Lee Morgan bio

[fasstrack]

As for the main Lester Young interviews, the three best (Hentoff, Christern and the late François Postif) are all included in 'A Lester Young Reader', the Lewis Porter compilation that was published by Smithsonian Institution.

Thanks. I've met Lewis. I don't claim to know him and haven't read him, but I sense he's the McCoy. So will do.

Thanks again.

Christern: Did you have a show on WBAI in maybe the late 60s-early 70s? If so, I recall hearing one show in my teens.

(I guess that makes us all 'AKs', me being in my early 50s ).

[andybleaden]

Looks interesting enough for sure so i will look this one out when the time comes. Mind you I said that about Horace Silvers book.

[ValerieB]

But then, Michelle Mercer thought an inventory of Wayne Shorter compositions (including unrecorded copyrights) was not useful for her book, so what the hell do I know.

And how was that Shorter book? Anyone read it?

i thought the book was absolutely fabulous. michelle really "got" who wayne is. he obviously cooperated quite heavily. she apparently spent a lot of time hanging out with him. the emphasis on wayne as a person i guess wouldn't be satisfying to some of his jazz fans. since i'm not a musician and have limited knowledge of the study of jazz or classical music, it suited me just fine. and because i have "known" wayne for many decades, it was apparent that michelle really understood this extremely complex genius.

[Chuck Nessa]

michelle really "got" who wayne is. he obviously cooperated quite heavily. she apparently spent a lot of time hanging out with him.

You are joking, right?

[ValerieB]

michelle really "got" who wayne is. he obviously cooperated quite heavily. she apparently spent a lot of time hanging out with him.

You are joking, right?

i am absolutely not joking. please let me in on the "joke".

[bertrand]

The only one who brought anything up on this particular forum was youmustbe, who was actually involved in some inside joke only he and one other board member could understand. I don't recall anyone else 'buying' this story youmustbe was trying to peddle.

Apparently, at least one other person did.

The whole thread was pathetic, I tried to steer it back on course, but it was hopeless.

I don't know what was discussed elsewhere, and do not care to find out.

Valerie,

In essence, some of us had strong reservations about this book, mostly due to its sloppy scholarship. Mike Fitzgerald in particular brought up some incredibly amateurish mistakes. Since then, I have found out some more unsettling things, in particular one musician has stated that he was completely misquoted and the story he told completely mangled.

However, I do agree that M.M. was able to capture a lot of Wayne's personality (I know him a lot less well than you, of course) but I'm not convinced that was so hard to accomplish: he did make himself available to her extensively, and I suspect that he was made all the more comfortable by the fact that she was NOT a serious jazz scholar with impressive credentials.

Several people close to Wayne have expressed the same feeling that this book captured him very well, and I have to give her credit for that. But a serious, in-depth biography of Wayne, with a detailed analysis of just why he is so important to 20th century American music, has yet to be written. There are people out there who could do it, but it is a monumental undertaking and I could see why no one has tackled it yet.

Bertrand.

Edited May 12, 2006 by bertrand

[ValerieB]

The only one who brought anything up on this particular forum was youmustbe, who was actually involved in some inside joke only he and one other board member could understand. I don't recall anyone else 'buying' this story youmustbe was trying to peddle.

Apparently, at least one other person did.

The whole thread was pathetic, I tried to steer it back on course, but it was hopeless.

I don't know what was discussed elsewhere, and do not care to find out.

Valerie,

In essence, some of us had strong reservations about this book, mostly due to its sloppy scholarship. Mike Fitzgerald in particular brought up some incredibly amateurish mistakes. Since then, I have found out some more unsettling things, in particular one musician has stated that he was completely misquoted and the story he told completely mangled.

However, I do agree that M.M. was able to capture a lot of Wayne's personality (I know him a lot less well than you, of course) but I'm not convinced that was so hard to accomplish: he did make himself available to her extensively, and I suspect that he was made all the more comfortable by the fact that she was NOT a serious jazz scholar with impressive credentials.

Several people close to Wayne have expressed the same feeling that this book captured him very well, and I have to give her credit for that. But a serious, in-depth biography of Wayne, with a detailed analysis of just why he is so important to 20th century American music, has yet to be written. There are people out there who could do it, but it is a monumental undertaking and I could see why no one has tackled it yet.

Bertrand.

thanks very much for your post, bertrand. i agree that there is a lot of room for another book or books on wayne. MM's certainly wasn't what one would call a scholarly one but i and lots of others found it a fascinating profile.

[brownie]

Brief bio from Equinox book on the author of the Lee Morgan book:

Biography

Tom Perchard was born in 1976. He received his doctorate from the University of London, and he teaches at Goldsmiths College and the University of Westminster. He is a regular contributor to The Wire magazine. This is his first book.

I say, let's wait and see...

[Simon Weil]

This thread has a bit of "The Sidewinder" about it.

Simon Weil

[Added 16th May: It's got too many people getting in their licks to prosper, in my opinion.]

Edited May 16, 2006 by Simon Weil

[Ken Dryden]

Sorry, I wasn't that impressed with Michelle Mercer's bio of Wayne Shorter. She seemed too in awe of him.

I especially found the statement comparing the output of Shorter and Joe Zawinul to Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn to be ridiculous.

But one of the most amateurish gaffs occurred in the photo spread. Lew Tabackin and Jaco Pastorious are listed as "unknown" while Denny Zeitlin (standing behind Toshiko Akiyoshi, Tabackin's wife) is misidentified as Tabackin. Although they both have beards and moustaches and wear glasses, Tabackin and Zeitlin really don't resemble one another, while Zeitlin is also a good bit taller. What's particularly amusing is that the photo came from a backstage shot from the Jazz at the Opera House concert, which was commercially issued and includes this very same photo, with all parties correctly identified. It would have taken a minimal amount of effort checking with any knowledgable jazz journalist to get this information.