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New Yorker Magazine Profile of Phil Schaap


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1. Being a jazz "completist" is no sin.

No, not per se, but Schaap's extremes might well fall into that category.

Gotta agree with that. I mean, even I'm not all that interested in the time that Gene Harris belched "Thing Ain't What They Used To Be".

:g

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I actually knew Phil pretty well back in the late 1970s when I used to practically live at the West End - and he has done a great deal for the music - problem is he really does make things up - more than one reliable historian has told me of sitting and hearing Phil speak at various conferences and just coming out with complete fiction - so I don't mind the trivia stuff, I just think some of it is false - as for Haig and the dates, the point is that Phil would have these great muscians on his show and would interrupt them so much with corrections that it became quite comical - hey, and Haig was no druggie when I knew him, he was only a rapist -

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AND-- what the fuck has stopped you, Chris, from writing another book? if it's health, OK, otherwise spend less time here & get your ass back to work. it's been a l-o-n-g time, bro', & your interweb bitchslapping comes off as way more jealousy-- right or wrong-- for Schaap having usurped a position (in public consciousness) you once held (taking into account vast differences in context, i.e. jass more marginal now than then.)

EDC -- The idea that Chris is jealous because Schapp " usurped a position (in public consciousness) [that Chris] once held" comes from what planet? You need to stop smoking those funny cigarettes.

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The Max Roach Memorial was particularly touching; yeah, Schaap went on and on as usual, but he also replayed a large number of interviews done with Max Roach over the years and, in most of those cases, Phil sat back and let Max do all the talking. Max sounded gracious, generous, and happy to be talking with Phil.

Still, OTOH, it's hard to let go of how Phil botched the Ellington releases he oversaw (Newport, BBB, Such Sweet Thunder, etc) as well as the Goodman Carnegie Hall mess. Stick to radio, Phil. PLEASE! (I'm curious about which liner notes he proclaimed himself the "world's greatest authority on jazz"...)

Edited by Big Al
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Guest Bill Barton

I haven't heard any of Schaap's shows for years. Back when I did though, even as something of a trivia buff myself, they were way over the top. The music is what's important and how it affects you emotionally, intellectually, whatever. Does anyone really give a flying eff about these inconsequential details (fabricated or not) other than Schaap himself? And exactly what is the perceived audience? If the approach turns off avid jazz buffs one can only imagine how it must strike more casual listeners. Jim Hall's oft quoted aside to another musician: "Don't just play something, stand there." could be adapted here to folks behind the mike: "Don't just say something (followed by something else, and something else, ad infinitum), sit there." Please, let the music "speak for itself" as the old cliche goes. I'm with Ted...

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This is exactly why I "had chills" in my first post.

I knew Chris would respond and the thread would reach this point. I think Schaap is silly and has become "important" because of his work and position. I do think he's probably "nuts". I think Chris is more reliable as a historian, but there is probably something else going on here.

I don't want to hear any more about this. Please.

In other contexts we all accept "assholes and charlatans" as influences and mentors.

Thank god for Herman Lubinsky. :ph34r:

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... nor has Chris written the book that serve as both testimony & corrective-- why not?

A book that corrects the errors of Phil Schaap -- that'd be a best-seller. Seriously, Michael Fitzgerald attempted something like that when faced with Nick Catalano's appalling biography of Clifford Brown, compiling a multi-page list of as many of the book's significant goofs, mis-statements, and outright contradictions as he could bear to type. It ran on for maybe single-spaced four pages and was inadvertently almost funny at times but obviously of interest only to people like us, certainly not to the editorial staff at Oxford University Press, which published the book.

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Guest Bill Barton

AND-- what the fuck has stopped you, Chris, from writing another book? if it's health, OK, otherwise spend less time here & get your ass back to work. it's been a l-o-n-g time, bro', & your interweb bitchslapping comes off as way more jealousy-- right or wrong-- for Schaap having usurped a position (in public consciousness) you once held (taking into account vast differences in context, i.e. jass more marginal now than then.)

EDC -- The idea that Chris is jealous because Schapp " usurped a position (in public consciousness) [that Chris] once held" comes from what planet? You need to stop smoking those funny cigarettes.

Reminds me of why he's the only board member I currently have on "ignore." :ph34r:

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hey, Mr. DJ-- i have Wyclef Jean's "Baby Daddy" (featuring Redman*) cued up-- wanna see if you can still "hit the post," hotshot?

just say when.

* the REAL Redman, i.e. Reggie Noble & a a fair match for both Don & Dewey, tho' not, perhaps, both together. (who the fuck is?)

:tup

When.

Trust you know he was a member (with 2 brothers) of The Joneses :)

MG

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AND-- what the fuck has stopped you, Chris, from writing another book? if it's health, OK, otherwise spend less time here & get your ass back to work. it's been a l-o-n-g time, bro', & your interweb bitchslapping comes off as way more jealousy-- right or wrong-- for Schaap having usurped a position (in public consciousness) you once held (taking into account vast differences in context, i.e. jass more marginal now than then.)

EDC -- The idea that Chris is jealous because Schapp " usurped a position (in public consciousness) [that Chris] once held" comes from what planet? You need to stop smoking those funny cigarettes.

Reminds me of why he's the only board member I currently have on "ignore." :ph34r:

Bill, I hope it is Clementine that you have on "ignore." Posting raving, immature insults at a board member while hiding behind a pseudonym is cowardly.

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