Pacific Jazz Records

[JSngry]

I am now commatose.

[Big Beat Steve]

49 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

Re commas, by old-school standards Kevin is correct, but I find myself omitting commas more often these days when I feel that they disrupt the rhythm of a sentence or paragraph. Not sure if I’m responding to general changes in the discourse or simply growing more impatient as I approach the age of dotage. 😄 

 

Yes, I tend to place less commas (than was probably the standard in the past) in what I write in English too.

But I feel there is a limit - and a reasonable middle ground - to everything. I just came acros this sentence (p. 80): 

"Harry (Babasin) grew bored with the mechanical repetition and added some accents and variations to his accompaniment suggesting that they continue their experimentation adding Bud Shank on alto saxophone and Roy Harte on drums." 

'Honestly ... at least ONE comma in a certain place in that sentence would not be amiss in the interest of immediate clarity (depending on what you really want to stress in that statement), would it? 

 

But let that be enough on that subject now, lest we all turn com(m)atose ... 

 

[Stompin at the Savoy]

24 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Yes, I tend to place less commas (than was probably the standard in the past) in what I write in English too.

But I feel there is a limit - and a reasonable middle ground - to everything. I just came acros this sentence (p. 80): 

"Harry (Babasin) grew bored with the mechanical repetition and added some accents and variations to his accompaniment suggesting that they continue their experimentation adding Bud Shank on alto saxophone and Roy Harte on drums." 

'Honestly ... at least ONE comma in a certain place in that sentence would not be amiss in the interest of immediate clarity (depending on what you really want to stress in that statement), would it? 

 

But let that be enough on that subject now, lest we all turn com(m)atose ... 

 

I probably would have put a comma after 'accompaniment' but I have no problem without the comma - the sentence is perfectly understandable and unambiguous.  At least to me🙂

[gmonahan]

Man, you guys are really lost in the weeds! How is the book, on the whole?!

 

 

[Big Beat Steve]

OK, since you ask, here's my nutshell 2c: 

This book is no easy read. It is so chock full of facts (clearly exceedingly well-compiled and documented, as the footnotes show) that you really, really need to adopt a very attentive reading approach throughout in order to take in and absorb all the names, dates, places, timelines, recollections, quotes, numbers, tune titles, cross-references and whatever else there is within its pages. Just so you can benefit from the information to the fullest. Gloss or skim over at your own peril! 

 

Notwithstanding, a side question to those in the know: Take a look at the pic on page 84: Is the bald, ofay, bespectacled gent in the back on the right really George Duvivier, as the caption suggests? Pics from the 50s that I've been able to find in a quick online search indicate that even the Black gent in the door frame in the far background to the left cannot be him (the hairline doesn't match, for one thing). So ...? 

 

[Stompin at the Savoy]

The sample suggests the book has the goods by the truckload.  

[Clunky]

On 7/3/2026 at 8:34 PM, Big Beat Steve said:

OK, since you ask, here's my nutshell 2c: 

This book is no easy read. It is so chock full of facts (clearly exceedingly well-compiled and documented, as the footnotes show) that you really, really need to adopt a very attentive reading approach throughout in order to take in and absorb all the names, dates, places, timelines, recollections, quotes, numbers, tune titles, cross-references and whatever else there is within its pages. Just so you can benefit from the information to the fullest. Gloss or skim over at your own peril! 

 

I'd agree. It is dense with information and needs very careful reading. 

[gmonahan]

Thank you. I appreciate the review!

[Dan Gould]

I intend to get it but I am not certain that it requires intensely careful reading as a good portion of the text I saw on the Google Books excerpt just isn't that important to me. Unless you truly wish to, as BBS says,

 

"absorb all the names, dates, places, timelines, recollections, quotes, numbers, tune titles, cross-references and whatever else there is within its pages. "

 

I am far more concerned with recollections, timelines and far less with dates, places, tune titles.

I still appreciate the author's dedication to compile it all.

[mikeweil]

Strangely my order page still has the late July delivery date whereas the item page shows July 10! But it also shows that there is a Kindle edition available at half the cost, so I will go for that and cancel the older order. Low funds and brimming shelves.

[Big Beat Steve]

On 7/6/2026 at 1:40 PM, Dan Gould said:

I intend to get it but I am not certain that it requires intensely careful reading as a good portion of the text I saw on the Google Books excerpt just isn't that important to me. ...

I am far more concerned with recollections, timelines and far less with dates, places, tune titles.

So ... Did you get the book in the meantime and did you start on it?

My summary was based on the obvious starting point of trying to profit from EVERYTHING that is in there. Because it IS in there - for the taking/extracting (or not). 

But even if your main focus is more on the aspects you mentioned, a measure of careful reading will still be in order IMO.

Many "recollections" (quotes from interviews or quotes from period reviews/writeups, etc.) are buried in ongoing paragraphs and often the quotation marks to delimit these quotes seem to be out of sync, and reading on you get the feeling that actually the quote goes on beyond the closing quotation mark. Which ever so often might catch you unaware until you read on, go "what?" and then read again, and NOW you fully understand the quote as it is. 

And as for what I called "timelines", they are no tabular timelines as such but biographical overviews or summaries within the flow of the text (to give useful background info). But the chronology of the events or markers in someone's career are sometimes blurred which - again - will make you stop, think and re-read to understand what it's all about. Which can be irritating.
In case anyone is wondering "what are you getting at?", one point is this: We are talking about events that happened way back in the past so they are presented in the past tense - logically. But if we then jump back in time even further to talk about what happened way before everything else mentioned in the preceding sentences (in the earlier days of someone's life or career, for example), these events are yet further in the past. So you'd better use the past perfect there to make it clearer to the reader what happened prior to what. The past tense won't be sufficient as this array of past tenses will place the burden on the reader to sort out one by one what happened in what order. Which can be a stumbling block in the flow of reading. 

And the sometimes lengthy paragraphs that touch on different aspects in one single segment are something to be considered in this respect too.  
All this IMO means that careful and attentive reading will likely still be called for. If not to extract every snippet of information for yourself then at least to filter out what you are most interested in from the huge amount of facts and info that ARE in there for you as the reader (and are interesting enough to explore IMO - maybe mainly for hardcore collectors of the label, but who knows?  ). 

Just my 2c to the points you raised. 

Edited July 21 by Big Beat Steve

[JSngry]

Careful and attentive reading should be one's default setting.

[Dan Gould]

7 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Careful and attentive reading should be one's default setting.

I am currently reading Kevin Phillip's 1775 - A Good Year for Revolution and it is so chockful of information in such depth I find it remarkable that it was issued as a "popular" non-fiction book. It is college-level and could be a single, semester long reference for the 1774-1776 period.  (No wonder it was remaindered and I imagine still available for $3 or $4.)

I ain't got no time for that.

But I am interested so I am banging out a chapter a night before bed, reading/scanning, reading/scanning.

 

@Big Beat Steve ... intending to buy was not meant to imply any sort of near-term action. 

 

[Big Beat Steve]

8 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

@Big Beat Steve ... intending to buy was not meant to imply any sort of near-term action. 

 

I was just wondering ...