medjuck Posted January 4, 2012 Report Posted January 4, 2012 I just got word today that Josef Skvorecky the author of "The Bass Saxophone" has died. http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/01/03/josef-skvorecky-obit.html Quote
medjuck Posted January 5, 2012 Author Report Posted January 5, 2012 Josef ended an essay about playing jazz under both Fascist and Communist regimes with the following: "The old music is dying, although it has so many offspring, vigorous and vital, that will naturally, be hated. Still, for me, Duke is gone, Satchmo is gone, Count Basie has just barely survived a heart attack, Little Jimmy Rushing has gone the way of all flesh... ...any body asks you who it was sang this song tell them it was... he's been here and he's gone. Such is the epitaph of the little Five-by-Five. Such is the epitaph I would wish for my books." Quote
Joe Posted January 5, 2012 Report Posted January 5, 2012 Sad news. Wonderful writer, often mordant but also incredibly humane. His ENGINEER OF HUMAN SOULS is superb. Quote
ejp626 Posted January 5, 2012 Report Posted January 5, 2012 Damn. Definitely seemed like an interesting guy. I just read through most of the essays in Talkin' Moscow Blues (generally either on jazz or on politics). I have many of his novels in translation and just picked up The Engineer of Human Souls (for the second time! -- first one lost in a move). I was definitely planning on reading Engineer this year, and I'll try to move it up to this spring. Quote
medjuck Posted January 6, 2012 Author Report Posted January 6, 2012 I love The Bass Saxophone, One of the things I'm most proud of is that The Bass Saxophone is dedicated to me. (At least in English.) Quote
fasstrack Posted January 20, 2012 Report Posted January 20, 2012 I just got word today that Josef Skvorecky the author of "The Bass Saxophone" has died. http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/01/03/josef-skvorecky-obit.html His was a great life. I loved the characters in The Bass Saxophone (which appeared in other works), and his calling out the hipocracy of the Czech regime before and after the Prague Spring was courageous. It also 'earned' him exile to Canada. He kept his gadfly voice alive for many years, commenting often on human rights---and lack thereof. One can read his writings on his still-active homepage: www.josefskvorecky.com A unique voice has been stilled. Quote
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