Nice to see this. I came to learn about Mezz through knowing Sammy Price and their great recordings together. I found Mezzrow’s Really the Blues to be an exceptionally well written and enjoyable autobiography, one of the best.
I actually think of it the other way around. Historical reality can perhaps only be constructed from the tangible reality of the artifacts left behind - the music, the painting, the sculpture, the diaries and letters, stories and performance. Academics construct alternate realities. The offer their multiple and conflicting theories of whys and wherefores as more important than the work itself, and in so doing destroy immediacy, which imo is the essence and point of artistic expression.
Much of the fascination of this substack for me is your ability to convey the dynamism of your art (jazz) through time, the natural and often necessary progressions over main road and side-path - you refuse to get stuck in the tiresome academic mud of politics and sociology and mind games. Art transcends race, class, religion, everything but itself.
swinging af. i only knew about the club in nyc called after him but nothing about either his story or music. thanks for sharing!
Nice to see this. I came to learn about Mezz through knowing Sammy Price and their great recordings together. I found Mezzrow’s Really the Blues to be an exceptionally well written and enjoyable autobiography, one of the best.
I knew Sammy a little in the '70s; great pianist and his autobiography is also very interesting.
I actually think of it the other way around. Historical reality can perhaps only be constructed from the tangible reality of the artifacts left behind - the music, the painting, the sculpture, the diaries and letters, stories and performance. Academics construct alternate realities. The offer their multiple and conflicting theories of whys and wherefores as more important than the work itself, and in so doing destroy immediacy, which imo is the essence and point of artistic expression.
Much of the fascination of this substack for me is your ability to convey the dynamism of your art (jazz) through time, the natural and often necessary progressions over main road and side-path - you refuse to get stuck in the tiresome academic mud of politics and sociology and mind games. Art transcends race, class, religion, everything but itself.
Listen to the effin' music. Great advice.