Summer Reading
Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 12:29 pm
Motherlode's mention of Gurdjieff's "The Herald of Coming Good" prompts me to acknowledge a few interesting books.
1. "The Wisdom of Sun Ra: Sun Ra's Polemical Broadsheets and Streeetcorner Leaflets" compiled and introduced by John Corbett, pub Whitewalls, 2006.
The story goes something like this: In 2000, in a folder marked "One of Everything," 46 of Sun Ra's original manuscripts (including the same one Coltrane handed out to so many musicians) were found on Chicago's South Side and salvaged from destruction. The mimeographed sheets are reproduced in color in the first half of the book and followed by easily read (if not necessarily understood) typeset versions of each text.
2. "This is your Brain on Music, The Science of a Human Obsession" Daniel J Levitin, pub Plume, 2007
A neuroscientist, former session musician and sound engineer writes about what makes music tick - as science and art.
3. "Lennie Tristano: His Life and Music", Eunmi Shim, University of Michigan Press, 2007
A beautiful portrait and analysis of Tristano's music and teaching. Sandy Williams wrote about this on the Forum a few months back. More on what made the 1950's such a powerful era in American improvised music.
I picked up all three of these books from the shelves of Schuller's book store in East Lansing, Michigan - a book store with a real music buyer.
b
1. "The Wisdom of Sun Ra: Sun Ra's Polemical Broadsheets and Streeetcorner Leaflets" compiled and introduced by John Corbett, pub Whitewalls, 2006.
The story goes something like this: In 2000, in a folder marked "One of Everything," 46 of Sun Ra's original manuscripts (including the same one Coltrane handed out to so many musicians) were found on Chicago's South Side and salvaged from destruction. The mimeographed sheets are reproduced in color in the first half of the book and followed by easily read (if not necessarily understood) typeset versions of each text.
2. "This is your Brain on Music, The Science of a Human Obsession" Daniel J Levitin, pub Plume, 2007
A neuroscientist, former session musician and sound engineer writes about what makes music tick - as science and art.
3. "Lennie Tristano: His Life and Music", Eunmi Shim, University of Michigan Press, 2007
A beautiful portrait and analysis of Tristano's music and teaching. Sandy Williams wrote about this on the Forum a few months back. More on what made the 1950's such a powerful era in American improvised music.
I picked up all three of these books from the shelves of Schuller's book store in East Lansing, Michigan - a book store with a real music buyer.
b