Jazz for The Duke, Part 1

First posted on Mark Is Cranky:

Sometimes, my easily-amused self gets tossed into a state of awe at the sheer power and capacity for weird associates possessed by my brain chemistry. Get this: I got from the novel Moby Dick to the imminent closing of a local bookstore in seven steps.

The weird part was that I had to go through our own Duke DeMondo to get there.

Moby Dick

I had a discussion yesterday with a coworker about this epic novel. He's in the middle of reading it and lamented that he doesn't know anybody else who's read it (shamefully, I haven't read it either). He's begun to suspect that this is one of those books that's widely spoken about but not actually read. "Ah, I said, you mean like..."

Ulysses

Another book with a grand reputation that people seem to either love or hate. I've read the first five or so pages about 20 times. For whatever reason, Joyce's style just doesn't resonate. I offered up my copy and made a mental note to search through our home stacks for it.

Jazz for The Duke

The Duke has recently admitted to owning (but not necessarily enjoying) a copy of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. There's no shame in that. It's a very subtle record and if you're in the mode for some high-adrenaline-type fun (say, something by the Pogues, or maybe Give 'Em Enough Rope by the Clash) then I can see how Kind of Blue might seem kinda lifeless. So, being the jazz evangelizer that I am, I thought it'd be fun to come up with a list of jazz/improvised music albums that might be more to the liking of the Duke's ear passages.

Oh, what happened to Ulysses? Well, I had found my home copy and was rereading pages 1-5 for the twenty-first time and thought "Can't stand this...screw Joyce." So on to recommendations for the Duke.

So of course there's a giant pile of jazz out there that's got either enough rock elements (or enough weird bits) to attract the adrenaline junky. My first thought was Ornette Coleman, who is all about weird sounds mixed with a kind of off-kilter, sideways blues. Nah...too big a leap. But, hey, what about James Blood Ulmer? Yea, that's it. Twisting and snarly guitar employing Ornette's 'harmolodic' philosophy. Perfect. I mean, it ain't Kirsten Dunst, but it'll haveta do. Tales of Captain Black should do the trick. Hey, Ornette himself plays on that one. This just might work out.

An Old (but happy) Bookstore Memory

Then I remember the first Ulmer record I ever bought: Are You Glad To Be In America? At the time, this was a total crapshoot. Ulmer was a complete unknown to me. But the record cover looked kinda cool and anyway, how can you resist a song title like "Jazz Is the Teacher (Funk Is The Preacher)"? Resistance was futile. Ulmer's music whacked me properly upside the head. Jazz, funk, and I don't know what else. Man, that record was killer.

I bought Are You Glad from the record section of a bookshop in a little strip mall located a few doors down from my first post-college apartment. This was in 1984.

A New (and sad) Bookstore Memory

Many years later, the woman who operated that strip mall bookstore opened a new shop in late 2003 in the downtown area. It was called Blackbird Books. I was overjoyed. Most of the central/southern New Hampshire region is infested with nothing but big-box retail. An independent bookstore brought a much-needed shock of culture to the downtown. Poetry readings, discussion groups, live music...geez, it was great.

Three days ago, the Blackbird mailing listed received an email from owner Maggie indicating that Blackbird will be closing its doors at the end of April. While the downtown restaurant scene had been much revitalized of late, folks just weren't buying enough books. Borders, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com were the bigger (and fatal) draw.

I suppose that most of this isn't particularly remarkable stuff. But what does underscore the amazing brain olympics involved is that fact that my line of musing made it from the act of putting down that copy of Ulysses to thinking about the bookstore closing in about five seconds.

Twenty years distilled down to five seconds...maybe I should read the rest of Ulysses now?

Article Author: Mark Saleski

Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. He has contributed to Jazz.com and also writes reviews for Blogcritics.org. He produces the weekly feature The Friday Morning Listen. …

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