Conversations In Jazz; The Ralph Gleason Interviews

Conversations In Jazz; The Ralph Gleason Interviews
Edited by Toby Gleason
Foreword and Introductory Notes by Ted Gioia
New Haven: Yale University Press
2016:276 + xvi pages

It has been several decades since Ralph Gleason passed away. Gleason was a pioneering jazz and music journalist, host of a legendary television show "Jazz Casual," and one of the founders of "Rolling Stone" magazine. "Conversations In Jazz; The Ralph Gleason Interviews" brings together interviews Gleason conducted in the early 1960s, the time he was producing the "Jazz Casual" series, although these interviews were conducted at home, separate from the conversations he had with performers on that show, with the exception of the one with Duke Ellington.

As Ted Gioia observes in his Foreword, these interviews take place at a most interesting period of time as 1959 saw the release of so many classic jazz recordings. John Coltrane is interviewed at the time he is stepping forth as a leader, while Sonny Rollins was interviewed a few weeks before he took his sabbatical from playing while Philly Joe Jones is interviewed during the most productive time of his career and the conversation with Bill Evans was less than a year after "Kind of Blue" and when he was working with his most influential trio.

These conversations are quite fascinating. For example Coltrane notes he had only played in three big bands as of 1961 (Dizzy Gillespie, King Kolax and Jimmy Heath), that one thing he likes about being the only horn in his own group is that he likes to play long, that he plays different tempos with different horns, how he went about writing tunes, and various thoughts relating to playing in clubs or concerts. His interview with Quincy Jones opens with Gleason asking why can't they record a big band so it sounds like the big band does live, before getting into the issues with running a big band, contrasting what he will be doing with Count Basie and other points such as touring Europe. With Dizzy Gillespie, Gleason explores at first how Dizzy first heard jazz and his development as a musician.

Gleason interviewed all four members of the Modern Jazz Quartet opening with John Lewis who provided a history of the MJQ along with some of the lessons learned as they developed their 'quiet' mode of jazz. Milt Jackson recalled his experiences as well a discussed challenges playing with the MJQ as opposed to other settings while discussing some of his other recording projects. Percy Heath tells about growing up with other musicians in the family, not adopting the bass until after coming back from the Service is own while Connie Kay recalls playing with Lester Young replacing Roy Haynes and then starting with the MJQ when Kenny Clarke left the group. A couple common threads are in the four interviews here such as how the nature of the MJQ restricted what they played. It is fascinating to read the thoughts of all four (and their acknowledgement of their common ties to Dizzy Gillespie).

Other chapters are devoted to Sonny Rollins, Philly 'Joe; Jones, Bill Evans, Horace Silver, Duke Ellington, Les McCann and Jon Hendricks. The discussions of how they started, influences, what motivates what they play and like, made for intriguing conversations and fascinating reading. This is an invaluable addition to the jazz literature. There is no index which is the only flaw in this wonderful volume.

I purchased this. Here is a video clip from "Jazz Casual" of Ralph Gleason speaking.

 

Gioia's Jazz History Thoughtful and Erudite

The History of Jazz - Second Edition
Ted Gioia
Oxford University Press 2011

Ted Gioia has updated his "The History of Jazz" which is welcome for those looking for a concise overview of jazz's development. While the title might be be more accurately titled, "Jazz: A Selective History" Or "A Concise History of Jazz," that is a matter of semantics. Gioia does generally trace what is generally viewed as the music's growth from its origins out of ragtime through its world wide spread. Gioia has updated his earlier history to perhaps give more emphasis to the global developments of jazz.

I give him more leeway in selection of material in such a topics as jazz history than I gave his "Delta Blues," which was highly flawed and omitted seminal figures in his subject matter. While there are unquestionably trends and artists in jazz's development that he might have devoted some space to, but it might have made this volume unwieldly. For example, he could have delved a bit more into some of the early women blues singers recordings, other than Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.

Gioia writes very clearly about the artists and does present what most would agree are the major figures in the music's history such as Armstrong, Morton, Hines, Ellington, Eldridge, Basie, lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Parker, Gillespie, Coltrane, Monk, Powell, Miles Davis and many more. He concisely discusses their lives and music and innovations in a lively and informative way. I was particularly impressed by his discussion of Bill Evans and Evans’ importance and influence on contemporary jazz piano.

Gioia’s discussion of the diversity of jazz around the world today is only an overview and overlooks some currents such as gypsy jazz. I do not know how exhaustive his suggestions for further reading was intended to be but there were some worthy books that were not included (such as recent bios of Lester Young). Gioia has included a listed of performances for suggested listening as opposed to recommending albums. In this respect, I suggest it may have been useful to have presented these in a chronological manner as opposed to alphabetical by artist.

In summary, this is a thoughtful and erudite introduction to jazz history that will be of value to more than jazz novices.



I received my review copy from a publicist or from the publisher.