The Story of Blue Note

[erwbol]

Like Big Beat Steve I am wondering how many pages of text and photos are devoted to the resurrected Blue Note, especially artists like Norah Jones?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I suppose, if it's a history, you've got to put up with the bits you don't like, or else it's kind of like a Hollywood biopic.

MG

[erwbol]

I can deal with a couple of pages, say at most 10% of text and photos.

[Big Beat Steve]

I suppose, if it's a history, you've got to put up with the bits you don't like, or else it's kind of like a Hollywood biopic.

MG

Sure, MG, but it all depends on the approach of the publishers.

You see, I've come across history books that purported to show the ultimate "100-year history of ... (put in whatever subject comes to mind)", and where, on the face of it, this history ought to give exactly even coverage to each of these 100 years (or at least to each of the 10 decades of that century) but on looking closer you find that the "first" 70 or 80 years are glossed over on the first 30 percent of the book and then the most recent 20 or 30 years take up the other 70 percent of the book, including a large part devoted to whatever the most recent events or stars or celebs are, i.e. those that make headlines TODAY and are what such a books sells for to the superficially interested.

Not what somebody interested in the ACTUAL history would want to go for.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I suppose, if it's a history, you've got to put up with the bits you don't like, or else it's kind of like a Hollywood biopic.

MG

Sure, MG, but it all depends on the approach of the publishers.

You see, I've come across history books that purported to show the ultimate "100-year history of ... (put in whatever subject comes to mind)", and where, on the face of it, this history ought to give exactly even coverage to each of these 100 years (or at least to each of the 10 decades of that century) but on looking closer you find that the "first" 70 or 80 years are glossed over on the first 30 percent of the book and then the most recent 20 or 30 years take up the other 70 percent of the book, including a large part devoted to whatever the most recent events or stars or celebs are, i.e. those that make headlines TODAY and are what such a books sells for to the superficially interested.

Not what somebody interested in the ACTUAL history would want to go for.

Ah!

Glad to see I haven't come across such books.

BTW, even coverage doesn't do it. Importance has to be taken into account. But not to focus on one bit to render the other bits unnoticeable, of course.

MG

[Big Beat Steve]

Ah!

Glad to see I haven't come across such books.

BTW, even coverage doesn't do it. Importance has to be taken into account. But not to focus on one bit to render the other bits unnoticeable, of course.

MG

Yes, you are right, even coverage doesn't necessarily do it.

But to give you one example in a totally different field (that touched me in my younger days, but not much anymore). Imagine a book about "100 Years of F.A. Cup Finals" where such an even coverage approach is imaginable. A fairly even number of pages for each year's final, right? Each final was as important as next year's in its own day, right, and ought to be so from a historian's perspective too? But how do these bookas look? About 1 page per year at most for the first 30 or 40 or 50 years or so, and for the MOST RECENT years you get 6 or 8 pages PER YEAR in full color and whatnot ...

A bit skewed overall ...

Or, for example, an imaginary book about the greatest stars of black music of all times. No doubt Charles Brown or Arthur Prysock were BIG in their day but would they be given nearly as much coverage as the most recent chart acts that happen to make the headlines NOW, though it is still unclear if the recent "stars" will be remembered anywhere 5 or 10 years from now? In order to get into such books that cover periods from the past up to the current present you would have to be an undisputed all-time legend if your heyday was, say, 40 or 50 or 60 years ago, whereas it would be sufficient to be a chart flash in the pan (who is long from proving enduring star status) if you are a CURRENT or very recent act.

That's what I was alluding to about giving even coverage. "Greatest stars of ALL times" is not necessarily about those who are still considered great stars today after all those decades but about those who were the greatest stars in THEIR respective times.

Which might be an aspect relevant to a book on BN too.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Big Beat Steve

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Ah!

Glad to see I haven't come across such books.

BTW, even coverage doesn't do it. Importance has to be taken into account. But not to focus on one bit to render the other bits unnoticeable, of course.

MG

Yes, you are right, even coverage doesn't necessarily do it.

But to give you one example in a totally different field (that touched me in my younger days, but not much anymore). Imagine a book about "100 Years of F.A. Cup Finals" where such an even coverage approach is imaginable. A fairly even number of pages for each year's final, right? Each final was as important as next year's in its own day, right, and ought to be so from a historian's perspective too? But how do these bookas look? About 1 page per year at most for the first 30 or 40 or 50 years or so, and for the MOST RECENT years you get 6 or 8 pages PER YEAR in full color and whatnot ...

A bit skewed overall ...

Or, for example, an imaginary book about the greatest stars of black music of all times. No doubt Charles Brown or Arthur Prysock were BIG in their day but would they be given nearly as much coverage as the most recent chart acts that happen to make the headlines NOW, though it is still unclear if the recent "stars" will be remembered anywhere 5 or 10 years from now? In order to get into such books that cover periods from the past up to the current present you would have to be an undisputed all-time legend if your heyday was, say, 40 or 50 or 60 years ago, whereas it would be sufficient to be a chart flash in the pan (who is long from proving enduring star status) if you are a CURRENT or very recent act.

That's what I was alluding to about giving even coverage. "Greatest stars of ALL times" is not necessarily about those who are still considered great stars today after all those decades but about those who were the greatest stars in THEIR respective times.

Which might be an aspect relevant to a book on BN too.

I agree. (But of course, less information is available about any kind of people/activity a hundred years ago than this year.)

MG

[Big Beat Steve]

I agree. (But of course, less information is available about any kind of people/activity a hundred years ago than this year.)

MG

Of course. But you can keep the imbalance within limits if you make an effort and do not yield to turning a history book into a fanzine for some quick sales. That was my main point.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Big Beat Steve

[JohnS]

The final chapter, about 40 pages deal with recent developments. These include Joe Lovano, Brian Blade etc as well as Norah Jones, Glasper and Porter.

[erwbol]

40 pages is 10%.

[Big Beat Steve]

Sounds fairly appropriate.

[bertrand]

I could read 40 pages about Brian Blade alone, no matter what Tootie heath thinks.

Bertrand.

[Head Man]

Richard Williams likes it.......

http://thebluemoment.com/

Edited November 10, 2014 by Head Man

[Bluesnik]

Just finished The Blue Moment today, but I find it a bit far flung, connecting Kind of Blue with Velvet Underground, Soft Machine, ECM and even Eno's collaboration with David Byrne on My Life in the Secret Bush of Ghosts, an album I llike a lot, but which I think doesn't have so much in common with Kind of Blue.

Yes it's true Kind of Blue had many connections with Bill Evans and the jazz of the moment, but maybe the arc is a bit too far stretched.

[Big Beat Steve]

A side question to those familiar with production matters of this book and/or living in Germany:

Does anybody happen to know if a German translation of this "Uncompromising Expression'" history of BN has already been done and published?

The other day I came across a stack of this one ...

http://sieveking-verlag.de/novitaeten/blue-note/

(published by Sieveking Verlag)

... though all of them shrink-wrapped and no browsing copy available so was not able to leaf through it and therefore really am not sure.

Anybody had a look inside to see what is given as the "original" of that book?

Richard Havers seems to be a sort of real Jack-in-the-box when it comes to churning out books on musical styles and label biographies (not necessarily a bad thing or sign of superficiality, it seems ... will get his Verve book shortly) but TWO different Blue Note books simultaneously in the offing by the same author or a German translation of that book available as early as the publication of the original edition (or even a bit before)? This is VERY unusual, particularly since German editors are notoriously reticent when it comes to publishing German editions of US/UK coffee table books (as opposed to French ones where mastery of the English language is sort of NOT taken for granted, hence a larger domestic demand is anticipated there ).

Edited November 10, 2014 by Big Beat Steve

[Bluesnik]

I wonder wether the neglected first years of the label will be documented here. If so I might be very interested. I read Richard Cook's book many years ago and I don't remember exactly but I think he concentrated on the best known era.

[Big Beat Steve]

I wonder wether the neglected first years of the label will be documented here. If so I might be very interested.

Very pertinent question. :tup

[JohnS]

Brian Morton's take on BN at 75.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3KBcbsK5JNcN4cwjB0fpcRn/blue-note-at-75-all-that-jazz

[Brad]

Pretty good article. Thanks for posting.

[RogerF]

I attended a free event (EFG London Jazz Festival-related to the next day's 'Celebrating 75 Years of Blue Note' gig at the Royal Festival Hall) with Richard Havers at the achingly hip Ace Hotel in Shoreditch(*), London on Friday (21 November) where he was interviewed about Uncompromising Expression by Jazz FM DJ Chris Philips. After this some of the actual stars of Blue Note, including Robert Glasper, came on to be interviewed. When the event had finished I went and had a look at the book Havers had been promoting, but it was still shrink-wrapped, so he kindly unwrapped it. I was actually amazed at the genuinely "lavishly illustrated" content. Despite being a 400 page hardback its in a format that makes it at least easy to handle and, more importantly, read unlike some "coffee table" books. This is definitely on my Christmas list. On Amazon (UK) at the moment for £31 instead of the cover price of £48.

(*) incidentally and tangentially but not so unrelated, the ultra modern Ace Hotel which boasts Martin guitars and Rega turntables in some bedrooms(!), now also contains a new Sister Ray record shop selling only vinyl.

Edited November 23, 2014 by RogerF