What Do You Look For In A Jazz Book

[Ken Dryden]

After several decades of doing interviews for radio, printed media and websites, I am considering transcribing some of my interviews for a book. The challenge is which artists to choose, as some were more talkative than others and I don't want to include only artists who have been so frequently interviewed that there may not be much new to share about them.

I have them scattered on CDRs, cassettes, digital files, webcam videos and even a few that are stuck on old ten inch tape reels that I may have a hard time getting around to getting dubbed. Some are as short as twenty minutes or so, while there are others that are over an hour and a few musiicians whom I interviewed on several occasions.

I am not sure how many different artists I've interviewed, as my list on etreedb is not accessible at the moment.

There are some great moments, like NIels Pedersen explaining how he became aware of a singer that he used on a recent CD and Clark Terry's priceless description of how he premiered his routine of soloing while alternating between trumpet and flugelhorn.

Any thoughts shared are welcome. One thing I've learned from reading other jazz books, I've got to get knowledgeable proofreaders, as typos and factual errors drive me crazy.

 

 

[GA Russell]

Ken, I would ask myself...Would this story be interesting if the people were not famous?

In 2015 I read Linda Ronstadt's book Simple Dreams.  I didn't mind that she declined the opportunity to embarrass anyone.  But the book was 200 pages of stories of famous people, none of whom did anything interesting.

[Ken Dryden]

2 minutes ago, GA Russell said:

Ken, I would ask myself...Would this story be interesting if the people were not famous?

In 2015 I read Linda Ronstadt's book Simple Dreams.  I didn't mind that she declined the opportunity to embarrass anyone.  But the book was 200 pages of stories of famous people, none of whom did anything interesting.

It is a valid point, I am not thinking of including lesser known regional musicians or those primarily known as sidemen, unless the pleyer is an NEA Jazz Master.

Here are few, though the recordings aren't all in one place to jog my memory:

Toshiko Akiyoshi, Howard Alden, Geri Allen, Kenny Barron, Ruby Braff, Bob Brookmeyer, Dave Brubeck, Gary Burton, Eliane Elias, Art Farmer, Maynard Ferguson, Don Friedman, Milt Hinton, Hal Galper, Terry Gibbs, Benny Golson, Jim Hall, Chico Hamilton, Gene Harris, Jimmy Heath, Fred Hersch, Dick Hyman, Marc Johnson, Steve Kuhn, David Liebman, Susannah McCorkle, Gerry Mulligan, Marian McPartland, Joe Pass, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Ken Peplowski, Michel Petrucciani, Sonny Rollins, Bud Shank, George Shearing, Lew Tabackin, Clark Terry, Bobby Watson, Phil Woods and Denny Zeitlin.

This isn't by any means a complete list, I've even run across a few whom I had forgotten that I had interviewed. Publications are generally more specific with the artists they want to feature, but I had complete freedom for my radio show. 

Any feedback is welcome, 

 

[JSngry]

I look for insight, things that go beyond press blurbs and musicians' standard press kit level interviews. 

[Ken Dryden]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

I look for insight, things that go beyond press blurbs and musicians' standard press kit level interviews. 

Good advice, usually I only interview artists of interest to me who are well represented in my collection, though there have been exceptions, especially for Hot House features.

David Liebman posted a longer edit of my interview that initially was published in The New York City Jazz Record on his website, I was happy to send it to him.

http://davidliebman.com/home/interviews/new-york-city-jazz-record-ken-dryden-2016/

 

 

[AllenLowe]

get musicians who have not been over-covered; Ken Peplowski, Aaron Johnson, Sascha Perry, Frank Lacy, Ray Anderson, me (I did two long interviews in the last year, Q&A that were a lot of fun); Jack Walrath; Elijah Shiffer (great alto player, one of the most creative musicians in jazz today, though nobody here seems to know him); James Paul Nadien (great young drummer), Gerald Cleaver.

One of the reason jazz books are so dull is because the same "personalities" appear over and over. It would be nice to break the habit -

                                                 

Edited December 28, 2023 by AllenLowe

[rostasi]

In just about any book, I look for money.

[Gheorghe]

Would be quite a challenge. 

Until now the best jazz book with interviews , the one I really like is Art Taylor´s "Notes and Tones". 

[Ken Dryden]

One of my favorites was my second Clark Terry interview, which began at 1 am due to his having company stay later on a weeknight. But he made it worth it when I asked him how he premiered his routine of alternating between trumpet and flugelhorn during a solo, something that wasn’t included in his autobiography.

I never know when a question will strike gold but even with a veteran interviewed many times over the decades, it does happen.

I will have to admit that both Herb Ellis and Andre Previn were miserable experiences. I erased Ellis’ tape without playing it. Previn’s demands were ridiculous and he postponed scheduling it so long that the magazine couldn’t substitute another cover feature. But everyone else has been a joy and it helps when they are well represented in my collection.

I know in advance that jazz books don’t generally make a lot of money, but that’s okay. It’s not like I am expecting a university press to publish it.

[HutchFan]

I'll be first in line to buy your book, Ken! 👍

[AllenLowe]

5 hours ago, Ken Dryden said:

One of my favorites was my second Clark Terry interview, which began at 1 am due to his having company stay later on a weeknight. But he made it worth it when I asked him how he premiered his routine of alternating between trumpet and flugelhorn during a solo, something that wasn’t included in his autobiography.

I never know when a question will strike gold but even with a veteran interviewed many times over the decades, it does happen.

I will have to admit that both Herb Ellis and Andre Previn were miserable experiences. I erased Ellis’ tape without playing it. Previn’s demands were ridiculous and he postponed scheduling it so long that the magazine couldn’t substitute another cover feature. But everyone else has been a joy and it helps when they are well represented in my collection.

I know in advance that jazz books don’t generally make a lot of money, but that’s okay. It’s not like I am expecting a university press to publish it.

what did Ellis do? Also, I would suggest you avoid University presses like the plague. I have made a decent amount off of my books, all self published. U presses don't pay, even royalties, and you cannot trust small presses who never do an honest accounting.

Edited December 28, 2023 by AllenLowe

[Mark Stryker]

36 minutes ago, AllenLowe said:

what did Ellis do? Also, I would suggest you avoid University presses like the plague. I have made a decent amount off of my books, all self published. U presses don't pay, even royalties, and you cannot trust small presses who never do an honest accounting.

Interjecting here to say that while I certainly cannot speak for all university presses or Allen's experiences, the University of Michigan Press paid me a modest advance for Jazz from Detroit -- half upon signing the contract, half upon delivery of the manuscript -- and I have received royalties annually since publication. Now, it is an exceedingly  small return, particularly given the years of work involved and my own dollars that went into it -- I had to pay for the indexing and some of the photo acquisitions. I have no doubt that Allen's self-published books have netted him a higher return per title than my book did through a university press. But it has not been nothing.

[AllenLowe]

29 minutes ago, Mark Stryker said:

Interjecting here to say that while I certainly cannot speak for all university presses or Allen's experiences, the University of Michigan Press paid me a modest advance for Jazz from Detroit -- half upon signing the contract, half upon delivery of the manuscript -- and I have received royalties annually since publication. Now, it is an exceedingly  small return, particularly given the years of work involved and my own dollars that went into it -- I had to pay for the indexing and some of the photo acquisitions. I have no doubt that Allen's self-published books have netted him a higher return per title than my book did through a university press. But it has not been nothing.

thanks - my reaction was prompted by two very esteemed music writers, one of whom had his book reprinted in a different format by his U press without any consultation or consideration, the other of whom told me he received a pittance over the years for various books. But to me the bigger problem is the way U. Presses price books - I assume they are thinking only libraries will buy them, but that's just idiotic, as it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when they are charging $40-$100 a book. And Kindle prices are even crazier; because of surgery around my eyes I have been reading mostly on my kindle, and I wanted to pick up Larry Kart's book so I could re-read it; it was DOUBLE for kindle, compared to what a hard copy cost.

The other thing I will add (and I'm glad Mark that your experience was better) is that I have found U Press peer review to be nasty and full of  conflicts of interest - I know I am somewhat controversial, and the last time my book was reviewed in this way it was clear that some of the reviewers did not like my opinions or me personally, though they never said so in the review but instead nit-picked. They should have recused themselves; and I should mention the U. Cal Press woman who said to me over the phone about one of my books "I love it but it won't pass political muster with my board." The truth is that academics don't really, at their core, believe in free speech if it challenges their basic assumptions.

Edited December 28, 2023 by AllenLowe

[Dan Gould]

15 minutes ago, AllenLowe said:

The truth is that academics don't really, at their core, believe in free speech if it challenges their basic assumptions.

And in other news this evening, water is wet and Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

[rostasi]

15 hours ago, Gheorghe said:

Would be quite a challenge.

You wouldn't believe how much I've found...
...and inside record covers too!

[AllenLowe]

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

And in other news this evening, water is wet and Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

are you sure about Franco?

[Dan Gould]

2 minutes ago, AllenLowe said:

are you sure about Franco?

15 new casts later, yeah I'll go with dead. Still.

[JSngry]

Water, otoh... 

[Ken Dryden]

Lively discussion.

Ellis acted from the beginning like he was forced to do the interview and it just never got off the ground. Previn was a jerk, he only wanted to give ten minutes, not enough time for the word count I needed. His publicist interrupted my dinner with an angry call about contacting his bassist for the gig, which she called “her artist,” like I violated rules by emailing him without going through her. If it hadn’t been well past the deadline for a cover story, I would have told her and Previn where they could go.

The funny thing is the cover feature was completed and published, then Previn got sick and missed the gig.

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Ken Dryden