John F Goodman - Mingus Speaks (University of California Press, 2013

Contributed by Neil

Charles Mingus is among jazz’s greatest composers and perhaps its most talented bass player. He was blunt and outspoken about the place of jazz in music history and American culture, about which performers were the real thing (or not), and much more. These in-depth interviews, conducted several years before Mingus died, capture the composer’s spirit and voice, revealing how he saw himself as composer and performer, how he viewed his peers and predecessors, how he created his extraordinary music, and how he looked at race. Augmented with interviews and commentary by ten close associates—including Mingus’s wife Sue, Teo Macero, George Wein, and Sy Johnson—Mingus Speaks provides a wealth of new perspectives on the musician’s life and career. As a writer for Playboy, John F. Goodman reviewed Mingus’s comeback concert in 1972 and went on to achieve an intimacy with the composer that brings a relaxed and candid tone to the ensuing interviews. Much of what Mingus shares shows him in a new light: his personality, his passions and sense of humor, and his thoughts on music. The conversations are wide-ranging, shedding fresh light on important milestones in Mingus’s life such as the publication of his memoir, Beneath the Underdog, the famous Tijuana episodes, his relationships, and the jazz business.

Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History

Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History By Ashley Kahn, Sonny Rollins, Bill Cosby, Herbie Hancock, George Wein, Robin D.G. Kelley, Francis Davis 2012 | 224 Pages | ISBN: 0760342628 | PDF | 71 MB The first ever illustrated history of the world’s favourite jazz musician. This is the complete history of Miles Davis, the world’s most popular jazz trumpeter, composer, bandleader and musical visionary. Constantly creating, Davis defined and then defied genres from bebop and cool jazz to hard bop and jazz-rock fusion. Davis played with some of the great jazz musicians of the 20th century; legends like Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie and John McLaughlin. But the man who put his name to the world’s best-selling jazz album, Kind of Blue, had a volatile character to match his virtuoso performances. Davis’ story veers from tempestuous relationships with movie stars to heroin addiction and police busts. With contributions from jazz critics, famous fans and Davis’ former bandmates Sonny Rollins and Herbie Hancock, this illustrated history gives the inside track on the great man and his music. This is what a post would look like if a book blog was in existence!