Customer Reviews

Jazz Anecdotes: Second Time Around

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If you were intrigued by the musicians portrayed in Ken Burns' "Jazz" series, this book will deepen your appreciation of the musicians' humor, problems, and triumphs. Though limited to short anecdotes, jokes, and short but histories, the book, much like Gene Lees' great "Meet Me at Jim and Andy's, offers a whole pie of jazz life its intimate slices.

Crow provides a lot of jazz history to introduce the topically arranged anecdotes (e.g., Good Lines," "On the Road," "Beginnings," "Hirings and Firings," "Prejudice"). The lines and stories are very good, and give insights into personalities and jazz, in general. There are one-liners: "Shelley Manne gave an interviewer his definition of jazz musicians: `We never play anything the same way once,'" and longer stories such as the legendary fight between Juan Tizol and Charles Mingus on Ellington's bandstand (We get Tizol's and Mingus' versions of what happened, including Mingus' revealing recitation of what Duke told him afterwards about the fight "I congratulate you on your performance, but why didn't you and Juan inform me about the adagio you planned so that we could score it?."

There are short sections focusing on one or two famous jazz musicians, such as Mingus, Armstrong, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Bessie Smith, "Fats" Waller, Dizzy, Bird, Eddie Condon and others, as well as funny stories about lesser known players: "[Joe] Puma dropped in at a small New York Club where Jim Rainey was working. The club wasn't doing much business...there was a fire department sign on the wall... `OCCUPANCY OF THESE PREMISES BY OVER 116 PEOPLE IS UNLAWFUL.' Jimmy penciled neatly underneath: `AND UNLIKELY.'"

Sources include autobiographies, interviews, biographies, oral histories, and Crow's own experiences. Under "Acknowledgements," the book includes a great bibliography of jazz-related writings. No pictures, but an index, and, as mentioned earlier, lots of information mixed in with the humor. Very highly recommended.

I bought this book for my son, whoÕs a musician, but I heard him laughing so much as he was reading it that I asked to borrow it. Even if youÕre not a musician, or even very knowledgeable about jazz, this is a really entertaining book. Almost every chapter has at least a couple of laugh-out-loud lines. It also gives you a good feel for what the lives of jazz musicians were like Ð the camaraderie and competition, the inventiveness, the struggles over money, the often terrible working (and especially recording) conditions. There are also poignantly funny stories about problems with drugs and alcohol, and even about the racial prejudice that musicians had to put up with. My favorite story in the book was about Bessie Smith storming out to confront a group of Klansmen gathering outside the tent where she was working. Peppering them with curses, she ordered them to "pick up them sheets and run." They did. Great woman. There are lots of great women (and men Ð mostly men) in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know a little bit about them.

As already stated this book is the kind that you can pick up anytime and flip thru to almost any page and get some quick story that you'll learn from and laugh at. Buy two copies because you'll want to give one to a friend

For anyone into jazz, if you don't have a copy of this book, you're in for a rare treat. Wonderfully captures the essence of jazz and jazz musicians. Great stories, unique personalities, and guaranteed a laugh a minute. Caution: Don't read it while you're eating and/or drinking...you'll probably choke to death. Thanks for a very special book Bill!

This is one of those books that anyone on the planet should own a copy of. Bill Crow has compiled a series of stories from the jazz culture that anyone can pick up anytime, anywhere in the book and get a laug

Anyone who became interested in exploring jazz by recent high-profile expositions of it will surely enjoy this lighthearted collection of anecdotes. Bill Crowe did an amazing job interviewing and collecting these reminisces. Probably some are tall tales, but that won't stop anyone from enjoying them. They are divided into sections such as "Cutting Contests", "On the Road", "Pranks", etc., with some chapters being given over to especially memorable characters like Bix, Duke, Bird, and Dizzy. Crowe seems to have made the mid-Sixties a cut-off point, which accounts for only a couple of mentions of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and the complete absence of a certifiable space ranger like Jaco Pastorius. But how inna namea pete did he manage to avoid any good stories about Sun Ra?

These stories make for enjoyable, even compulsive reading, and the urge to quote will be irresistable. Bix Beiderbecke returns from a road trip wearing strange clothes. "Did you have a good time?" ask his friends. "I don't know," he replies. Slim Gaillard, who loved to append scat monikers like "-vouty" and "-roony" to people's names, is introduced to Mickey Rooney, and asks what Mickey's last name is. One bibulous musician was persuaded to cut back on his evening's drink by his hostess, who release her pet rabbit dressed in hat and jacket into the room, after secretly instructing other guests to ignore the rodent. A fun book that reminds us that jazz was originally a fun music.

I love every moment since I read this book. This book would take u on forever even if u're a craver for jazz music. It tells all the details from Wynton, Duke, Miles, Hirt, Coltrane, Bird, all of 'em right here on 1 book. Go get it or u'll miss out a world of good music.

Great entertainment from the the first to the last page, even if you aren't a jazz buff. Mr. Crow was a bassist and he must have heard most of those anecdotes on the grapevine.

A - "About half a beat behind the drummer." Or. Q - "How can a jazz musician end up with a million dollars?" A - "Start with two million." Or. Q - "What do you call a person that likes to hang around with musicians?" A - "A drummer."

Jazz Anecdotes by Bill Crow is much more than a collection of jokes skewed towards a jazz musician's cattywhumpus view of the world. It's even more than a collection of colorful war stories about life on the road, playing lousy clubs, and trying to keep a band together. It's really an insider's look at the world of jazz, and a wonderful one. If nothing else emerges from this book certainly one learns that only love could keep a jazz musician playing, given the obstacles of this lifestyle.

Fact and myth seem to bob and weave through these tales, which is perhaps appropriate. I am a little uncertain about Lester Young's claim that he started playing the sax only after giving up on the drums because he noticed that when a gig was done and girls were milling around the bandstand, the sax players quickly packed up their horns and left with girls on their arms while the drummer desperately tried to pack up and when he was done - left empty handed.

Jazz Anecdotes is rich in content, interesting for novice and aficionado alike. The careers of great individuals and the storied histories of seminal bands are examined in detail. What's fun is that some of the "legend" is worn off, replaced by the person. Jazz truly is America's greatest contribution to world culture, we should all be proud of it. It's worth remembering that the music is not a monolithic entity but an organic, dynamic thing - the product of a diverse and eccentric group of splendid individuals. Bill Crow's book takes you inside that world.

Five stars for Bill Crow's great book, one star for whoever supervised the scanning into digital format and didn't bother to proofread. "Count Basic" on EVERY citation. I got nervous every time the text referred to Eddie Condon. Still, kinda like finding an old friend with a few new stories to tell. I loaned my old hard copy to a local big band leader I played for and when I asked for it back he said he didn't remember seeing it. Somehow fitting...