Amazon.com
Decades after his death, Sam Cooke's thrilling, seductive tenor remains one of the glories of American popular music. His compositions have inspired a multitude of covers, few of which manage to lay a finger on the original versions. And Cooke's vocal mannerisms--the melismatic swooping and yodeling he applied to key phrases--are still audible every time Aaron Neville opens his mouth (not to mention a host of other singers, from Rod Stewart to Aretha Franklin). Clearly, then, it was time for a full-dress biography, and Daniel Wolff has done a superlative job. He traces the singer's transformation from gospel prodigy, who hit the road with the Soul Stirrers at the tender age of 19, to secular star. Endlessly ambitious, Cooke never quite figured out how to juggle his sacred and profane instincts, and Wolff is particularly good on this balancing act, as well as on the racial politics of the music industry.
Book Description
In 1957, already one of the biggest stars in gospel music, Sam Cooke burst onto the pop scene with the number one hit "You Send Me," the first in a string of rock & roll classics. He quickly became one of music business's first African-American entrepreneurs, as well as a role model in the early years of the civil rights struggle. Then, at age thirty-three, he was found dead, shot through the heart in a seedy motel in south Los Angeles. The circumstances surrounding his death would remain a controversial mystery for years to come.
Customer Reviews:
The definitive Sam Cooke bio.......2007-09-24
I have referred this book to others so many times over the years since it's release, but I never wrote a review, until now....
I have read this book 5 times. Each time, I still get engrossed by the amazing life of Sam Cooke. If you really want to know this man's story - get this book. Get this book along with Erik Greene's "Our Uncle Sam". These two books will be ALL you need. Trust me - I have read them all. Wolff's book takes you from Sam's beginnings with the the Highway QC's...all the way up to the tragedy of Sam's untimely death. Sam's great nephew - Erik Greene, takes you through the aftermath and beyond with "Our Uncle Sam". One thing that I love about both books is that they completely decimate the "official" version of Sam Cooke's death.
I could say more - but it has already been said....everybody cant be wrong. Get the book - you won't be disappointed.
Honest You Do.......2007-01-28
For a long time this was the only available biography on Sam Cooke. Until Peter Guralnick released his excellent 'Dream Boogie' a few years ago.
When I first read 'You Send Me' it openened my eyes to a lot of things; unlike many of his contemperaries, here was someone in complete control of everything he did. Writing his own songs, pretty much producing them himself and above all one of the first black men to own and run his own record-label (SAR).
Of course it starts during his gospel days in which, not known by everyone, for a few years as a member of the Soul Stirrers he was the number 1 soul star around. Maybe not in religious fervor, but certainly with the female part of the church. Later his way with women would haunt him, even leading to his unfortunate death at age 33.
The book is well researched, provides nice insights into the songs and into his mind as well. His constant veering between wanting to play music for white and black, but always staying himself.
This is a great introduction to the man who 'created soul' and a must for every soul lover.
Flawed, But Thought Provoking, Heartbreaking Biography.......2006-06-01
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke is a very good rendering of the life of the classic gospel/R&B/pop superstar whose life was tragically cut short with his death in 1964.
Here you get to see the talented, complex, and at times, troubled singer throught his beginnings singing with the Soul Stirrers, through his skillful crafting of his own solo career, and ending with the ongoing mystery surrounding his death in a flophouse motel at the hands of a woman who may have had other motives for killing Cooke besides self-defense.
The only problem with You Send Me is that it at times focuses too much on the minutiae of the gospel circuit that Cooke and the Soul Stirrers traveled and details of the publishing industry that many readers will not find interesting. But in the end, this book is well worth a read, and anyone interested in Sam Cooke should not be disappointed.
WELL PUT TOGETHER .......2005-10-20
THIS BOOK REALLY PUTS INTO PERSPECTIVE WHO SAM COOKE REALLY WAS AND HOW IMPORTANT HE IS TO AMERICAN CULTURE. IF THIS ISN'T REASON ENOUGH FOR A FULL LENGTH MOVIE THEN WHAT IS? BUDDY HOLLY HAS ONE,RICHIE VALENS HAS ONE, RAY CHARLES EVEN HAS ONE! COME ON MOVIE MAKERS THE STORY OF SAM COOKE HAS EVERYTHING YOU NEED; LOVE, TRAGEDY AND TRIUMPH. WILL SMITH WOULD MAKE A GREAT SAM COOKE!
Sent Me There!.......2005-02-06
This was a well researched and written book. I enjoyed it because it was packed full of history on music industry, the Civil Rights Era and The Man (Sam Cooke). This book sent me there. It was so descriptive, that I felt like I was actually there viewing the events as they unfolded.
I am a Sam Cooke fan, but I did not know much about him. This book provided me with an in-depth look at the man from a personal and professional standpoint. His life was not picture perfect and his death is still surrounded by too much mystery. I appreciate the author revealing such sensitive info and in such a way that it did not tarnish my image of the singer.
This man's life had all the makings for a movie. The book left me not wanting for anything. I walked away full...no questions pending.
Customer Reviews:
Great autobiography!.......2003-12-29
Autobiographies are fun to read because people spill their guts and tell you all the secrets and failures that they normally wouldn't admit to.This author had quite an interesting life, growing up in NYC and becoming a bigtime music industry insider, marrying and divorcing and so forth. He gives you a real feel for his life and his first love: music.
A Must Read.......2002-01-15
If you are a music lover, industry hopeful, or history buff, this book will give you an honest, down to earth, fireside story of one very important man's life in the business. The manner in which he chooses to tell his story is an in depth, straight forward approach which keeps you wanting to continue to the next chapter. When it is all said and done, you feel as if you knew Wex throughout his journey and understand his joy in the career path he chose and just what he has accomplished. As a music business student, this was an inspiring, thought provoking read. Find this book, and enjoy.
music fan as record exec: good idea.......2000-04-30
In-between the archetypes of musician-as-record- exec (as in Berry Gordy) and evil-incarnate-as-record-exec (as in The Geffen and progeny) is the fan-as-record-exec. Atlantic is the greatest example of a record company run by fans. With top-flight soul/R&B, jazz, and rock divisions, Atlantic beats Sun and Chess for the title of "History's greatest independent label." Jerry Wexler's colorfully logomaniacal verbiage tells of the view from the air up there. The personal history detailed in this book isn't to be skipped, either. Not nearly outshined by the magical music history that attracts us to this book, the life lived by the author helps make this stuff such a good and quick read. There's something to be felt there. Read. Look for Ahmet Ertegun's entry on the subject, coming in May 2000.
Average customer rating:
- okay and great!
- MASTERPIECE!
- A GREAT BOOK FOR ANY BLUES LOVER!
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A Blues Life (Music in American Life)
Henry Townsend
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Big Boss Man: The Life and Music of Bluesman Jimmy Reed
ASIN: 0252025261 |
Customer Reviews:
okay and great!.......1999-11-03
I liked the book thick and thin, from front to back! I am glad to sell this book and review it! Henry is a genius and I guess Bill too!
scott elfwood "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES" TM
MASTERPIECE!.......1999-11-03
Henry did a great job on this book. It truly describes is life as he only knows it. It is great I came out to St.Louis in October 98 and this pass weekend for his 90th at WEBSTER UNIVERSITY 10/29/30/99 IS DATE AND A CLUB CALLED BB'S JAZZ BLUES AND SOUPS MILLIONS OF PEOPLE LOVE Henry and his Music. A billiant man! Judy west
A GREAT BOOK FOR ANY BLUES LOVER!.......1999-11-03
This book is about the life of Blues Legend, Henry Townsend. It gives a vibrant touch to his life before his around the world music playing days and during. Henry and Bill show us how it feels to be a Blues Legend and how to learn how to go at a career as a bluesman, Henry and Bill has wrote a masterpiece in itself. And I and hopefully others hope that this masterpiece will be followed with another. You can Find his cds on this amazon.com and others. "The 88' Blues" can be found in St.Louis and blueberry hill.com
Book Description
Book contains 160 song transcriptionsThis book brings to print for the first time the writings and research of three African American scholars from Fisk University who participated in a 1940s study of the culture and music in the Mississippi Delta. Until these long-lost documents surfaced recently, the perspective of white folklorist Alan Lomax represented all that was known of this important project and its findings.
Customer Reviews:
Revisionist scholars.......2006-02-07
Revisionist scholarship is red hot, and no one, it seems, can escape its flame. All great men and women of the past, and especially liberal icons such as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King are charred, act by act, word by word, until only the ashes are left. In the music field, there are similar targets, with Woody Guthrie and Alan Lomax tied high on the burning stake. One can only wonder (but not for long, their faces and grimaces are so very familiar to us) who is behind the systematic rewriting of cultural history of which this book is a prime example.
Lost Delta Assassinated.......2006-01-07
An edition of the writings of the joint Fisk University-Library of Congress Cohahoma project undertaken in the 1940s is long overdue and would have been most welcome. Unfortunately, Lost Delta Found is sloppily and tendentiously edited. Most disgracefully, Robert Gordon and Bruce Nemerov, themselves white, create a highly biased, falsified frame for the valuable writings they present by means of omission of key information, selective quotations, and bogus insinuations of romanticism and racism against Alan Lomax that pervade their editorial apparatus. They fail to duly credit Lomax with courage in initiating an unprecidented bi-racial study of a hotbed of racial discontent in the heart of Mississippi Delta plantation country in the 1941-42 Jim Crow South. They omit mention of the fact that Lomax and his wife were arrested and briefly jailed for fraternizing with black sharecroppers. They also don't mention that the Dixiecrat US congress cut out all arts funding in spring of 1942 while the study was going on, specifically prohibiting federal arts workers from collecting statistical information and and making field recordings of folk songs. It is to be hoped that some day a fair and factually accurate edition of the Coahoma Project materials will appear - one that reproduces all the relevant historical documentation. Tragically, the publication of this book may prevent that from happening.
Claim [in Lost Delta Found]: The Coahoma study was composer John Work's idea and was appropriated by Alan Lomax and the Library of Congress.
Fact: In 1940, Fisk Professor John Work proposed a study of ballad origins after a disastrous fire in Natchez, Mississippi. The grant application to fund it (written by Fisk President Thomas Johnson, not John Work, to a foundation in New York) was turned down. A year later, during a visit by Lomax to present a concert at Fisk, President Johnson, Sociologist Charles S. Johnson, and Lomax proposed a different, joint Fisk-Library of Congress field recording project, centered in Clarksdale (in Coahoma), using sociology students to gather data. Alan Lomax wrote the application and questionnaire for the study. Gordon and Nemerov supply no evidence that Lomax knew of Work's earlier Natchez fire proposal much less "stole" it. (Funds for the Coahoma study came from Charles Seeger's Pan American Union, under the War Department - information they omit).
Claim: The Land Where the Blues Began is Alan Lomax's version of the Coahoma Study.
Fact: Land Where the Blues Began, a memoir written in 1993, when Lomax was in his seventies, covers Lomax's field recording experience from 1933 through the 1970s.
Claim: In Land Where the Blues Began, Alan Lomax slighted the contributions of his African-American collaborators on the Coahoma Study -- Lewis Jones, Samuel Adams, and John Work.
Fact: Alan Lomax thanked and mentioned them (especially Lewis Jones) over 18 times and at considerable length, including in the formal acknowledgements of Land Where the Blues Began.
Claim [In Lost Delta Found]: Alan Lomax was not a Southerner and therefore had "romantic ideas" about the South.
Fact: Alan Lomax was a Southerner and a life-long champion of civil rights. The editors of Lost Delta Found smear his character (there are over 70 mentions of Lomax in the introductions and index, all derogatory) when they insinuate that he was a crypto-racist and "romantic' who did not acknowledge his black co-workers (when in fact he did so over and over). They also don't mention the fact that Lomax and Lewis Jones collaborated again in the early 1960s.
Claim: [In Lost Delta Found] Alan Lomax's Land Where the Blues Began has many inaccuracies "the most important of which" was his omission of mention of the August, 1941, preliminary Coahoma trip undertaken by Lomax and Work.
Fact: Lomax's omission of the 1941 preliminary trip in the Coahoma study is arguably a narrative expedient, not an error. No other "inaccuracy" in Land Where the Blues Began is identified. That all of Lomax's Library of Congress Coahoma recordings are, and have always been, acurately dated, with full and proper credit to participants (including Work) is not acknowledged by Gordon and Nemerov.
Claim [in Lost Delta Found]: Lomax ought to have edited the Coahoma study after leaving the employ of the Library of Congress.
Fact: The study was interrupted by US entrance into World War II. Alan Lomax's ethical obligation to the study ended after he left the Library in 1942 to join the army.
Claim: After the war, Alan Lomax and the Library of Congress suppressed the results of the Coahoma study when they lost or "filed away" the one extant manuscript of John Work's essay about the project.
Fact: Letters in the Library of Congress state that in 1943 the Library sent John Work multiple copies of his unfinished Coahoma manuscript drafts (along with mimeographed copies) after he wrote that he himself had lost them. After 1945, study participants had permission from Fisk and the Library to use the Coahoma material in their own writings. Lewis Jones used the material in completing his sociology degree; and in December, 1947, participant Samuel Adams published an article (albeit brief) about his Coahoma work in 'Social Forces' (pp. 202-205). In 1958, John Work wrote to the Library of Congress asking for permission to write a book based his Coahoma essay and received a go-ahead. He did not mention that his manuscript was "lost" at that time, suggesting that at that time he possessed copies of his own writings. None of this information, all on public record and available to any diligent researcher, appears in Lost Delta Found.
Claim [made by a reviewer]: Alan Lomax's black colleagues urged him to record newer, gospel music rather than older call-and-response spirituals.
Fact: The only "evidence" for this is Robert Gordon's highly implausible suggestion in Lost Delta Found that John Work's classified index of 68 spirituals collected during the Coahoma project constitutes a coded "hidden message" (a' la Leo Strauss) criticizing the emphasis on collecting spirituals. It especially strains credulity, since Work himself was a noted enthusiast of (nearly extinct) black string band and sacred harp music.(There is little point in collecting material that is widely commercially available.)
Claim [in Lost Delta Found]: John Work "anticipated the blues as poetry movement by ten years."
Fact: Harlem renaissance writers Sterling Brown, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, and Alain Locke championed blues as poetry ten years *before* John Work.
Essential!.......2005-12-04
This book takes a critical, but not cruel, look at Alan Lomax's scholarly work in recording some of the black music of the south. Lomax, in his celebrated treatise on his travels in the South, mostly neglected to mention his research associates, black scholars from Fisk University in Nashville.
Lomax's focus of the research trip described in this book was to find old black spirituals and work songs, which, of course, weren't really being sung any more, with black culture moving further toward modern gospel music. Lomax, despite the urgings of his colleagues, was looking for something that no longer existed. However, far from villainizing Lomax, the authors of this book celebrate his victories and hail him as the true American hero that he is, while also bringing to light another pair of American heroes, Lomax's black guides.
The book is well-written and easy to read, not overly scholarly, and most anyone with any interest in blues, gospel, delta music, American black music, American folklore, African-American culture and American traditional music in general will enjoy this book and find themselves using it as a crucial reference.
Essential Reading.......2005-08-29
Lost research found, beautifully presented and edited, with hundreds of transcriptions of songs from Coahoma County in the 40's by John Work, the African-American researcher who assisted Alan Lomax in the recording of Muddy Waters' first recordings.
While the media has focused on the "scandal" that Alan Lomax slighted the contributions of his Afircan-American colleagues, like John Work, those of us who are familiar with the history of Delta Blues scholarship already knew that while, at the same time, acknowledging the truly great work Lomax did.The real value here, and the value is immense, is in the wealth of detail about black Coahoma culture.
Jukeboxes are catlogued,with numbers of plays per song in some cases. Obscure statistical studies are mentioned and summarized that clarify the nature of the milieu in which Muddy, Son House, etc etc, worked, drank, sang, played. And all those unknown songs!
Don't even think about not buying this book.
Crucial for anyone dealing with race, with blues, with Lomax.......2005-08-24
Nemerov and Gordon have done an immense service to the scholarship of blues, to the scholarship of race in scholarship itself, to the understanding of Black music. This book helps us understand rather than the beneficient and hallowed benefactors of African Americans he liked to picture himself, Alan Lomax perpetuated the same racism and paternalism that has been a halmark of white scholarship of African Americans since this country began.
The trips to Mississippi in the 1940s that Lomax made were supposed to be part of a joint project between between Lomax's team at the Library of Congress and a team of Black scholars at Fisk University led by the great John W. Work III, one of the greatest African American folklorists, the musical director of the Fisk Jubilee singers, and one of the major Black intellectuals of his period. The lure of Lomax to the Fisk scholars was that he was supposed to lend resources from the Library of Congress, especially portable recording equipment, and would advance the publication of the joint study. In particular, the connection with the Library of Congress would make things easier with white authorities in Memphis and in the Mississippi Delta. Lomax seemed to be after the cooperation of Fisk professors and graduate students who knew their way around the Black south, especially Mississippi.
What turned out is that Lomax demanded that Work give part of the archive of folk recordings he had achieved to the Library of Congress. While Work, and two graduate assistance wrote cogent studies, that included many transcriptions of songs, hymns, sermons, and other Black folk culture, all that came out were recordings done by the Library of Congress. Nearly 50 years later, Alan Lomax came out with a book on this trip called _The Land Where the Blues Began_ which won many prizes and set the stage for another reissue of the recordings made on this expedition.
Yet, the studies by Work, Adams, and Jones were alledgedly "lost" by the Library of Congress and Lomax, although researchers found this information in Lomax's papers several years ago. While Lomax uses photographs taken by Work, data and interviews compiled by Adams and Jones, there is no attributation to these Black scholars. Indeed, Lomax makes many mistakes and even confuses the two trips he actually made with one.
The studies by the Black scholars here that are finally seeing the light of day are important. Rather than focusing solely on remnants of the past and perpetuating the image of the Delta as a dynamic center of change, a mixing pot of Black culture, and place the traditional culture in the context of real change in the real Black community. If Lomax focuses on older Black folk singers and seems to prefer, as Nemerov and Gordon point out in their introduction, the inarticulate, who necessitate interpretation by Lomax, Work, Adams and Jones interview a very articulate cross section of Black people from the Delta ranging from high school students to great grand mothers to give a picture of Black folklore and live in the world.
As Adams and Jones were sociologists working on the equivalent of Master's Theses under the supervision of Charles S, Johnson, their papers about life in the Delta and its connection to folklore are important for anyone interested in Black history and culture in general, and life in the Delta in particular. There is none of the romanticism that non-African American blues writers like to invest Mississippi and the Delta with in their writing. There is no garbage about meeting the devil at the crossroads, but there is a lot about the growing race consciousness and growing refusal to take the oppression whites were dishing out that would explode into a civil rights movement.
Since I wrote this review, I have found the scholarship here, particularly about the changing sociology of the Delta to be extremely useful in discussing several questions that people have asked me, or thinking about other questions involving the history of the blues, banjos, old time music and the civil rights music. When I say helpful, I mean it has provided clear and documented answers to questions academics working these fields have raised with me.
This is a useful serious work written with great concision and clarity. It stands in stark contrast to the sloppy purple prosed, self centered, stereotype seeking and producing "white boy who knows Black folks" approach Alan Lomax took in his book _The Land Where the Blues Began_ which purports to cover the same material.
Average customer rating:
- Good
- The Late Great Johnny Ace
- The Late,Great,Johnny Ace
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The Late Great Johnny Ace and Transition from R&B to Rock 'n' Roll (Music in American Life)
James M. Salem
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0252069692 |
Book Description
If Elvis Presley was a white man who sang in a predominantly black style, Johnny Ace was a black man who sang in a predominantly white one. His soft, crooning "heart ballads" took the black record-buying public by storm in the early 1950s, and he was the first postwar solo black male rhythm and blues star signed to an independent label to attract a white audience. His biggest hit, "Pledging My Love," was at the top of the R&B charts when he died playing Russian roulette in his dressing room between sets at a packed "Negro Christmas dance" in Houston. This first comprehensive treatment of an enigmatic, captivating, and influential performer takes the reader to Beale Street in Memphis and to Houston's Fourth Ward, both vibrant black communities where the music never stopped. Following key players in these two hotspots, James Salem constructs a multifaceted portrait of postwar rhythm and blues, when American popular music (and society) was still clearly segregated.! Among the many colorful characters who knew and worked with Johnny Ace—including B. B. King, Johnny Otis, Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown—none exerted more influence on his career than the promoter and entrepreneur Don D. Robey. It was Robey and his sometime wife Evelyn Johnson who transformed John Marshall Alexander Jr. into the heartthrob Johnny Ace and promoted him to the top of the R&B charts. But the price of fame was a grueling life of touring on the "chitlin circuit," where successive one-night stands might be 800 miles apart and musicians performed more than 340 days a year. Johnny Ace's career lasted barely eighteen months, yet musicians from Bob Dylan to Paul Simon have acknowledged their debt to him. Ace's inimitable delivery ushered in a fusion of black and white styles that set the stage for rock 'n' roll and changed American popular music forever.
Customer Reviews:
Good.......2006-11-19
How do you read a book about someone whose career just spanned 18 months and whose recorded material fits on one cd? And this in a time when the media wasn't as developed, certainly not for black events.
Salem has somehow managed it. It gives a good overview of Johnny Ace's life and unfortunate death at a very early age. The crux of the book is how the author weaves Ace's career and life into the broader narrative of black music and black life in the South.
Therefore, it's a good biography, but also a good history book on black entertainment in the early 1950's
The Late Great Johnny Ace.......2000-03-16
A biography that has been long overdue,"The Late Great Johnny Ace.." is a marvelous journey to the backsteps of an long overlooked persona. Ace is just as much a legend as James Dean or Elvis Presley, but has been for years sidelined to a mere footnote in rock history. Ace's sensational russian roulette death on Christmas Day 1954, has unfairly eclipsed his musical merits, and is usually the first open topic in a discussion about him. This book is an excellent read simply because it offers more information about Ace and his music than anything previously published. Salem not only takes the reader for a slow cruise through Ace's short life but he builds an incredible atmosphere of life as a musician in Memphis. Here we not only learn more of Johnny Ace the man, but of his world and the collision course fame put him on. Ace's tragic death is explored in grave detail dispelling many myths and half truths. A must-read for any music historian. Now if they could just turn this into a movie.
The Late,Great,Johnny Ace.......2000-03-06
At long last,a book about Johnny Ace,rock&roll's first great tragedy.(He preceeded Buddy Holly's plane crash by a good 5 years.)Indeed,they had barely begun calling it "rock & roll"when Johnny killed himself playing russian roulette on Dec.25,1954.(Not Christmas eve,as is usually reported.)This fine book dispells many myths about that fateful night,and is also a welcome addition to the rock'n roll literature.A must read about the early days of rock music.
Book Description
With just forty-one recordings to his credit, Robert Johnson (1911-38) is a giant in the history of blues music. Johnson's vast influence on twentieth-century American music, combined with his mysterious death at the age of twenty-seven, has allowed speculation and myths to obscure the facts of his life. The most famous of these legends depicts a young Johnson meeting the Devil at a dusty Mississippi crossroads at midnight and selling his soul in exchange for prodigious guitar skills.
In this volume, Barry Lee Pearson and Bill McCulloch examine the full range of writings about Johnson and sift fact from fiction. They compare conflicting accounts of Johnson's life, weighing them against interviews with blues musicians and others who knew the man. Through their extensive research Pearson and McCulloch uncover a life every bit as compelling as the fabrications and exaggerations that have sprung up around it. In examining Johnson's life and music, and the ways in which both have been reinvented and interpreted by other artists, critics, and fans, Robert Johnson: Lost and Found charts the broader cultural forces that have mediated the expression of African American artistic traditions.
Customer Reviews:
Finding the Real Deal.......2005-10-15
Pearson and McCulloch demythologize the stories about Robert Johnson in this well researched and fascinating study. The authors convincingly demonstrate that the story of Johnson's Faustian pact never appeared in print until decades after Johnson's death. They further debunk the legend by showing that even most of those who were closely associated with him also viewed the story with either a wry skepticism or total disdain. Although it's fun to talk about the legends that have been associated with this blues man, Pearson and McCulloch also argue that a gullible acceptance of the stories prevents blues fans from truly understanding the man and his music. I came away from reading this book with a better understanding of his life and a far greater appreciation for Johnson's abilities. In this respect, the book provides an excellent resource for learning to listen to blues music by clearing away the highly exoticized and even patronizing presuppositions that we may bring to the art form. In this fine study, a fine folklorist and journalist partner up to give us the real deal of Johnson.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please meet the real Robert Johnson.......2005-09-28
Do not be scared off by the naysayers and one star reviews. I can understand that people who worship at the altar of myth are dismayed by this strong factual account. This is a highly professional publication that is strictly based of veritable facts and not rumours and hearsay, even when said heresay could be the truth. Every single essay, story, blurb you ever read about Robert Johnson mentions his mythical pact with the devil. While it's fine to have romantic notions about an artist it is ridiculous, especially, in this case, to focus so exclusively on the myth when the facts are just as intruiging. That is what the authors are out to instill in our minds here. And yes they are occasionally repetitive but this is understandable when they are up against a half century's worth of material contending otherwise. The fact is that Robert Johnson was an amazing and talented musician who worked very, very hard to perfect his craft. This book asks the question "Why can he not be recognized for this fact?" Why is his prowess only explicable by referring to an ancient myth that he himself likely did not promote. The legends and myths are OK but they should not be the sole focus of conversation regarding this incredible artist. Read this book and you will come away with a new appreciation for this artist. I have been listening to Mr Johnson's recordings for over 20 years and that is the effect it had on me.
Dismaying and dreary........2005-02-27
The writers of this book would have you believe that not only is it idiotic to have any sort of mythology surround an artist, but they also want us to ignore many of the real life experiences that Robert Johnson most likely faced. If they had just wanted to focus on the "real" story and downplay the urban legend style that Robert Johnson's life is usually told as, all they would have had to do was...focus on it. Instead, they not only pooh-pooh the myths, they disregard the entire lifestyle of African Americans in the early part of the 20th century. We are to believe that Johnson played with lots of people, but none of the people we have ever been told of. No one is telling the truth about anything regarding Johnson, except the authors themselves. They insist that Robert Johnson himself did not have fears for his soul, in spite of a slew of songs pertaining to the subject. They seem unaware that this theme had a basis in the African American community of true belief, and still does to this day in many areas. Apparantly, they have never heard the term "write what you know"(either for writing songs, or this book). It would appear mostly that a lack of people who actually wanted to discuss the subject with the authors may have contributed to the authors' explaining over and over the insignificance of the themes in Johnson's work. They seem to distrust absolutely everyone who ever had any story to tell about Johnson, so it would be no wonder. Whether you believe that Robert Johnson ever went down to the crossroads, or the Louisana swamps, or any other part of that story, the fact remains that his voice and playing is haunting and haunted. The authors speak as if they have some deep inner ability to see into Johnson's mind and soul, and found it somehow lacking and not at all as the story goes. In the end, I just felt sorry for them, because it appears that they do not have the hair-raising, spine tingling thrill when they listen to his music that most people do when they hear it. This music was not intended to be listened to by an impartial, unaffected, disinterested audience. Maybe it is just the authors showing a touch of sour grapes at missing out on the larger experience. Over all an arrogant, mind dulling, disappointing dry telling of an otherwise exciting topic. Want a more interesting, less blabby version that gets down to the facts and preserves some of the myth? Read Peter Guralnick's Searching For Robert Johnson instead. Read Robert Johnson Lost and Found only if you do not care one bit about Robert Johnson, his music or his life, and don't care if it is narrated with as much enthusiasm as a Mutual Of Omaha Wild Kingdom program about snails.
Casting out Satan!.......2004-09-30
This book does a wonderful job of looking at the man whose dark mythology often supercedes his deep music. Yes, some who want to believe in his devil might get a little ruffled by the actual journalism here but I'm, for one, just as interested in the reality as I am in the legend. I find the true story of the tales woven around him captivating and curious. A critic on this list said that one could have researched everything in this book and to that I say, "huh?" Any accurate history revisits the facts and the faces, hopefully gaining new insight and accounts. This book does both and is a great read to boot.
Lost the plot........2003-12-23
A truly terrible book, that treats the reader like a moron.
The blindingly obvious is explained over & over,& then again
in case you still don't get it.The entire premise of this book could have been distilled in two pages.
Don't bother ,play the music.
Book Description
In Songs in the Key of Black Life, acclaimed cultural critic Mark Anthony Neal turns his attention to Rhythm and Blues. He argues that R&B-often dismissed as "just a bunch of love songs," yet the second most popular genre in terms of sales-can tell us much about the dynamic joys, apprehensions, tensions, and contradictions of contemporary black life, if we listen closely. With a voice as heartfelt and compelling as the best music, Neal guides us through the work of classic and contemporary artists ranging from Marvin Gaye to Macy Gray. In the first section of the book, "Rhythm," he uses the music of Meshell N'degeocello, Patti Labelle, Jill Scott, Alicia Keys, and others as guideposts to the major concerns of contemporary black life-issues such as gender, feminist politics, political activism, black masculinity, celebrity, and the fluidity of racial and sexual identity. The second part of the book, "Blues," uses the improvisational rhythms of black music as a metaphor to examine currents in black lifeincluding the public dispute between Cornel West and Harvard President Lawrence Summers and the firing of BET's talk-show host Tavis Smiley. Songs in the Key of Black Life is a remarkable contribution to the study of black popular music, and valuable reading for anyone interested in how race is lived in America.
Customer Reviews:
must read.......2003-07-06
Songs in the Key of Black life is another piece of fine scholarship from one the most brilliant young cultural critics around. The book is both accessible and rigorous, dealing with complex academic and popular subject matter in way that evinces both his erudition and ghetto authenticity. Songs in the Key of Black LIfe is an indispensable part of the growing body of literature on contemporary Black Popular Culture.
Book Description
Jelly's Blues recounts the tumultuous life of Jelly Roll Morton (ca., 18851941). A virtuoso pianist with a larger-than-life personality, he composed such influential early jazz pieces as "King Porter Stomp" and "New Orleans Blues." However, by the late 1930s, he was nearly forgotten. In 1992, the death of an eccentric memorabilia collector led to the unearthing of a startling archive, revealing Morton to be a much more complex and passionate man than many realized. An especially immediate and visceral look into the jazz worlds of New Orleans and Chicago, Jelly's Blues is a definitive biography, a long overdue look at one of the twentieth century's most important composers.
Customer Reviews:
Useful,provides a correcting insight.......2007-07-09
Very much of Morton's life and legacy remain in controversy, controversy in part created by Morton's own assertiveness about his seminal role in creating Jazz and the often blunt defense he made of himself against rivals like WC Handy. Reich seeks to come to Morton's defense by using recently available documents including letters from Morton to a long time collaborator and the newly-found manuscripts of Morton's compositions of the late 1930s and 1940. Along the way he presents a fairly accurate and useful picture of Morton's youth than other reporters.
Reich's strength is his depiction of Morton's last years when money ran out, his health declined, and the recording industry felt that Morton was out of fashion. He provides a great explanation of how the Melrose Brothers cheated Morton and others out of millions of royalty dollars. He also describes very well the way that ASCAP limited membership for Black composers like Handy and then provided them a pittance of the money it collected off of their compositions during the 1930s and 1940s. For those concerned about the controversies between Handy and Morton, it must be pointed out that Handy's autobiography written in 1941 ends with a paen to ASCAP, without mentioning the struggle that Morton and other Black composers had with that organization.
Morton was one of the great musicians and composers in American history. However, American capitalism's ability to milk his creativity without paying him anything reached its bleak end in his final illness. Morton could not afford decent medical attention as heart problems assailed him. He could afford only a few days in a rest home where he was told that months of such care could have lead to his survival.
One of the areas that this book provides a corrective is in relation to the Alan Lomax interviews with Jelly Roll Morton. In the mid 1930s, Morton, living in Washington spent hours being interviewed by Lomax for the library of country. Reich explains that Lomax brought a bottle of whiskey to each session and encouraged Morton to drink, knowing that Morton's comments would be come more exaggerated and pugnaciou, the more whiskey Morton drunk. This coincides with Lomax's behavior throughout his career of trying to make sources he found reflect what he wanted. Very much of Morton's reputation as an unreliable braggart comes from these interviews.
Chapters Six through Eight Make This Book.......2005-06-05
The great trumpeter Rafael Mendez once said that he lived by one golden rule his father taught him: "Never boast. Someone better than you may be lurking around the corner, waiting to take your place." This was a lesson that Jelly Roll Morton (1886-1941) didn't learn until bad luck, lack of opportunity and rivals who DID take his place (particularly Ellington and Art Tatum) humbled him into reassessing his talent and his place in contemporary music. But, as this remarkable book points out, he not only learned his lessons but learned from them, remaking both his image and his music in the face of near-total indifference.
When reading through this bio, I had reached about page 148 and had some reservations as to its worth over Alan Lomax's half-bio, half-autobiography, "Mister Jelly Lord." It seemed to me that the authors had bent over backward to excuse Morton's past as a pimp, gambler and hustler simply because he was the first to codify jazz in written music, and indeed even seemed to claim his superiority as a jazz musician over such luminaries as Bunk Johnson, Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. Chapter Five, in particular, had several errors in both fact and judgment, consistently referring to Morton making his early acoustic recordings in front of "microphones" (they used a big metal horn to focus the sound into a steel cutting needle, no microphones were used at all, hence the term "acoustic"), renaming Bing Crosby as Bill (a typo so glaring that even a modern yuppie proofreader should have spotted it), and their astounding demotion of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings to "a rinky-dink ensemble" in their records without Morton. (In plain truth, the NORK was the first band to actually swing on records, even from their very first records in 1922, by virtue of their rolling, "loping" beat, similar in feel to that of Sidney Bechet's New Orleans Feetwarmers of a decade later. Listen and hear for yourself.)
At this point, then, I was going to give this book 3 stars, mostly for factual accuracy but not for value judgments or style. But then something happened. They began chronicling, in full detail, the meeting and eventual partnership of Morton and Roy Carew. They fully documented, as Lomax had not, all of Morton's personal, medical and legal battles with their results in his lifetime and after. They described in full Morton's second and last stay in New York, quoted what he really said to black musicians on the street corners of Harlem, and told just how he re-evaluated the musical value of contemporary musicians and planned to compete with them. And they described in detail his sad last months in California and the creative new music he had written for large orchestra, something far beyond his greatest accomplishments of the 1920s.
Morton, then, is truly given his just due as a man and musician. The loudmouthed "braggart" is revealed as a man who did not proselytize his music above all others in Harlem, but warned younger black musicians not to trust the powers that be in the music business of their time because they would get railroaded as he had. The quixotic dreamer who Lomax described as wanting to create carbon-copy Red Hot Peppers bands across America to push his name above all others is shown as a man who truly cared about finding work in the Depression for good musicians who deserved better. And the "moldy fig" whose stomps and blues were already outdated by 1939 is shown as a vital creator who was still coming up with startling new material. So much is already evident to Morton fans from a few of the 1939-40 General recordings, but this book also describes his innovative large-band scores "Mr. Joe," "Oh Baby" (not to be confused with the pop `20s song of the same name), "Why?" and especially "Ganjam." More satisfyingly for the reader, it chronicles how Morton's "loudmouthed" complaints of the early 1940s eventually led to real reform in the 1950s and `60s of the entire music business and the rules it had to follow.
As a result, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Forget the sometimes stiff and schoolbookish writing style. Forget the occasional errors in fact and judgment. The overall picture it paints of Mr. Jelly Lord, especially in his last years, is a fine and noble one. If you think you know the Morton story, I'm here to tell you you DON'T, at least not until you read this book. I always had the utmost respect for Morton's musical mind, one of those rare organs that was able to remember with photographic precision everything it heard and synthesize it into a unique and personal style. Now I have respect for Morton the person as well, at least the Morton of his last years. Jelly Roll had indeed redeemed himself, and you WILL be startled by some of the things you read here. I guarantee it.
A disappointment.......2005-03-29
The book contains a number of careless errors. For example, it repeatedly states that King Oliver recorded Morton's "Wolverine Blues" (which he didn't--they're confusing it with "Weatherbird Rag," written by Louis Armstrong). Regarding "solo tunes... recorded on July 8, 1929," the authors mention "'Pop' (a revisiting of 'Seattle Hunch')." The correct title, "Pep," bears some similarity to the earlier "Stratford Hunch," not to "Seattle Hunch," which was recorded after "Pep." Other mistakes are evident...
Also, the focus on Morton's health and financial problems comes at the expense of his musical achievements--his monumental Library of Congress sessions receive a single paragraph in the main text. For those interested in Morton, I'd recommend the great "'Oh, Mister Jelly' - A Jelly Roll Morton Scrapbook" by William Russell and "Mister Jelly Lord" by Laurie Wright (neither are easy to find), as well as "Dead Man Blues" and the landmark "Mister Jelly Roll."
Entertaining, valuable book works on many levels.......2004-12-17
This book offers a great look into the world of jazz's beginnings as well as telling a highly engaging and emotional story. It works partly because, even though you know the outcome is not going to be a happy one, you find yourself pulling for Jelly, hoping that somehow the ending at least has some happiness to it. Whenever there's a ray of hope, though, there is a but or however right around the corner.
The book is also a lucid portrait of the type of discrimination that existed in the American music industry at the time.
Tastefully written and not maudlin in its sympathy for Jelly. There are also nice descriptions of what technically set his music apart and ahead of its time.
A sad tale of genius, robbed by Melrose.......2004-08-30
I've read a good bit about Morton, how he was a "braggart" and a story-teller. Indeed, he was a story-teller but once you read this book, telling how Jelly was robbed by his music publishers as well as his on again/off again wife, you'll have a greater and deeper appreciation of the artist known as Jelly Roll Morton.
A wonderful read, a sad story and thank goodness all the papers were found in that apartment/home in New Orleans less Morton end up no more or no less respected than his former reputation.
The inventor of jazz? Pretty darned close.
Now, if someone would only release the COMPLETE Lomax LOC recordings - that would be something! Mosaic, where are you when we need you?
Average customer rating:
- Take it to the river, Leave it there!
- Thoughts on Take Me To The River
- Fascinating, but...
- For Music Lovers, An Inspiring Read
- Al Green Took Me to the River
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Take Me to the River
Al Green , and
Davin Seay
Manufacturer: HarperEntertainment
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0380976226
Release Date: 2000-09-05 |
Book Description
Alone among the greatest vocalists and song-writers in American music. Al Green has fused these opposing concepts into an intense and original sound that transcends the divide between the sacred and the profane. With an extraordinary appeal that has continued unabated since the mid-seventies, this quintessential soul and man remains one of the most enduring, electrifying, and enigmatic artists of our era-a man who has walked the tightrope between the devil's music and God's calling and lived to tell the tale.
Now Al Green's tale is told for the first time in Take Me to the River, his inspiring, unsparing, and ultimately transforming autobiography. From a sharecropper's shack in Jacknash, Arkansas, to the absolute pinnacle of show business success, it chronicles the career of this gifted singer in rich and never-before-revealed detail. From his early days on the gospel and R&B circuits and his fateful encounter with legendary producer Willie Mitchell to a harrowing account of the attempted murder and suicide scandal that made headlines worldwide, this is the whole story, straight from the man who knows best. But Take Me to the River is more than a standard-issue rags-to-riches saga. The epic spiritual struggle for the heart and soul of Al Green is brought to life with all the urgency and immediacy of his music. A story of repentance, redemption, and renewal, the life of Al Green is a moving account of one man's journey to personal, creative, and spiritual wholeness.
Customer Reviews:
Take it to the river, Leave it there!.......2002-09-05
Huge Al Green fan, yet greatly disappointed in this book. For some reason, I did not feel total truth and sincerity was put into writing this book. And who was the editor! The numerous typos only led to further frustration. I have always respected Al Green for who he was- the church boy gone secular who never lost his ability to interpret any tune with gospel fire and conviction. The Hollywood side of Al has always been visible- to everyone but himself- and it is still prevelant as I watch him on numerous television events singing his hits of old. I was not fascinated by this read and I would suggest that you borrow this book from the library or a friend before making the purchase.
Thoughts on Take Me To The River.......2002-03-03
I believe that one of the most interesting aspects of the book is Al's discussion about his upbringing in an intensely religious home, and how this conflicted with his worldly aspirations. His story in a sense is not unlike many of the stars of his generation who were brought up in the church, and found themselves at odds with their parents world view. The chapter that illuminated on the Hi recording sessions at the Royal Studios in Memphis was spectacular. The book even provides a great run down of the stars on the Hi label - a record label that has not received the respect it is due. By the way, Al Green's producer Willie Mitchell is a genius. He turned Al Green into a superstar. However, I must say I found the book wanting. I thought the pictures in the book were one's that most of us who have followed his career have seen over and over. In addition, there are no pictures of him as a child, or even of his own family (wife and children). If you expect this book to be reveal any of the struggles that he has dealt with on a personal level, you will be sorely disappointed. He glosses over his own personal family life. The book paints a nice surface potrait of Al, but really does not go much beyond that.
Fascinating, but..........2001-12-26
I found "Take Me To The River" to be very eye-opening, in terms of the amazing range of experiences that Al Green has had, and as to his development as an artist. It was the later part, that interested me the most. Having been a fan of his, since "Tired of Being Alone" changed the course of soul music, in 1971, I was most fascinated by his accounts of his working relationship with Willie Mitchell (who I consider an unsung genius of popular music), and with the Hi Records rhythm section, one of the greatest groups to ever make a record.
I also found the book to be very well written. I have two major complaints though. First of all, as another reviewer has pointed out , (and I'm amazed that it's only been one), the book looks like it wasn't edited. I have never read a book with so many blatant typos, in my life! Harper Collins should be ashamed (and should make a recall, have the book edited, and send everyone new copies.)
My second objection is much less cut-and-dried: I was recently involved in the production of an event at which Mr. Green was given a Lifetime Achievement Award, and not only did he not show up, but didn't notify anyone until the day of the event, that he would not be there, leaving many people in a very awkward position-and leaving a very unsatisfied audience at the Apollo Theater. He had been aware of the award and of the event, for at least a month, and had confirmed the fact that he would attend.
The fact that he didn't show up was an insult to the organization making the presentation, as well as to the house full of people who were expecting to see him...Even worse, this isn't the first instance of his not showing up for a scheduled appearance, that I know about. I must say, that knowledge of actions like these, made me read certain sections of "Take Me To The River" with more than a grain of salt...
For Music Lovers, An Inspiring Read.......2001-01-21
For the truly musically inclined, this book will touch your soul. Al Green's love of music is more than just words and songs, it goes to the core - the everyday sounds of life. True music lovers will identify with his use of poetic imagery to describe the impact music made throughout and how blessed his life has been through this gift. While I found the first half of the book, which covered his childhood thru his beginnings as a solo artist, absolutely engrossing, the second half felt a bit rushed. There was a need for more to fill in the details of his later years. I do commend Green and Seay for leaving out the gory details of life on the road and the wild stories that came with it.
Al Green Took Me to the River.......2001-01-12
Al Green's new autobiography, written in 2000, is a riveting story for anyone who has ever been curious about Al Green, how he came to be a famous soul singer, and the story behind his music. I was hooked on this book from the moment I picked it up. It was easy to read and very entertaining. He starts off describing his childhood and his experiences in Jacknash Arkansas as the middle child of a sharecropping family. He tells about his parents whom he loves very much and how they had the courage to sell everything they had and move north for a better life. "Al," he said, "go wake up your brothers and sisters. Tell them to get dressed and start packin." Al explains how much he learned from his parents and how much he respects them for taking this gutsy move. His childhood was hard but he pursued his dream of becoming a soul singer and when he teamed up with legendary producer Willie Mitchell, he was on his way. This autobiography tells of his rise to the top of the music industry, his attempted murder and suicide, his immense struggle between his religious side and his secular side, and how this struggle is reflected in much of his music. Al eventually chooses God over his million dollar career but left us with some of the best soul music ever recorded. I was very surprised at the candor with which Al told the details of his life, good and bad. He talked as honestly about the problems he had with drugs and money as he did about his numerous successes. It made his story sound very earnest and sincere. He covered all the bases of his life and answered all the questions I had about the artist that I have been listening to for many years. The only negative about this book was that it wasn't longer. I was not ready for it to end and have a strong desire to read as much more as I can about him. I am only 17 years old but have been listening to Al Green for over five years. This book was very well written and very interesting to me. I am sure it will be just as riveting for other fans.
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BLUE RHYTHMS (Music in American Life)
Chip Deffaa
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0252065115 |
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