Have You Read it Yet?

But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz (Geoff Dyer)
Also featured on LIFE! (Singapore) 2/11/06



Impressionistic fantasies around the lives of eight jazz legends. Though he calls this "imaginative criticism," the vignettes, inspired by photos and writings about the artists, have little to do with music. Rather, he muses about the musicians' personalities and certain episodes in their lives. Lester Young's disastrous stint in the army, Thelonious Monk's inability to communicate with anyone but his wife, Bud Powell's mental breakdown, Chet Baker's drug-induced deterioration, Duke Ellington's endless travels.
Dyer also addressed the oppression of working within an atmosphere of race-alienation, a hardship that led many to abuse alcohol and drugs, and find solace only in their incredible music.
In the end, 'But Beautiful' is a splendid meditation on jazz and the personalities that created it, couched in a prose as lyrical, and as rigorous; as the music it describes. Read it & Enjoy!

Seeya tomorrow @ our cd launch party btw!