Jazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz | Myself Among Others: A Life In Music

The Father of all Music Festivals Speaks | Myself Among Others: A Life In Music | George Wein, Nate Chinen

books:


	• Myself Among Others: A Life In Music George Wein, Nate Chinen Da Capo Press, 2004 - 576 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Best Jazz Book Ever

I just finished reading "Myself Among Others" by George Wein. This is the best book on Jazz I ever read. Politics, craziness, love, trust, friendship, race relations... are all inside by a major insider.
I even learned things I did not want to know about my idols. That is a must read book for anyone who has any warm corner in his heart for the "classical music of America."

Jazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Without question, the best book on Jazz I have read. Mr. Wein's story by itself is fantastic. His life is interesting and his writing excellent. Additionally, he dicusses numerous musicians and offers personal observations which bring them to life. He recommends Lp's, CD's, songs and sets. What more could you ask for?

for more information click here

The Father of all Music Festivals Speaks

George Wein has blessed music lovers by utilizing his God-given business acumen to influence the way live music is presented. He has blessed us again with this warm and well written memoir that contains a wealth of anecdotes regarding a who's who in American music in the later haalf of the 20th century. George Wein started out as a jazz pianist but his exposure to so many legendary jazz performers brought him to the realization that his talent for the business side of music may have exceeded his actual musical ability. He devoted himself to promoting jazz performances and performers ultimately becoming the driving force behind the famed Newport Jazz Festival. Along the way he has countless stories to share regarding the great legends of jazz with whom he became acquainted. Branching out to promote folk music festivals and having some intersting experiences with the newly emerging Rock culture , George adapted his approach and enjoyed some additional successes. The book includes characters such as Ellington, Basie, Armstrong, Monk, Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, etc, etc.

This is a very entertaining book for music lovers of all stripes but will have special significance for the jazz lover since George Wein is clearly a jazz lover and speaks the language. A great book.

for more information click here

A Jazzy Trip Down Memory Lane

I'm only up to page 128 in this wonderful book but am already completely enthralled. As Nat Hentoff said, "He has known more musicians-some very well indeed-than any writer on jazz, and he certainly knows the business end." To read personal accounts of his relationships and experiences with almost every jazz legend I've ever heard of (and some from before my time as well) is mesmerizing. And George Wein's personal life outside of jazz is not exactly "chopped liver" either!! The book is written with a wealth of knowledge, intelligence, insight, warmth, humor and humility. The only criticism I have is that the book is only a little over 500 pages!!

for more information click here

From the "cat houses" of Storyville, to Newport society,

George Wein's wonderful memoir, "Myself Among Others", might just as well have been titled, "Payback Time". Although he chided Alberta Hunter for using the expression, as she mounted the stage, after many years in obscurity, followed by renewed stardom in the eighties, I can't help feeling that George is muttering that phrase to himself, as he rollcalls those sometime irresponsible, sometime neurotic, sometime drug addicted children the world knows as "jazz artists".
George knows the territory very well. As a teenage fan, very competent pianist and singer , jazz night club entreprenuer, and promoter of the "daddy" of the outdoor music festivals, "The Newport Jazz Festival", and oh yes, lecturer at Harvard, in his custom designed jazz course, dare anyone tell George anything about jazz, and the wonderful lunatics that people the jazz world?
Here is what it's like to do business with artists worshipped the world over, like Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Chet Baker, Count Basie, Stan Getz, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus. Space precludes naming them all. In addition to dealing with these "darlings", were the torrential rains at outdoor perfomances, political opposition from irrate townspeople, and the piece de resistance of booking concerts, other promoters dissapearing with George's money.
Maybe the presence of a natural built in Prozac machine kept George sane through this craziness, but I have another theory. His passion for the music. When you are hearing a Louis Armstrong, or a Charlie Parker and you truly "get it", there is something that goes beyond mere entertainment, or an expert improvisor. I can't even find adequate words to describe it, but when these men improvise on a popular song, it becomes like a classic solution to a philosophic, or mathematical theorum. It's hard to state the "problem" to be solved, but the true jazz fan knows that Louis, and Bird, and the other masters, came up with incredibly beautiful solutions night after night, year after year.
If you love jazz, and the artists, this book is a must.

for more information click here

No one has had a better seat in the house than George Wein. The legendary impresario has known the most celebrated figures of music in general and jazz in particular--from Duke Ellington to Ella Fitzgerald to Miles Davis to Frank Sinatra. As a founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, the Newport Folk Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Wein has brought a dazzling spectrum of musicians to millions of fans, forever changing the musical landscape.In this highly praised memoir, Wein looks back on his life and career, describing his unforgettable relationships--sometimes smooth, sometimes tempestuous--with the great musicians he has known. From what really happened when Charlie Mingus visited the White House...to how Miles Davis and the ensemble that would eventually record the greatest jazz album of all time--Kind of Blue--came together at Wein's Storyville nightclub...to the day at Newport when Bob Dylan first "went electric," here are the personalities and forces that have shaped the past half-century of popular music.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2

hot