If you were a jazz scholar researching an artists

[Hardbopjazz]

I know there are some jazz scholars on this board, and it's great to have them, but if you could be a scholar, biographer, and discographer researching an artists, whom would it be? Why would you pick him or her?

Edited September 1, 2005 by Hardbopjazz

[Michael Fitzgerald]

What does "for an artists" mean?

Do you mean why would a researcher choose one particular musician to study; why pick that specific musician?

Mike

[Hardbopjazz]

I changed the question.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

I won't answer in the hypothetical - I choose a lot of the subjects I have because no one else has ever bothered to devote that kind of attention to them. With others, I have a personal connection - they are friends, teachers, etc.

Obviously, a deep, longstanding love of an artist's music is going to be a factor for such a choice. Actually maybe I shouldn't say "obviously" because there do seem to be some people who crank out superficial studies since they haven't put in the time. Almost like they were given an assignment and a deadline. Maybe they were.

In the research world, it's wonderful to find a collaborator - someone who shares the same passion for the same subject. I've had the pleasure of working with a number of great people and am always looking for more. Especially because it's easier when you can share the load.

Mike

[JSngry]

I'd be temopted to do Elmo Hope, simply because Bertha's still alive (and playing splendidly, btw, if the recordings are any indicator). But there might have been a lot of pain there that she might not want to revisit...

[Michael Fitzgerald]

True. My friend Noal Cohen has done Hope's discography and was chastised by Bertha for mentioning (in a brief biographical sketch) elements of Hope's biography that basically everyone already knows. Apparently truth is out and rose-colored-glasses are in.

Mike

[JSngry]

I'm of a dual mind about that. Otoh, yeah, we need to get an accurate history from those who lived it while we can, and like you said a lot of the warts are already common knowledge.

But then again, when you're talking about a husband/wife relationship, you're getting about as personal as you can get, and I don't know but that Bertha's reluctance/defensiveness/whatever can't be fully understood/respected. They were married quite a while, and only they/she knew/knows how deep the various hurts/frustrations/whatever were, and may still be. One thing it's probably safe to say is that the marriage was no picnic...

No judgements here either way.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

This wasn't even a case of trying to dig deeper or get dirt or whatever. It was just a simple statement of fact. No one was making judgments or pointing fingers. But it's gone now in respect for her wishes.

In the Gryce book there are a number of personal things that are less than complimentary, and we never tried to say that Gigi was the greatest saxophonist or composer in the history of jazz - but we felt, and still do, that his is a story worth telling. Which is all one can want, in my view.

Mike

[JSngry]

In Bertha's case, I think that her response would suggest that the wounds haven't healed. Perhaps they never will. More's the pity (for her and for us), but again, no judgements either way. Love is indeed strange.

[Kalo]

I'd be temopted to do Elmo Hope, simply because Bertha's still alive (and playing splendidly, btw, if the recordings are any indicator). But there might have been a lot of pain there that she might not want to revisit...

←

Boy, I'd love to read that!

I'm of a dual mind about that. Otoh, yeah, we need to get an accurate history from those who lived it while we can, and like you said a lot of the warts are already common knowledge.

But then again, when you're talking about a husband/wife relationship, you're getting about as personal as you can get, and I don't know but that Bertha's reluctance/defensiveness/whatever can't be fully understood/respected. They were married quite a while, and only they/she knew/knows how deep the various hurts/frustrations/whatever were, and may still be. One thing it's probably safe to say is that the marriage was no picnic...

No judgements here either way.

←

Much more interesting to a reader like me is the man's music and how it related to the times and the jazz scene.

[AllenLowe]

not to change the subject, but just to veer a little off the path; I would strive, in my studies, to make it not only well-researched but readable - I read a lot of academic books, and about 90% of them are just impossible to get through - dense language, bad sentences, impenetrable rhetoric and, worst of all, re-statement of the obvious but in pseudo-intellectual terms. I know this sounds harsh, but the good jazz writers are a precious few - Mike Fitzgerald (and I ain't just saying this 'cause he's here), Dan Morgenstern, Gary Giddins, Francis Davis, Bob Blumenthal, Gunther Schuller, Larry Gushee, Loren Schoenberg, Martin Williams, Larry Kart, John Szwed, and there are more, I'm sure, that I am forgetting - the fact of the matter is that most jazz writing is either pop-bad (like Scott Yanow, who is prolific but mediocre) or fake-smart - or, as in the case of Baraka and even Sudhalter, loaded with politics that distort history -

Edited September 2, 2005 by AllenLowe

[BeBop]

I labored for a while on a Wardell Gray bio, but ultimatley dropped it when I learned of someone else's efforts and when I found that too many people were interested in his death, rather than his life.