Tag Archives: jazz

The Notebooks of Sonny Rollins -Sonny Rollins, Sam V.H. Reese (Editor, Introduction)

(Reviewed by JD Jung) In 1959, twenty-eight-year-old tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins disappeared for two years with the purpose of practicing and improving his craft. He wrote down his thoughts on technical aspects of the saxophone, “rethinking musical concepts”, as well … Continue reading

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An Exceptional UnderratedRead Revisited: The Dying Crapshooter’s Blues- David Fulmer

#CommissionsEarned 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 every year … Continue reading

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An UnderratedRead Revisited: Five Night Stand – Richard J. Alley

(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned “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 is … Continue reading

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An UnderratedRead Revisited: 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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An UnderratedRead Revisited: 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 is ahead … Continue reading

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An UnderratedRead Revisited: 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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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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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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