Category Archives: Jazz & Blues

Sins in Blue – Brian Kaufman

(Reviewed by Don Jung) “Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable,” said Janis Joplin. Sins in Blue is a story of an unhappy bluesman who is rediscovered by a young college student trying to revive his career. Willie Johnson … Continue reading

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The Ghetto Swinger: A Berlin Jazz-Legend Remembers – Coco Schumann (Author), John Howard (Translator)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “I am a musician, a musician who was imprisoned in a concentration camp, not a concentration camp inmate who also plays some music. The camps and the fear fundamentally changed my life, but it was shaped … Continue reading

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When Paris Sizzled: The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends – Mary McAuliffe

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “A swelling population of expats, dubbed the “Lost Generation,” either found themselves or became permanently mired in a haze of fantasy and booze. Escapism and creativity mingled for a decade in this fizzy atmosphere, until the … Continue reading

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Blues Highway Blues (A Crossroads Thriller) – Eyre Price

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Poor mannish boy, Danny, hear me        singing straight at you You know you sold your soul. And now          you’ve lost that                 … Continue reading

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Memphis Noir – Laureen Cantwell and Leonard Gill (Editors)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “He played his trumpet for her, blew it soft so it rolled around her curves, pushed all that suede the wrong way and then smoothed it over again. And she sang for him, hummed at first … Continue reading

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The Axeman – Ray Celestin

(Reviewed by JD Jung) The following  was submitted to the Times-Picayune on May 6, 1919. “…I am not a human being, but a spirit and a demon from the hottest hell. I am what you Orleanians and your foolish police … Continue reading

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Coming Through Slaughter – Michael Ondaatje

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “…and you like a weather bird arcing round in the middle of your life to exact opposites and burning your brains out so that from June 5 1907 till 1931 you were dropped into amber in … Continue reading

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Five Night Stand – Richard J. Alley

(Reviewed by JD Jung)     “There are four people as similar as they are unique—one at the end of his career, one lost in the middle, one who dreams of beginning, and the fourth, a child, not knowing what … Continue reading

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The Lost Treasures of R & B – Nelson George

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “They were both Golden Gloves boxers and had that good foot work. They both did splits. Weren’t afraid to get on the floor. Not spinning like hip hoppers but they would get on their knees to sell … Continue reading

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The Dying Crapshooter’s Blues – David Fulmer

Check it out! Atlanta, 1923: In the midst of Prohibition, the city is seething with corruption, bootlegging, narcotics, gambling, and counterfeiting scams. This would seem the perfect scenario for Joe “Indian Joe” Rose to drift into town, as he does … Continue reading

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