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Mark Stryker's "Jazz from Detroit" up for pre-order


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19 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Not wanting to press you unduly, but could you check and give an idea to us overseas prospects what the editor would charge for shipping to Europe if an order is placed with them as per your proposal?
As you know, the way USPS rates are organized is a bit of a jungle. ;)

Will ask the mother ship.

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23 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Not wanting to press you unduly, but could you check and give an idea to us overseas prospects what the editor would charge for shipping to Europe if an order is placed with them as per your proposal?
As you know, the way USPS rates are organized is a bit of a jungle. ;)

I’ve pre-ordered mine from Amazon UK as I assumed that shipping from US would be prohibitively costly 

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  • 2 weeks later...

@Mark Stryker:

A detail question out of sheer curiosity:
Did you "tap"' the archives of the late Dan Pliskow for your book too?

Related to the discussion of obscure early post-war big bands here, I was reminded of an online photo album on Detroit jazz from 1947 onwards I had come across several years ago on a site called Webshots-American Greetings. I had downloaded a couple of pictures but by the time I got around to revisiting the site it had gone offline, complete with all albums. From a screenshot I had saved I see this album had been put online by Dan Pliskow who according to an online research was a bassist and quite a figure on the Detroit scene. As a self-professed "archivist" he accumulated a huuuge number of photographs on several decades of Detroit jazz that after his death in 2015 were passed on to some local instutiion. No doubt a fine source of information (and what a pity this album is no longer accessible online .. it completed and expanded on the "Before Motown" book too ... and I was a bit surprised he did not figure among the credits and acknowledgments of "Before Motown")

Looking forward to receiving my amazon order in due course now ... ;)

Edited by Big Beat Steve
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3 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

@Mark Stryker:

A detail question out of sheer curiosity:
Did you "tap"' the archives of the late Dan Pliskow for your book too?

Related to the discussion of obscure early post-war big bands here, I was reminded of an online photo album on Detroit jazz from 1947 onwards I had come across several years ago on a site called Webshots-American Greetings. I had downloaded a couple of pictures but by the time I got around to revisiting the site it had gone offline, complete with all albums. From a screenshot I had saved I see this album had been put online by Dan Pliskow who according to an online research was a bassist and quite a figure on the Detroit scene. As a self-professed "archivist" he accumulated a huuuge number of photographs on several decades of Detroit jazz that after his death in 2015 were passed on to some local instutiion. No doubt a fine source of information (and what a pity this album is no longer accessible online .. it completed and expanded on the "Before Motown" book too ... and I was a bit surprised he did not figure among the credits and acknowledgments of "Before Motown")

Looking forward to receiving my amazon order in due course now ... ;)

Good question. I did tap into some of Dan's writing and it helped here and there confirm some stuff or keep a timelines straight, but mostly it documents players and scenes who were not central to the book. His name does come up in the book as an early teacher of Robert Hurst. The photos that I was able to find again were not directly relevant to my project, but I also was not able to access the bulk of the photos in the time frame of the book -- long story.

 

Thanks for ordering!

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Still trying to make my order work ... a few minutes after sending it, my bank phoned me, thinking of fraud (why would I order a book in the US? well, some people still buy books, suckers!) ... then the credit card didn't go through, and now it seems my second attempt to order failed as well ... maybe I'll just have to go through evil A, but for books I usually don't (for music it seems sometimes we don't have much of a choice, alas).

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On 5/23/2019 at 5:30 AM, Big Beat Steve said:

The one of the Australian Jazz Quartet of the 50s? Australian expat in Detroit?

Yes. Jack had moved to Windsor, Canada -- just across the river from Detroit -- and the Australian Jazz Quartet/Quintet was formed there. When the group broke up, he settled in Detroit in the late '50s, where, among other things, he was a staff musicians for years at ABC, including being part of the band for Soupy Sales' late-night show, "Soupy's On," which featured a LOT of visiting jazz stars. Jack also owned a jazz club/restaurant here in the '60s and did a TON of studio and commercial works like writing/arranging for auto shows and industry films for the car companies. He retired to Florida in the late '90s or so.

Coda: I sent another note to my publisher askng about overseas shipping rates. 

Edited by Mark Stryker
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2 hours ago, Mark Stryker said:

Coda: I sent another note to my publisher askng about overseas shipping rates. 

Thanks, but way too late for me, for example. In the end I preordered via Amazon at what looks like a 1:1 equivalent of the US retail price at the curernt exchange rate. Looks fair to me. GIven that I recently received a book from the USA that was MUCH smaller and lighter than this one probably will be and that one already cost something like $14 to ship (which the post office said was the lowest rate available) I'd not have held my breath that the 40% discount (well-intentioned as it is) would even nearly offset the price that the USPS charges these days - alas ...
Sorry to say, but shipping rates these days more and more kill direct international end consumer trade.

Edited by Big Beat Steve
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Public Service Announcement

For reasons too convoluted to summarize easily, Amazon is currently showing "Jazz from Detroit' out of stock and with a one-month wait for orders. Some of you who ordered through them previously might have gotten a notification saying the book was on back order. Ignore all of this. They've got lots of books on the way to them, and we've requested that they change the page to reflect this ASAP, but we can't do it ourselves or make them move any swifter than they want to.

Leaving all of this aside, if you have not gotten the book yet and would like to, I suggest (a) patronizing your favorite bricks-and-mortar bookstore and if they don't have it in stock, ask them to order it for you -- they'll get it within days. (b) order via the University of Michign Press website. Use the discount code UMSTRYKER on the check-out page to get 30% off the list price. https://www.press.umich.edu/4454129/jazz_from_detroit

Edited by Mark Stryker
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My copy "shipped" on 7/10, arrived today! Never made it into the tracking system (which still reads "USPS awaiting shipment"), but that seems to happen a lot these days. Maybe it's the "shipping partner" firms.

[Added 7/16] About halfway through, greatly enjoying it. The Curtis Fuller, Louis Hayes and Ron Carter profiles are highlights so far, and the others haven't been chopped liver...

Edited by T.D.
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On 7/11/2019 at 11:34 AM, HutchFan said:

The interview with Ethan Iverson is very interesting, well worth a read.

I'm REALLY looking forward to reading Mark's book.  I got my shipping notification yesterday.  :) 

 

Thanks for your enthusiasm!

7 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

4 copies arrived here in DC on Saturday - one already distributed.  I've only had the chance to read half the chapter on Joe Henderson (busy week at work!) -- but I'm certainly liking what I'm seeing.  Bravo!!

Hey, thanks. Much appreciated. 

9 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

My copy arrived 2 days ago.

There was a very good review of the book by Kevin Whitehouse the PBS radio show Fresh Air.

You should be able to easily find it online.  

Thanks, Peter. Hope it brings back some memories for you. 

On 7/13/2019 at 10:36 AM, T.D. said:

My copy "shipped" on 7/10, arrived today! Never made it into the tracking system (which still reads "USPS awaiting shipment"), but that seems to happen a lot these days. Maybe it's the "shipping partner" firms.

[Added 7/16] About halfway through, greatly enjoying it. The Curtis Fuller, Louis Hayes and Ron Carter profiles are highlights so far, and the others haven't been chopped liver...

Glad you're enjoying it ...

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Probably as good a place as any to inquire about this obscure 1976 Detroit jazz album (with you, Mark!!) -- which, of all things, saw a CD reissue in 2013 (which is when I got wind of it).

Phil Ranelin is on it, which I'm sure is how I even found out about the thing in the first place. But it's really more of a "cast of a thousand" kind of thing, covering a number of different styles, though I think it all hangs together as an album surprisingly well.  Any more story to this release, by any chance?

https://www.discogs.com/The-Hastings-Street-Jazz-Experience-Detroit-Jazz-Composers-Ltd/release/1089572

The Detroit Jazz Composers Ltd. - Hastings Street Jazz Experience (Midnite Records, 1976) 

 

 

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