Tag Archives: jazz
Movie Review: ‘Round Midnight (1986) – A Jazz Masterpiece
I read Herbie Hancock’s autobiography, Possibilities, a few weeks ago and he talked about winning the Oscar for the soundtrack of ‘Round Midnight which he also acted in. This peaked my curiosity so I watched it on the airplane on … Continue reading
Book Review: Reading Jazz edited by Robert Gottlieb (1999) – Worthwhile anthology of Jazz
After year’s of receiving their accusing stares from my bookshelf, I committed to myself that I would finish both Visions of Jazz by Gary Giddens and Reading Jazz. The latter is an anthology of Autobiography, Reporting, and Criticism from the major … Continue reading
TV Series: Ken Burn’s Jazz (2001) – Beautiful documentary but based on flawed premises
I have been reading a LOT about jazz lately (see my articles on Monk, Miles, Giddens, etc). Through this reading, I bumped into the existence of the world’s record holding for sheer length (19+ hours) documentary by Ken Burns that … Continue reading
More Musing on Miles
I have been binging on Miles Davis for a few months now and have realised how ignorant I have been about his music. Back in my 20s, I just grabbed a couple of CDs I had heard about – Kind … Continue reading
Book Review: Thelonious Monk by Robin D. G. Kelley – The Genius
Continuing in my reading about jazz, I just finished the masterpiece Thelonious Monk by Robin D. G. Kelley. It was an incredible read about a largely misunderstood genius. I have always enjoyed listening to Monk, but never exactly understood why. … Continue reading
Miles of Miles
I finished both the autobiography of Miles Davis as well as Ian Carr’s excellent biography a few weeks back. Both were exhilarating reading to be honest. As for the autobiography I love Miles’ style injected with loads of vernacular and … Continue reading
New Orleans and Jazz Fest 2013: A Chronicle
It has been 20 years since I cast my shadow on the hallowed fairgrounds where the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is held every year. Back in the early 90s, I went to the festival three times and held … Continue reading
Top 10 Jazz Albums
This is a bit dangerous because jazz is so open to interpretation and so incredibly vast…but here goes because I wanna go to sleep soon: Miles Davis “Kind of Blue”. Its hard not to put Miles at the top with … Continue reading
Century of Jazz at Quai Branly
A quick review of the “Un siecle du jazz” exposition at Musée quai Branly in Paris (ending 28 june 2009): A little disappointing to be honest this expo. It was really detailed on the origins of Jazz in the early … Continue reading
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