Book Description
In this handsome book, the Dallas Museum of Art celebrates three remarkable private collections of contemporary art that were donated in 2005, presenting them in context with masterworks already owned by the museum. Featuring over two hundred works, many previously unpublished, by such major artists as Matthew Barney, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, Vija Celmins, Philip Guston, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Sol LeWitt, Bruce Naumann, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Mark Rothko, Robert Ryman, Richard Tuttle, and many others, this volume provides a stunning visual history of the critical art movements that have shaped––and continue to shape––contemporary art since the 1940s.
Essays by distinguished scholars discuss the works, which range from sculpture and painting to photography, installation art, and video and electronic media, and address the importance, history, and evolution of Dallas’s collection.
Customer Reviews:
Gorgeous Galveston.......2005-03-23
I grew up going to Galveston and have always loved this strange city. This book does a wonderful job of capturing the architecture that made Galveston unique. Clayton is definitly the definitave Galveston architect, he shaped the style of the city. Galveston was so lucky to have had him as their preeminant architect. I loved the historic pictures in the book and the text was facinating, I learned a great deal about a subject I thought I knew much about. I urge anyone who visits Houston to make it their mission to go take in Galveston and take this wonderful book with you.
A Look at a Lost Galveston.......2004-02-28
Few people have shaped the face of Galveston and Houston as much as architect Nicholas Clayon. This book compiles the architect's works in Galveston during the boom of the Gilded Isle. This invaluable resource is filled with photographs and renderings of Clayton's projects, both commercial and residential. While many of his buildings remain, many more have been lost and this book helps recreate Galveston during Clayton's time. It also includes information on other architcts who were Clayton's contemporaries. A must for anyone interested in Galveston, architecture and how one was shaped by the other through Clayton's vision.
Average customer rating:
- A zany autobiography to go with the character
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Daddy-O: Iguana Heads & Texas Tales
Bob Wade ,
Keith Zimmerman , and
Kent Zimmerman
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0312134592 |
Customer Reviews:
A zany autobiography to go with the character.......2004-01-14
To quote from the afterword "Texas culture, in which Bob "Daddy-O" Wade is certainly a leading, not to say Olympian figure, has long been regarded by some pointy-headed intellectuals as an oxymoron." Quite correctly the afterword goes on to dispel this jaundiced view and give Bob "Daddy-O" Wade full credit for the gargantuan Texan art works he has produced.
Bob Wade resides and was born in Austin, Texas in 1943. He received a BFA from the University of Texas Austin and an M.A. from the University of California Berkeley.
The story starts with Bob's childhood days and his very early introduction to motor scooters and automobiles in Texas. Then the hilarity of the book really starts - not with "Texas Tales" as per the title - but the much more exciting Mexican Tales. Imagine the fun that he and his young buddies had over the border in Juarez where the legal drinking age is "sorta sixteen" and a quart jug of Bacardi rum was about 99 cents. A sexual experience didn't cost much more. Wow, foreign countries are often so much more fun than your own.
Then continuing in this very frank and clearly honest vein, Bob takes us through his days at university and through his career. His work includes giant size sculptures for display as public art. The best known was probably a giant iguana which resided during its heydays on the roof of the Lone Star café in New York. Then there's the pair of cowboy boots all of 40 feet tall installed in the front of a mall in San Antonio, Texas. My favourite was probably the beautiful 70-foot tall saxophone which included the body of a Volkswagen beetle, an old surfboard and several galvanised cattle troughs. "Daddy-O" tries to make his massive sculptures from scrap materials salvaged from whatever source may be available. The wonderful swarthy Mexican waiter with his sombrero, tray of nachos and a giant chilli was largely recycled from its own ancestor, a clean-cut white guy hamburger waiter. Being an art teacher / professor he also utilises his students to help with the projects. He gets the help and they get the experience. "Daddy-O" is not your "easel and palette" artist but one who relies on welding, rigging, cranes, scaffolding, compressors, nuts and bolts, power tools and the like to build his public art. Often the common link is urethane foam, discovered by Bob in his early days at Berkeley and never forgotten. It almost defines his work.
Another link is the not infrequent outcries against his work from local councils, communities or the like. Objections are generally made when such people feel that the sculpture lowers the tone of the area or may attract "undesirables" to the locale. The legal arguments tend to claim that the objects do not comply with the many pieces of legislation applying to signs. The defence is always that they are not signs at all, and indeed bear no relationship to signs. They are demonstrably works of art, designed and erected with love and care, for the public well-being and general benefit of one and all. What judge or court would argue with that? Thus the sculptures remain in place with the blessing of the law and so what if a little bit of good publicity has been generated during the process?
Mr. Wade is the recipient of three NEA grants and has been included in Biennials in Paris, France; New Orleans, LA; and, the Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY. Collections include Chase Manhattan Bank, AT&T, the Menil Collection, Houston and the Austin Museum Of Art. He's also got a bunch of stuff on street corners and the odd roof or two!
"Daddy-O" is a fun guy, a fun loving guy, a generous guy, a humorous author, a very unusual artist and a second cousin of cowboy Roy Rogers. Read the book and if you are in the right place (there are several) go and have a look at some of his work.
Average customer rating:
- A Pulitzer Prize For Texana!
- An enjoyable, fact-filled, recommended blend
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The Light Crust Doughboys Are on the Air: Celebrating Seventy Years of Texas Music (Evelyn Oppenheimer Series, 2)
John Mark Dempsey
Manufacturer: University of North Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1574411519 |
Customer Reviews:
A Pulitzer Prize For Texana!.......2002-11-18
Finally---the definitive history of The Light Crust Doughboys, one of the "big three" in the history of western swing and Texas-style country music (the other being Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys and Milton Brown's Musical Brownies). But this must-have book is so much more than a book: history "comes alive" with the included music CD which features a classic Doughboys' decade, the 1940s, alongside their contemporary Grammy-recognized work. And it's in this newer work that fans can really see the legacy and enduring power of a band that's been called country music's greatest historical band. In songs like "Texas Women", "Sending Me You", "Looking Through A Stained Glass Darkly", and "Amarillo, Where The Wind Blows Free, the reader can see how The Light Crust Doughboys keep evolving as artists while always keeping a foot in the best of their Texan and American past.The Light Crust Doughboys are one of the select bands in country music history equally renowned for their instrumental as well as their vocal prowess. Long known for their eclectic approach to music, combining elements of the blues, cowboy music, old-time, gospel, and dixieland, The Light Crust Doughboys are true American ambassadors and modern troubadours of American music. You'll read here of The Doughboys' pioneering use of electric guitar and electric bass in American music. You'll read that they pioneered being a western band in Hollywood's golden age (they pre-dated Bob Wills' film debut by four years). You'll read and hear how they combined gospel music and western swing (with gospel legend James Blackwood) to develop gospel western swing. You'll read how they came up with the idea of blending Pacific/California surf and Texas western swing with Ventures' guitar great, Nokie Edwards, resulting in critically-acclaimed roots music including an Americana Christmas album! Let's all hope that this book paves the way for long-overdue recognition in the NashVegas-dominated Country Music Hall of Fame as well as "early influences" recognition in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Is there a Pulitzer Prize for music history or Texana? This book and CD has earned it! And, do your heart and ears a big favor by searching for other Light Crust Doughboys' music and videos at Amazon.
An enjoyable, fact-filled, recommended blend.......2002-11-08
The Light Crust Doughboys Are On The Air: Celebrating Seventy Years Of Texas Music by John Mark Dempsey (a native Texan and Assistant Professor of Broadcast Journalism, University of North Texas) is an enjoyable and informative study of The Light Crust Doughboys band and their Texas music, which was broadcast in the "golden era" of radio. Their long-lived radio show lasted from 1930 to 1952, and their particular brand of gospel music was nominated for the Grammys in 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2002. An enjoyable, fact-filled, enthusiastically recommended blend of biographical background and cogent musical assessment of this evolving group, The Light Crust Doughboys Are On The Air is enhanced with a music CD featuring 30 of the band's most popular and beloved songs.
Book Description
Ranching and Texas remain synonymous for people around the world, although our knowledge of ranch life more often comes from the movies than from herding cattle on the Panhandle Plains. Yet there still are Texans for whom ranching is a daily way of life, and this book tells their stories.
Through Lawrence Clayton's words and Wyman Meinzer's evocative black-and-white photographs, you will visit sixteen working ranches across Texas: Alta Vista, Canales, Catarina, O'Connor, and Ray in South Texas; R. A. Brown, Chimney Creek, Goodnight, J A, Moorhouse, Nail, and Renderbrook Spade in the Panhandle and Northwest Texas; and Henderson Cove, Hudspeth River, Long X, and Hoskins 101 in the Trans-Pecos. Many of these ranches trace their beginnings to the open range, and all of them are known today for running a quality "outfit."
Clayton recounts the history and current operation of each ranch, often drawing on stories handed down over generations. Quotes from ranch owners and employees give a feel for the challenges and rewards of modern-day ranching and also underscore how much ranching varies across the different regions of Texas. Meinzer's photographs capture the endless prairies and the weather-worn faces of the men and women who work the cattle, as well as the tools of their trade. For everyone fascinated by Texas ranching, this book offers enjoyable reading and viewing of this proud and increasingly rare way of life.
Customer Reviews:
Award Winner for Book Design.......2002-07-22
This book has received an Award of Excellence from the 2001 Southern Books Competition. "The austere black and white Contemporary Ranches of Texas with its barbed-wire rule and powerfully understated photographs captures the essence of Texas." Congratulations to the author and photographer, designer Ellen McKie and the University of Texas Press.
Average customer rating:
- A joy to simply page through at leisure
- In Love with Landscapes
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Big Bend Landscapes (Joe and Betty Moore Texas Art Series)
Dennis Blagg
Manufacturer: Texas A&M University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 158544202X |
Customer Reviews:
A joy to simply page through at leisure.......2003-03-10
Big Bend Landscapes by Texas painter Dennis Blagg is a breathtaking, coffee-table artbook of oil on canvas landscapes so captivating, they seize and hold one's attention as surely as the finest of photographs. Mood, mystery, natural serenity in the Big Bend National Park of Texas fill these compiled outdoor paintings austere mountains and dry deserts with a very special dignity and beauty. A joy to simply page through at leisure, each individual painting is enhanced with a brief but informative commentary in this outstanding and memorable collection.
In Love with Landscapes.......2003-02-27
Unique landscape artist, Dennis Blagg, shares selected paintings and drawings of West Texas. He captures more than the camera can and his style evokes a viseral response. Perhaps you must have "been there, done that" to appreciate that each one is a gift. Blagg also shares brief notes with each entry. That adds a personal touch with a underlying theme of conservation for this special landscape. I must confess I skipped right past the introduction by Ron Tyler and straight to the views of the Chisos that I can't get out of my mind.
Big Bend Landscapes is a feast for the heart and soul for all you Big Bend National Park lovers out there and believe me there's a lot of them. Dive into all the moods of the desert and let it carry you away. I just returned from a trip to Big Bend on Feb 25, 2003 and my question is "Was it real or was it Blagg?" Make the book purchase and do the trip and you be the judge.
Product Description
Contemporary Palestinian Art Catalogue ". . .the first museum-quality exhibition of contemporary art of Palestine in either Europe or Middle East."-The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Nov.2003. "Through a mix of painting, photography, sculpture, textiles and video, the artists sow tales of love and loss. They speak of struggle and success. But probably most important, they offer hope for the future."-The Christian Science Monitor May 28, 2003.
Book Description
"I was put here to play music, and interpret music. I might do a lot of other things, but the main thing that I love, that comes before everything, even breathing, is music." Miles Davis to Ben Sidran in 1986 (The Miles Davis Companion, page 196)
A "must have" for every Miles Davis fan! Miles Beyond dares to venture where not other biographer has gone before. It offers the first in-depth exploration and analysis of Miles Davis's controversial electric period and the violent split of sentiment it produced within the jazz community.
One of the twentieth century's genuine musical geniuses, Miles Davis was a pioneer of such jazz styles as cool, hardbop, and the fusion of orchestral music and jazz in his work with arranger Gil Evans. Yet, when he boldly experimented with rock and African music in the late '60s, giving birth to "fusion" or "jazz-rock," Davis alienated many of his jazz fans. However, his electric explorations enduredand its impact on the music world is still being felt today.
Based on new research, as well as exclusive, first-hand recollections by over 50 musicians, partners, producers, and artists, Miles Beyond offers hundreds of never- before-revealed facts, insights, and revelations about Miles's remarkable artistic and personal life. Readers will discover a new perspective on Miles's working methods, as well as in in-depth, chronological understanding and analysis of the music produced from 1967 to 1991a period that's been both neglected and misunderstood.
Customer Reviews:
Ambient Reading.......2007-05-14
Paul Tingen's account of Miles Davis' electric years provides the best information I've read about this period. I was especially pleased to find a lot of quotes from Pete Cosey, Reggie Lucas, Mtume, Al Foster, Michael Henderson, Dave Liebman, Dominique Gaumont and Sonny Fortune, maybe my favorite lineup from the 69 - 74 years. By the way, if you are interested in this era there is lots of video footage availble on the Web, especially at that ultra popular video site that starts with a "You" and ends with a "Tube" which I'm avoiding in type because for some weird reason, Amazon keeps deleting this review.
Ok, so I've told you this is the best information available on the electric period (as far as I know). I've read several biographies, including the mammoth Chambers tome and almost all of these seem to dismiss this period of Miles' work. Tingen at least has some very positive things to say...
However, this book is loaded with goofy assertions, especially over-use of the words and expressions "ambient", "beginner's mind", "Zen", "transcend and include". Tingen also goes at length to explain Wilber's theory of holons. I couldn't care less about holons... just give me the #@$% details Tingen. Another thing I found annoying was Tingen's outright proclaimation that the November 69 sessions (that brought you Big Fun) were a failure. Nonsense. "Great Expectations" is a high-water mark in this period in my opinion. In fact, the band I play in "Cannibal Kitchen" covers this piece of music (admittedly we eventually move into a surreal 2 chord vamp). The repetition is no different than say... "Nefertiti". "Great Expectations" is hardly "boring" as Tingen writes. Tingen brings up these sessions several times and every single time he qualifies it with "the failed". If the sessions are so bad, why does Amazon keep selling out of Big Fun? Why did Sony Music release an expensive SACD version of "Big Fun". I don't think they would be making an investment like that for "failed" sessions. Admitedly, "Go Ahead John" can get on my wick depending on my mood (sometimes I like it) but the tracks used to create Go Ahead John weren't from the, ah em, "failed" November 69 sessions. I just found his opinionated fluff really irritating in places.
And that brings up another problem with all of these books I've read, including this one. All of these authors seem determined to pontificate and make pronouncements about what is good and what is not so good. Clearly, almost everything Miles did was interesting at the very least and most of it exceptionally good considering what was occurring in music at the time much of this music was made manifest.
At one point Tingen becomes bold enough to assert that "Yesternow" from the "Jack Johnson" release would be better if 5 minutes were hacked off of the end... what the hey?! Ok now he's just trying to create controversy. What an incredible arrogant thing to write. Who does this guy think he is anyway? Teo Macero?
There is a great session history and discography at the back of the book that Miles collectors will find very useful.
Subtract 1 star for over-use of the word ambient (to the point of irritation) in a book about Miles Davis. If Tingen loves the word "ambient" so much he should write something about Brian Eno. Next up for Tingen, a book about the ambient drumming styles of Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette. Sheesh,ambient this, ambient that. Lame.
Subtract 1 star for all the philosophical mumbo-jumbo.
Still a good book but the guy ruined what could have been a great book with all the cosmik debris and over analysis of Miles' work (and life for that matter). Buy it because as far as I can tell, it's the only really decent book about this electric era but be prepared to be irritated with the overabundance of psychedelic, candy-floss profundities.
Open Ears Needed.......2007-04-26
In this modern era of completeness, a book like Paul Tingen's "Miles Beyond" (2001) was bound to happen. After all, with a subject as gigantic and iconoclastic as MD, there's no reason to stop after Jepsen, Chambers, Carr, Troupe, Khan, Losin, et al.. My problems with Mr. Tingen's tome, in all of its detailed glory, are the details that he misses when given the most golden of all opportunities to catch them that any of us may ever have, while presenting himself throughout as an arbiter, the be-all and end-all of persons qualified to perform precise musical analyses. It is a flawed approach with a flawed result. But it's still a good book, especially in the appendices/discography section, which I refer to on a regular basis.
To demonstrate a few examples of missed opportunity from "Miles Beyond", consider just that part of the book which focuses on the incredibly fertile "Bitches Brew" period of mid-1969, which by now is well known to most of us. My own understanding of this period has been greatly enhanced by Bob Belden's insightful session-by-session notes from Columbia/Legacy's "Complete Bitches Brew Sessions" (4-cd set). While most of Tingen's account of this important chapter in music history seems right on the mark and certainly makes for good reading, there are elements of his scholarship that need correction, and comments within his musical analysis that raise questions about his hearing.
On August 19, 1969 - the first day of "Brew"ing - after taping the material that would be released as the tracks "Bitches Brew" and "John McLaughlin", Miles and his ensemble attempted the Wayne Shorter composition "Sanctuary" in two takes, without the services of McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Bennie Maupin, and Harvey Brooks. BOTH takes are heard complete in the released version of the song. Take "A" is performed as an octet equaling the Quintet (MD, WShorter, CCorea, DHolland, JDeJohnette) with Don Alias on congas, Jim Riley (Jumma Santos) on shaker, and upon very careful listening LENNY WHITE, who is plainly audible in the left channel as the 2nd drummer, trying his best not to overshadow Jack's kit on the right. In "Miles Beyond", Tingen reports that "the aural evidence only reveals one drummer". What? Please try some headphones, Paul! Bob Belden, in his notes, reports hearing "all of the others added (except Harvey Brooks and Jumma Santos)". That's good if he's hearing Lenny on the left - not so good if he thinks he's hearing McLaughlin, Joe Z., or Bennie Maupin anywhere in there. And who, then, would Mr. Belden say is shaking those shakers? The answer is that Santos is in there. Take "A" lasts 5:13 and begins with Miles and Chick warming up the tune with the "I Fall In Love Too Easily" theme, which had become their standard concert practice earlier that year.
Likewise, Take "B" begins exactly that same way and, just like Take "A", gives way to the "Sanctuary" theme after about 1:30 of Miles and Chick dueting. The group performing Take "B" is slightly smaller however. Lenny White is NOT audibly present, ok, though Jack DeJohnette on drums is still augmented by both Alias and Santos. Most surprising of all, Wayne Shorter is nearly completely absent from Take "B", except for the briefest of moments (at 9:27 into the released track) where his soprano sax is heard echoing Miles' theme exposition. Shorter laying out essentially makes Take "B" into a Quartet performance (plus the two percussionists). Belden says he hears a full Quintet plus only one percussionist (Alias). Is it possible that he "hears" Alias covering both the congas and the shaker at the same time? That's difficult to do, Bob, even for a great percussionist. And let's remember that the aesthetic of these sessions was NOT based on overdubbing parts later. Paul Tingen, by the way, does not distinguish any difference whatsoever between Take "B" and Take "A", or if he does, he does not report about it, and wouldn't this have been the perfect place to do so?? THAT is a missed opportunity, and evidence of less-than-critical listening skills.
I have never heard anyone, these authors included, speculate about why Shorter should be barely heard from on this attempt (Take "B") of his own tune. I must agree wholeheartedly with Belden that Columbia missed a golden opportunity of its own by letting this Quintet go un-recorded as a unit in the studio. Tingen doesn't even address that issue, and so we are left to lament the fact that both Belden and Tingen here seem to have blown perfect opportunities to set forth an accurate published accounting of exactly what went down personnel-wise at these sessions. Oh well, just like the man himself and his music, perhaps none of us would have agreed about it anyway. The song "Sanctuary", as released (10:58), is a back-to-back combination of the two complete takes (thanks Teo), with Lenny White present as the 2nd drummer on the first take, and with Wayne Shorter's soprano largely absent on the second take. And it is a thoroughly entrancing piece of work that is worthy of repeated listenings by us all (and worth some new footnotes from Belden and Tingen).
More examples of botched scholarship: When discussing the earlier part of that same (8/19/69) day's recording activity, Tingen characterizes the track "John McLaughlin" (4:22) as an "out-take" from the material heard as "Bitches Brew". While Tingen does point out that Miles is absent from "John", he seems indifferent to the musical reality that "John" is a distinctly different piece of work, with its own tempo, its own rhythm, its own bass vamp, and so on - one that most music analyzers would recognize as NOT being excerpted from somewhere in the "Bitches Brew" groove section. Belden illuminates the situation far better by revealing the intent of Miles and Co. to lay down "Bitches Brew" (the track) as raw editing material for later post-production in FIVE different sections, with Parts 1 and 2 becoming the released track "Bitches Brew", and an extract from Part 3 becoming "John McLaughlin". Tingen sheds no such light on the situation, leading us to wonder how many of his other assertions may be couched in overwhelmed confusion, and what his credentials really ARE to write this kind of a book. It's a GOOD BOOK in many ways - for the chronology, for the interviews with the magisterial sidemen and the other contemporary figures, for the contextual descriptions of how this period relates to MD's overall career and to the larger American culture scene (though I agree with other reviewers on these pages here that Miles himself would have frowned heavily on Tingen's spiritual ramblings, and would have said "WTF are you on, MF? Just shut up and listen.") For those writing qualities, this book is worth returning to. But for detailed and precise musical analysis, Tingen himself sets the mark high, and then totally misses it.
PostScript: What makes Bob Belden's descriptions more satisfying (wherever you find them) than Paul Tingen's? Besides having unfettered access to the same vault material that Tingen probably had for just a few weeks, Belden is truly *Music Production* oriented in his narrative. And the LASTING significance of "Bitches Brew" (the album) in Miles' entire catalog is that it represents the beginning of fusion jazz as a PRODUCER's art form above and beyond the art of the musicians and arrangers, the conductors and the "directors". Having thrown my lot in with Belden like this, however, he then goes on to tantalize all of us by leaking the story of "Bitches Brew" Part Four, as a "semi-complete performance featuring guitar, soprano sax, keyboard and trumpet solos".. Ohh, man!!! How difficult would it have been to put some or all of THAT onto the "Complete BB Sessions", Bob?!? Was it THAT unsuccessful? Ohh, right, right, marketing saavy, I forgot about that. Look for that bonus material in 2009 when Sony/BMG/Warner/EveryBodyElse announces the stunning wi-fi distribution of the Complete Miles Davis Cochlear Implant Project! And until then... read on.
A good start, but not the real deal.......2004-04-26
This book does indeed cover the electric years in detail. There are lots of interviews with sidemen like Corea, Holland, DeJohnette, Cobham, Grossman, etc. that really flesh out what went down (much of it barely comprehensible to the musicians when they played it). But who needs any coverage of the 1980-1991 period?
There is WAAY too much yadda yadda kind of macro-analysis that doesn't address specifics of the music, including a long exposition into the writing and theories of Ken Wilber. I say cut the **** and cut to the chase.
He overuses Miles' autobiography with Quincy Troupe as a source. I consider that document to be self-serving in the extreme and frequently fictional, and I wouldn't use it as a source without corroboration. He also frequently denigrates Chambers' Milestones, which I consider the best overall book to date regarding Miles' life and career. This is probably no more than professional rivalry, but it lessens this book.
The analysis of the various recording dates and output mostly jibes with my takes on the same recordings, but is incomplete. Nothing in his analysis is striking or displays insight that a half-sophisticated listener couldn't arrive at. Lester Bangs did several early 70s contemporaneous reviews of this material that showed much more depth of thought. And he ignores quite a few live dates that should have been available to him as a researcher.
All in all, I wouldn't give this more than three or three and a half of five stars. It's a nice start, but certainly not the definitive book about this period. I see John Szwed has a new MIles bio out - he did a great job with his Sun Ra bio, so maybe his will be the new definitive work.
At last - a Book about Miles Davis' Electric years........2003-11-03
A rare occasion is when a book appears, that unveils a whole era, which by some reason has been forgotten or disregarded. An even rarer occasion is when the same book manages to prove that this overlooked era is shimmering by magic treasures of purest gold.
To all of us, who for three centuries now have wondered why an appropriate treatment of the most powerful and dynamic period in the career of Miles Davis have been almost completely suppressed, relief has finally became brought. Because it is to us, who spent the late seventies wondering in despair if Miles was dead, and then - when the occultation finally was broken - realised that he was, to all of us Paul Tingen has dedicated this pioneering piece of work.
It is with a feeling of redress and revenge one reads the true story as told by the former sidemen of Miles: Jack de Johnette, Herbie Hancock, John Mc Laughlin, Mtume, Joe Zawinul, Pete Cosey, Michael Henderson and Sonny Fortune. History drives close as everyone confesses his own experience of the sheer magic that adhered to Miles. It is also with deep recognition and satisfaction one reads Tingen's solid and personal analyses of Miles' explorations into what contemporary jazz-authorities regarded as cheap rock-business. And it is with brave new ears you again and again will let the timeless flow of that red trumpet reappear from your speakers during reading. And you will find that that particular kind of energy that still keeps you thunderstruck when you're exposed to Agartha or Pangaea, certainly IS a landmark if not a climax in 20th century western music. Just as you've always felt.
The book is a revelation. Get it!
The Dark Prince.......2003-09-13
Anyone reading this is familiar with the arc of Miles Davis' career and tapestry of milestone recordings. Tingen focuses on the least understood of Davis' output, and the final 24 years of the trumpeter's life: his controversial electric period. Through a detailed narrative of Davis's career from 1967 onwards, in-depth interviews with dozens of musicians, friends and family, session notes and a rigorous analysis of his recordings, the author brings this formerly dark and misunderstood period to life and shows its continuity with Davis' earlier work as well as its linkages to the roiling ferment of America in the '60's and '70's. Tingen actually gets under the skin of Davis, illuminating crucial aspects of his working methods, values and approach to music as life that span the trumpeter's entire career. He nails Davis' approach as one of incorporating the new, while integrating it with the styles of the past: "transcend and include"; Miles always WAS a conservative Midwesterner at heart. The author's energy, creativity and intelligence mirror those of his subject. More than a document of some of the most brilliant and forbidding music of the last 35 years-the best book published about one of the giants of 20th Century music.
Books:
- For the Love Of A Pug
- Form Follows Fiction
- Frederic Remington Art Museum Collection
- From the Fountainhead to the Future and Other Essays on Art and Excellence
- Girl Crazy: The Art of Michal Dutkiewicz
- Good Breeding: Chunky Version
- Graffiti Art: Writing in Munchen (Graffiti Art)
- Graphic Design That Works: Secrets for Successful Logo, Magazine, Brochure, Promotion, and Identity Design (That Works)
- Graphic Design USA 19: The Annual of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (365: Aiga Year in Design)
- Green Clean: The Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home
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Recommended Books
- Schaum's Outline of Operations Research
- Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way: Revised Edition
- DV Filmmaking: From Start to Finish
- Ernest Hemingway A to Z: The Essential Reference to the Life and Work
- Fundamentals of Investment Management with S&P access code
- Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching
- Lonely Planet Costa Rica
- Financial Engineering Principles: A Unified Theory for Financial Product Analysis and Valuation
- Fair Use and Free Inquiry: Copyright Law and the New Media, Second Edition
- The Land of Green Plums