 1,592) March 11, 2022
Read to page 70.
Here's a thing which I found to be pretty fuckin' funny:
"The practice of giving 'stars' is justified only on the lowest levels of criticism, such as record tips for busy readers." (47)
I am really thinking hard about starting a new blog now: Record Tips For Busy Readers. I'd kind of like to include Movies, TV Shows, Books, & Comic Books as well, which would logically necessitate changing the title...or perhaps truncating it to Tips For Busy Readers... but that's just not as funny to me for some reason. So logic be damned, full speed ahead, right? News as it happens.
I was also quite fond of this bit:
"...it is not the object of our affections which determines our stupidity, it is our manner of being affectionate." (52)
It's actually Henri Bernard's words--in a letter to Hodeir. Hodeir's response was kind of snooty, which forced me to find out who Henri Bernard was. And?
Well...there are a lot of Henri Bernards, actually. My best guess is that the one who wrote this letter was a not very famous French jazz musician. Still...no need to be snooty to him, André.
Okay. I guess I'd better get to work on that new blog, hmmm?
Day 3 (Jazz Day 15 / DDRD 1,593) March 12, 2022
Read to page 100. I haven't really made any effort to up the ante to 30 pages a day in this book. It just kind of pulls me along. Also, I timed myself, and it's only taking a little more than a minute per page, so obviously the pages are less dense with text than, say, The Pacific War Trilogy.
Encountered a new term in today's reading: the one-armed pianist. Hodeir used it in reference to the playing style of Count Basie, saying that his right hand did most of the work while his left hand would just add some deft touches now and again. Seems like One Armed Pianist would make a good title for something or other.
Day 4 (Jazz Day 16 / DDRD 1,594) March 13, 2022
Looks like Friday the 13th come on a Sunday this month...as a character in Pogo used to say regularly. (Once a month, I'd guess.)
Read to page 130. Hodeir spent quite a few of the past thirty pages trashing Benny Carter and Art Tatum...even though he had many complimentary things to say about them. Yes, I found that puzzling, too. It made me feel the way I used to feel after reading a record review in Rolling Stone. It would either say This is a great record and then proceed to trash it or say This is a terrible record and then proceed to point out all of the wonderful things about it. Sheesh. In the course of the trashing, Hodeir made reference to Count Basie's "Basie's Basement," which certainly is a very interesting piece of music. Basie's piano in the beginning part sounds as if it's being cut off after the sparse notes...it made me think the recording was defective at first. Later on the rest of the band does the same thing. It's kind of dissettling...and kind of cool, too. Worth looking up. There's also a pretty cool jazzy organ going on here.
Here's a thing Hodeir said about what he perceived to be "...the real meaning of Basie's rejection of melodic invention....":
"He may well have deliberately deprived his music of any harmonic and melodic charm in order to concentrate entirely on experiments in rhythm." (103)
That made me think of Philip Glass. I saw Mr. Glass speak at my alma mater, Bellarmine (then College), and a student asked him, "Why doesn't your music change?" Mr. Glass replied, "My music changes constantly; it just doesn't change in the ways that you are expecting it to change" or something like that.
Wow...I think I only have two days left in this book. Have to say that this one, for all its faults, has really flown by.
Day 5 (Jazz Day 17 / DDRD 1,595) March 14, 2022
Read to page 170. Which leaves 37 pages for tomorrow. And then... more Jazz, of course.
Many of today's forty pages were devoted to Thelonious Monk. Hodier, being Hodeir, had me thinking that he really hated Monk at first, then he made a hard turn and started extolling his virtues...and seemed to see Monk as one of the greatest of all Jazz innovators. I don't know Monk's music at all...though I did have that album he did with Joni Mitchell for a while way back when.
Here's a bit which I particularly liked...and which I think explains Trump's ability to get people on his side:
"The best method of convincing an audience whose average mental age is under twelve is to comply with that norm yourself. If you happen to have the intellect and sensibility of an adult — even those of a backward adult — a shadow of a doubt, something resembling a conscience is likely to creep into your mind and that will be the end of your capacity for expression." (157)
Oh, Hodier. You are one wascally wabbit.
Day 6 (Jazz Day 18 / DDRD 1,596) March 15, 2022
Oh, look: it's The Ides of March. 🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡
Read to page 224, aka The End.
First, this:
Well. That's pretty high praise, isn't it? Further on, Hodeir has this to say:
"...one of the great composers of our time" (whom he identified only as "a man who can hardly be accused of any indulgence for jazz") listened to Monk's solo in "Bag's Groove," and when the record was over, he said that it was "shattering."
Hodeir also observed that this solo, "...for all its brevity, constitutes one of the purest moments of beauty in history of jazz. " (177)
So I reckon I need to listen to that, don't I?
And of course this being the 21st century, that only took a few seconds. (I found it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF74qucsaWY if you'd like to have a listen.)
Also, you'd think I'd have noticed before the last few pages of this book, but I didn't: the binding is sewn. A paperback book with sewn binding.
Of course, it was published in 1962, when people still gave a shit about things. And it was a Grove Press book (Evergreen Imprint), which probably had something to do with it. Still....
Also also: Hodeir made a passing allusion to writer Herman Broch, who seems like a guy I should look into. Unfortunately he isn't all that easy to find Out There, so we'll see what comes of that.
And finally, also also also, this was tucked into my copy of Toward Jazz:
Strange thing: it's got a 1992 date, but the sales tax is figured at 7%...so I'm guessing that reflects a purchase in a big city, like New York, maybe. Just another of life's Little Jazz Mysteries.
☮📤
DDR Day 1 to 1,000: 13,449 pages read
(1) Leviathan 63 days, 729 pages
(2) Stalingrad 27 days, 982 pages
(3) Life and Fate 26 days, 880 pages
(4) The Second World War 34 + 32 + 40 + 43 + 31 + 32 days = 212 days, 4,379 pages
(5) Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming 10 days, 572 pages
(6) The Great Bridge 25 days, 636 pages
(8) Blake: Prophet Against Empire, 23 days, 523 pages
(9) Jerusalem 61 days, 1,266 pages
(10) Voice of the Fire 9 days, 320 pages
(11) The Fountainhead 15 days, 720 pages
(12) The Pacific Trilogy: Pacific Crucible 23 days, 640 pages
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