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
Posted in Culture, Historical Fiction, Jazz & Blues
Tagged blues, depression-era, music
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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
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Jazz & Blues, Non-fiction, Our Best, WWII
Tagged anti-antisemitism, Berlin, Germany, jazz, music, Nazism
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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
Posted in Bios and Memoirs, Culture, History, Jazz & Blues
Tagged 1920s, book reviews, Hemingway, Paris, WWI
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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
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Jazz & Blues
Tagged blues, book reviews, Crime, fiction, New Orleans, punk, rhythm and blues, Robert Johnson
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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
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Historical Fiction, Jazz & Blues
Tagged Axeman, Historical fiction, jazz, New Orleans
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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
Posted in Dark/Sordid/Bizarre, Historical Fiction, Jazz & Blues, Lost and almost forgotten
Tagged Buddy Bolden, Historical fiction, jazz, New Orleans
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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
Posted in Jazz & Blues, Modern Literary Fiction
Tagged book reviews, jazz
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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
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Jazz & Blues
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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
Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Historical Fiction, Jazz & Blues
Tagged blues, crime fiction, jazz
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