Robin D. G. Kelly's Thelonious Monk: The Life & Times of an American Original---to me one of the truly stellar jazz biogs.
Anything by David Hajdu; especially Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life and his biog on Nat Cole. (I've also corresponded w/him and he seems truly nice).
Frank Buchman-Moller's You Just Fight for Your Life---the Story of Lester Young. (All the Pres biogs are worth reading).
Art Pepper's autobiog (written with Laurie Pepper); and Miles (written with Quincy Troupe) are self-gratifying and hampered by loads of BS, but I've read them both numerous times. Pepper is a spellbinding raconteur, and his insight into other musicians' work is interesting to read (if his comments about his own 'genius' are slightly delusional). Miles talking about music has been great food for thought.
The Benson book was mentioned. One thing that cracked me up: some poetic justice. I knew Eddie Diehl for years, and he had a bug up his ass about Kenny Burrell. It had to do with a record date where he was sent home and replaced by Kenny b/c the company wanted a 'name'. He neither ever forgot nor stopped bad-mouthing Kenny's playing til it came out of your ears. I guess it's SOMEWHAT understandable. Eddie WAS one of the best, and a truly good-hearted guy underneath it all. We're all sensitive, and rejection---perceived or real---can really hurt.
Anyway, in George's book when he got the call to go with McDuff he was to replace Eddie. His comments---and they were respectful---were (paraphrasing): '(Eddie) was a formidable musician----not on the level of Kenny Burrell...., but he definitely could play'. Eddie was still alive when that came out. I hope he read it---it MAY have shut his mouth. I doubt it though---shutting Eddie's mouth about ANYTHING, especially guitar players he was jealous of (their stature in the biz, not their playing), was a tall order. But I had quite a chuckle over that one...
Well, I was reading in bed until around quarter to 11, before which I could tell the score by the one cheer that echoed around the housing estate.
I then switched the light off and fell asleep.
...
It's actually intended as a gift for my wife, to sing through and play her Yamaha 76 kb. She's been using an Alto TS110a powered speaker with a small mixer, but I've been looking for something a bit...
I have a bag of tools, spares and useful odds and ends that lives in my car. The tools include what I'd need for pretty much anything I know how to do. Part of gig planning is thinking about...
I once again have too many guitars. Two of them are L-4CES, one from 2003 which has the maple body, and one from late 2009 which has the mahogany body. The 2003 has two pickups, the 2009 is Wes-style...
Along those lines, don’t forget to carry the spares you need to finish the gig in the event of a failure. Just as a $10 bolt can end the race for a million dollar car, a $15 cable or a $2 fuse can...
If the exteriors of the cables all look the same - same color, same size, et al - then you have a problem. I intentionally don't do that. I make my own cables, both speaker and instrument, and I...
Here's something else I learned. Don't ask how.
I had the idea to run vocals and guitar through my mixer, Yamaha MG10XU.
Then, hard pan the vocals, left, to the FOH speaker.
Hard pan the...
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Today, 07:28 PM in Other Styles / Instruments