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'Talking Jazz:An Oral History': Jazz Greats Reveal Musical Secrets and Life Lessons in History-Making Interviews with Ben Sidran
Jazz legends talk with Ben Sidran about their music and their inspiration in a new 24-CD audio collection of 60 revealing conversations, culled from Sidran's public radio show. Talking Jazz is packaged in a keepsake boxed edition with an 82- page illustrated book.
Madison, WI (Billboard Publicity Wire) May 16, 2007 -- For five years during the 1980s, Ben Sidran interviewed some of the greatest legends of jazz music. On his nationally syndicated public radio show of the 1980s, "Sidran on Record," Ben spoke with an amazing array of musicians, arrangers and music industry figures. The conversations were with some of the most acclaimed jazz performers of the late 20th century, including Dizzie Gillespie, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Betty Carter, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey and Bobby McFerrin, among many others.
Some of these performers are still with us, but many have passed on. Now, Ben Sidran is offering a 24-CD audio collection of 60 revealing conversations with these artists. Talking Jazz, packaged in a keepsake boxed edition with an 82- page illustrated book, is available from www.talkingjazz.com. The New York Times calls Talking Jazz a great gift for commuters, and it is the perfect choice for music lovers anywhere.
As Craig Werner, author and chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin, notes, these conversations between Sidran and his musically gifted guests probe the complications of jazz identity. Werner interviews Sidran for the last CD, and the two talk about the amazing insights of these artists.
In a key interview, Dizzy Gillespie reflects on Charlie Parker, saying "Everybody knows that I am a contributor to this music. And even to say a major contributor to this music. But there are other things in the music that take preference even over my contribution, such as style. Charlie Parker, he's the one that created that style of playing. And playing it. That's what got it, you know?"
Dozens of other interviews reveal the inner thoughts and philosophies behind the complex and intriguing American music genre we call jazz. A sampling:
- Miles Davis talks about how composers like Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Bartok and Katchitourian inspired him. He marvels at how Coltrane could take a note or musical phrase and turn it into something new.
- Art Blakey muses on how a band "begins to come together… you look at each other and you know just what to do." Music lovers don't come to be educated - they want the music to "wash away the dust of everyday life."
- Betty Carter talks about the virtues of rehearsing and how she fostered young talent. "I want my musicians to know what they're doing, to be secure in their instruments."
- Dr. John, at the piano, demonstraties the "gumbo of sound" that goes into New Orleans rhythms, saying " you have to leave a lot of open space for the musicians to get nasty."
- Donald Fagan reminisces about the early days of Steely Dan, and how he became the front man "by accident," and how he used narrative and "extreme irony" in his songs right from the beginning.
- Herbie Hancock talks about the dramatic moment when Afro-Cuban rhythms infused his song "Watermelon Man," which fit his "funky jazz tune…like a hand in glove."
- Max Roach asserts that the drum set is like one-man percussion ensemble, " a musical configuration "homegrown in the USA."
- Wynton Marsalis talks about his youthful ignorance, and how musicians must be on "intimate terms" with music, paying attention to their craft and everything else that's going on with the band. "You have to pay respects to the music.. we can't be as folkloric as we used to be."
Ben Sidran asks the right questions because he is an acclaimed jazz musician in his own right, someone who has thought long and hard about what makes jazz such an amazing genre. He is probably best known for penning the lyrics to the hit song "Space Cowboy" for Steve Miller, and he has since been involved in numerous projects as a jazz pianist, lyricist, journalist, radio and television producer, scholar, author and teacher. He has recorded 30 solo albums, including the Grammy Award nominated Concert for Garcia Lorca and has produced recordings for such noted artists as Van Morrison, Diana Ross, Mose Allison and Jon Hendricks. He wrote the score for the acclaimed documentary Hoop Dreams. Sidran is also the author of several books, including the critically acclaimed 2003 memoir A Life in the Music. With his son, Leo, Ben Sidran operates independent record label Nardis Music.
Talking Jazz is available for $249 from www.talkingjazz.com and www.cdbaby.com.
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