Love is a Ball by Michel Legrand

 

Love is a Ball by Michel Legrand

Ball (Part One: Art and Laurie Pepper's Straight Life)

 

Ball (Part One: Art and Laurie Pepper's Straight Life)

Tosh on Lester (The Prez) Young

 

Tosh on Lester (The Prez) Young

Paul Desmond interviews Charlie Parker 1954

BOOK MUSIK NO. 58- The History of Bones: A Memoir by John Lurie

 

Book Musik 058 – The History of Bones: A Memoir by John Lurie

Posted on December 1, 2021 by Book Musik

Tosh and Kimley discuss The History of Bones: A Memoir by John Lurie. Lurie is a multi-hyphenate talent: musician-composer-actor-painter and now book-writer. Initially making his mark as the bandleader for downtown New York group, The Lounge Lizards, he quickly went on to establish himself as an actor in several films. He created and starred in the enigmatic, must-see TV show Fishing with John and the more recent Painting with John. He’s toured the world, composed several film scores, and has even done some modeling. And all along, he’s also managed to keep up a serious painting practice. Is there anything this man can’t do? Tosh and Kimley have some varying thoughts on this…

Spotify playlist

Theme music: “Behind Our Efforts, Let There Be Found Our Efforts” by LG17

Charlie Parker and Wallace Berman by Tosh Berman

 

Charlie Parker and Wallace Berman by Tosh Berman.

Read it here:  Charlie Parker & Wallace Berman by Tosh Berman

Wallace Berman's Be-Bop Jazz

 

My dad, Wallace Berman did this drawing when he was a teenager. Your typical hardcore Jazzier Hipster (of 1940s culture) for the record label Dial Records. There are different color versions of this work, because Dial released two separate compilations of their artists. One being the great Charlie Parker. This, I believe is the first time Parker has been on an album. My dad hung out at Tempo Records on Hollywood Blvd, which focused on the then contemporary be-bop music and artists. Tempo owned Dial and the rest is history.

The Free Spirits - "Out of Sight and Sound" 1967, Vinyl (ABC Records)

I purchased this used album due to the front cover's groovy aspect and even more so to its title, "Out of Sight and Sound." The Free Spirits are basically a jazz band. Two guitars, electric bass, drums, vocals, and Saxophone/flute. To me, the album yells out mid-60s Manhattan, and I see The Free Spirits fitting in into the world of The Fugs and The Velvet Underground. Over anything else, I'm intrigued when jazz-heads do rock. The known musicians on this album are the guitarist Larry Coryell and sax player Jim Pepper, who, by the way, is excellent on this record. 

"Out of Sight and Sound" was produced by Bob Thiele and engineered by the great Rudy Van Gelder at his tremendous and legendary studio in Englewoods Cliffs in New Jersey. The Free Spirits do twelve songs, I presume, in the hopes of getting a hit of some sort. Live, they stretch out like a jazz band, so the tension between the jazz mentality and pop is at its contrasting postures. 

The album is not by any means a masterpiece but a great work of curiosity. For those who love The Lovin' Spoonful, The Velvets, and The Fugs, I think this record needs to be placed in that post-hippie but right before the music world became totally dull. Coryell, the music director of this band, became a significant jazz guitarist in the jazz world. Here he put his talents to the rock n' roll medium and tried to stretch it to something new at the time. I love 1967. 

"The Beat Scene" Photographs by Burt Glinn, Essay by Jack Kerouac (Reel Art Press)

ISBN: 978-1-909526-26-6

A remarkable time machine of going back to the late 1950s to observe 'The Beat Scene' as it happened.  Burt Glinn was a classic photojournalist of the classic Life/Look/Esquire years.  Reel Art Press (RAP) not long ago put out a book of images by Glinn of the first day Castro obtained power in Cuba.   The images were raw but beautifully framed by Glinn's eye and his skill as a cameraman.  There are many images of the Beats in  New York and San Francisco, but the big difference from someone like Charles Brittin and Glinn is that Brittin was an intimate friend of his subject matters.  I feel Glinn was there as an assignment, and then moved on to another exciting location after the job was done.  Therefore these images of this generation were put in storage for over 50 years.  

Which actually gives an interesting texture or layer in his observations of the Beats.  He wrote the captions as well as these photographs, and it is geared toward the reader or viewer who knows nothing of this world but heard about it through the mainstream media.  And Glinn represented the mainstream world looking into the bohemian world.  Most images I have seen of The Beats either came from my father (Wallace Berman), Charles Brittin or Fred W. McDarrah in New York City.  The poet Allen Ginsberg is another great photographer who documented his social/work world as well.  But Glinn's work has a journalistic distance from his subject matter, and one can easily imagine these images being in LIFE Magazine in the late 1950s. 

The Beats generally don't have a high trust in the mainstream media world for many good reasons.  Exploitation is the most obvious reason, but Glinn also captures the inner glamor of such young people doing fun things.  Who doesn't want to go to a painter's party, or to a bar to hear poetry/jazz, and drink red wine?  Glinn's work is there to document a moment for the mainstream masses, which doesn't mean the photographs are not accurate, but still, there is a Hollywood cinematic touch to the color which makes the images very contemporary.   Glinn was a fantastic photographer, but in a very classical sense of picture and subject together.   There is no doubt that everyone in the Beat movement was extraordinarily handsome or beautiful. Even it's children, such as page 142, is at the very least, cute. 

Jack Kerouac's intro text is fantastic regarding an average night out in Beat-dom.  For those who even have the slightest interest in the counter-culture or the Beats should look at this book page-by-page.  An important document. 

Amore Hirosuke Swing Dancing and Music on Tosh Talks

Amore Hirosuke Swing Dancing and Music on Tosh Talks

I have known Amore Hirosuke for over 25 years.  Amore is a graphic artist/fine artist as well as a master on the subject matter of Swing Dancing (Lindy Hop) as well as Swing Music. I interviewed the King of Swing in Tokyo, and we discussed Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson, Cab Calloway, Louis Prima,  Fats Waller, Slim & Slam, Gentle Forest Jazz Band (from Japan) and Duke Ellington.  Amore and his partner-in-crime Lulu Yoshida are magnificent dancers.   Tosh Berman, your host for "Tosh Talks."

"Vinyl Freak : Love Letters to a Dying Medium" by John Corbett (Duke)

ISBN: 978-0-8223-6366-8 Duke University Press

Perhaps it's due to my mood at the moment, but "Vinyl Freak" is the best book I have read on record collecting, or to be more specific, for the love of vinyl and music discovery. First of all, I read this book due to my friend Amber Noé, who suggested to me at a bookstore. She doesn't (at the moment) share my love for the vinyl world, but still, it was sweet of her to find this book for me. Second, I may only know eight albums here that the author John Corbett writes about. All, are obscure Jazz or experimental music albums. To say that they are obscure is like saying the night is dark. I never heard of these artists or their music. So, what is the purpose of someone like me reading a book on someone's collection that is mostly, if not all, entirely unknown?

Corbett recognizes the importance of sharing one's love of a collection and showing it to someone else. He not only shows this body of work but also explains what and where they came from. It's a geek book of course, but a very generous one, where the reader doesn't feel left out of the information or more importantly, the passion of such a collection.

The book is beautifully designed in that every album he writes about we can see the record cover as well. All entries listed here are not on CD or streaming, as of the publication's date. If you're a music collector, all this will do is make one keep a list to check out later. Corbett also writes an essay on the issues of collecting and his history of his passion. There is also an excellent piece at the end of the book regarding his over-the-top passion: Sun Ra. I sense there will be a separate detailed account of that subject matter in another book by Corbett. Nevertheless, this has been a total fun read for me and made me re-think what I do with my music blog regarding my collection. Learn from the master!

"Los Angeles's Central Avenue Jazz" by Sean J. O'Connell

978-1-4671-3130-8 Arcadia Publishing

"Los Angeles's Central Avenue Jazz" by Sean J. O'Connell (Images of America series, Arcadia Publishing)

My beloved hometown Los Angeles is the best.   On the other hand, I don't think I have ever been to Los Angeles.  Even though I was born, and lived here for my entire life.  For instance, I never been to Central Avenue.  I have been to Silver Lake, Echo Park, Santa Monica, Brentwood, Beverly Glen, Topanga, the San Fernando Valley, Century City, Culver City, and on two occasions, Long Beach.   But that's not Los Angeles.   Central Avenue, to me, is a mystical location for Black American jazz culture.  I never was there, but my dad pretty much hung out at all the dance and jazz clubs in that area when he was a teenager and a young adult.  

I know of Central Avenue's music history, because it is truly a great one.  There are a handful of books on the subject matter, but I just came upon "Los Angeles's Central Avenue Jazz" by local historian Sean J. O'Connell and published by the always fascinating Arcadia Publishing. Minimal text, but no wasted words here.  Most of the text are to describe photographs, playbills, announcements and advertising from that great era in South Los Angeles.   This book is truly a remarkable resource for that era through these visual images.  There are some stuff that O'Connell misses, I think he's totally focused on Jazz music, for instance my dad Wallace Berman did the artwork for Dial Records (Charlie Parker's label) and also an interesting narrative that took place regarding John Dolphin, who owned and ran various small record labels at the time, as well as having a record store on South Central Avenue called "Dolphins of Hollywood."   "Hollywood" being used to bring some glamour to the place, but alas, the interesting thing that happened was that Dolphin was shot and killed in his shop by a disgruntled songwriter.     Not only that, but it seems that current Beach Boy and surf rock great Bruce Johnson was there and he witnessed the crime.   This specific information or text, is from a photograph of one of Dolphin's labels, with the song "Two Step - Side Step" written by Murry Wilson.  Yes, the father of Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson.   So there is even a Beach Boys reference to Central Avenue.  Not noted by the author, but me recognizing Wilson on the label.

Beyond that, this is a remarkable and well-researched little book on this great era in Los Angeles.    Great images of jazz greats such as Charlie Parker, Gerard Wilson, Art Farmer, Lucky Thompson, and other great iconic figures throughout the book.  Special mention of female jazz players as well.   "Los Angeles's Central Avenue Jazz' is pretty much an essential book for the jazz lover, but also anyone who is interested in Los Angeles culture.  I love it.

"Different Every Time: The Authorized Biography of Robert Wyatt" by Marcus O'Dair

ISBN: 9781593766160 Soft Skull Press

This is not really a biography on Robert Wyatt, but more like an intense love-fest for the artist.  And really, who would want less than that?  Wyatt is one of the great music figures of the 20th century.  A great singer in that Chet Baker mode of intimacy, with a mind like Alfred Jarry and the politics of a hard-left fellow.  The book is very strong with respect to the early world of The Soft Machine and Kevin Ayers - another iconic wayward genius.  One gets detailed information about the making of all of Wyatt's recordings as well as interviews with the musicians who worked with him.  Wyatt comes off as a modest man with elements of genius. One thing that makes clear is that Wyatt's wife and muse, of sorts, Alfreda Bengie is a major force in his life.  In many ways, she is George to his Gilbert.   Plus her best friend is Julie Christie.  

Wyatt sees his life (so far) in two sections. Before and after his accident which made him wheel-chair orientated for the rest of his life.  Nevertheless the accident (fall from a window) seemed to give him focus, which leads to works like the classic "Rock Bottom."   A perfectionist who sometimes takes great time between albums, is also a musician who likes to work with others on their projects.  But whenever Wyatt opens his mouth and sings, it becomes very much a Robert Wyatt recording.   The book is essential for Wyatt fans and for those who want to research the early 60s life of bands like Soft Machine, Pink Floyd and a touch of Jimi Hendrix.

Boris Vian - The sheik of araby

Boris Vian and his brother on drums.  Rare, because it is, footage of Boris doing music.

"Wonder While You Wander" by Tosh Berman Part Two: Loree Fox, Wallace Berman, Tempo Music Store

Wallace Berman and Loree Foxx in the Front of Tempo Music Shop on Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles

Interior of Tempo Music Shop on Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles

Artwork by Wallace Berman (age 16 or 17) for Dial Records, Los Angeles

Loree Foxx Photo by Wallace Berman

Loree Fox by Wallace Berman

I'm currently working on a childhood memoir "Wonder While You Wander," and this serves me as a scrapbook of ideas/images/etc.  

The Bryan Ferry Orchestra

"The Jazz Age" suggests happy times, but the truth it's misery as a fine art. The Bryan Ferry Orchestra goes forward by going backwards to an era of the Twenties. Before the big depression, and this has always been Bryan Ferry's playground.

I suspect that this album is Ferry's most personal work because its in a dream state of mind. The sound is total retro of a 78rpm recording, one can wonder why he didn't upgrade the sound of hot jazz? I think because his world is one of illusion and he doesn't want to break that spell. Remember even when Roxy Music were futuristic it was going to the past of Joe Meek recordings.

Oh, and I think this is Ferry's masterpiece. Laugh at me now, but the future will tell.

Jazz William Claxton (Twelvetrees Press)

This is not the Tashen edition!   This is the original Twelvetress Press edition.  Remarkable design that brings out the sensuality of William Claxton's images of jazz players and the jazz world.  Beautiful twilight world where style is extremely essential.  Chet Baker loved the camera or the camera loved him.  Without a doubt Claxton's camera had an affair with him.  Intimate, sexy as well, and smart.  Must-have for those must have-it.

Wallace Berman's cover for Be-Bop Jazz Volume Two

Sadly I missed out in obtaining the above image.  Its a 78 rpm release of a recording with Charlie Parker - the first time I believe he as appeared on record.   The other "first" is that the cover was drawn by Wallace Berman, my Dad, when he was a teenager.   Very rare, in fact the package here photographed didn't have the disks inside.  Nevertheless it would have been great to have this, but at the same time I have no regrets.  The memory of something (even if its true or false) is more important than the object.   But i have to say I am rather proud that my Dad is both on the cover of Sgt. Pepper as well as being involved in Parker's first recording for a label.   That's pretty great.

Kenny Dorham Quintet on Vinyl

More vinyl listening pleasure with what many feel is a classic recording by the Kenny Dorham Quintet.   Originally on Debut Records (now part of the Fantasy empire) this recording was done in New York on December 1953.  It conveys a certain amount of elegance that makes the afternoon go slower.  It's very graceful and tasteful and it is sort of a strong cocktail, where you have to dip into it with a certain amount of style.

The label Debut, was started by Charles Mingus with the help of the great drummer Max Roach.  Sort of the do-it-yourself aesthetic, but every release had a killer cover. 

Kenny Dorham

Boris Vian and his Jazz World

Le Major, a close friend of Boris Vian and a major influence on Vian's life and work.

Boris Vian jazzing

Boris Vian Jazzed (wonderful shoes)

Boris Vian at and in his moment

Duke Ellington, Michelle Léglise-Vian, and Boris Vian

Michelle Léglise-Vian, Miles Davis, and Boris Vian



Fantastic footage of Boris Vian and his world, including some inside images of Le Tabou, Vian's major hangout in the late 1940's.