A fireplace, a sofa, background music and a book. With these four in place, you can spend the day on that couch. And you'll feel rested and recharged. I know, because I've done just that several times. While I can't chop a cord of wood for you or design a plush couch or DJ at your house, I can suggest books that would be ideal for you or for friends and family who plan to kick back over the holidays.
Here's my JazzWax book gift guide...
Ode to a Tenor Titan: The Life and Times and Music of Michael Brecker (Backbeat) by Bill Milkowski. An immensely readable biography of a tenor saxophonist who, like his brother, trumpeter Randy, was a dynamic jazz force in the funk-fusion '70s and beyond. Brecker, who won 15 Grammy Awards, died in 2007 at age 57. Bill clearly has a passion for his subject, whom he credits as a hero and friend. Bill also went to great lengths to talk to everyone who knew and played with Brecker. Most interesting are the tight corners explored in the book, including Joe Henderson's accusations that Brecker lifted his licks without the proper credit or praise and how Brecker handled it. Lots of music and personal details about Brecker, including the saxophonist's triumphs and flaws along the way. A humanizing and detail-rich biography. Go here.
Times Remembered (University of North Texas), by Joe La Barbera. Joe was the Bill Evans Trio's final drummer, from the end of 1978 to September 1980, when Evans died. In addition to listening intently to Evans night after night on tour and conversing with the pianist through his sticks, mallets and brushes, Joe was an intimate eyewitness to Evans's swinging, introspective style as well as his self-destruction. Joe and his co-writer, Charles Levin, write lovingly but impartially about the trio's ups and downs and Evans's final hours prior to his passing. An informative first-hand read about a beautiful and tragic subject. Go here.
Reflectory: The Life and Music of Pepper Adams (Lulu), by Gary Carner. If Gerry Mulligan's baritone saxophone was a Brooks Brothers swinger, Pepper Adams's horn was a steel-mill blowtorch. Gary was close to Adams during the last two years of his life, a period of health decline one wouldn't wish on anyone. Gary conducted more than 250 interviews for the book, providing a pointillistic look at an artist most people knew only through his recordings and muscular drive. Go here.
Led Zeppelin: The Biography (Penguin), by Bob Spitz. When Bob Spitz sets out to write on rock, he knows only one way—definitive. His The Beatles delivered on narrative, details and drama, resulting in the only book you need on the band. Now Bob has done the same with Led Zeppelin: The Biography, tracing the rise and domination of Britain's most searing blues-rock band and pioneers of hard rock in the U.S. This 688-page profile gets to the heart of why this band has inspired so many listeners and how they set the pace for virtually all volume bands starting at the dawn of the 1970s. Do yourself a favor and order both this one and The Beatles. Go here.
Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child (Sterling), by Harvey Kubernik and Kenneth Kubernik. The brothers Harvey and Kenneth Kubernik know how to have a good time. In this book on the pre-eminent hard rock guitarist of the 1960s, they dip into their vast interviews vault and assemble a mosaic biography through dozens of oral history exchanges. What's more, the book is a virtual candy box of photos, colorful graphics and psychedelic imagery. It's a coffee table book you can hold with one hand. Your first pass will likely be to thumb through to look at the photos and posters before you return to the front and start reading. The only Hendrix biography that feels as it it's vibrating with feedback while you're reading. Go here.
The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire (Oxford University), by Ted Gioia. Ted's 2012 literary guide to jazz standards has been vastly updated with 15 new sections, hundreds of additional songs and tune-ups to previous entries. The book serves as a warm hand extended to the jazz newcomer and the seasoned listener curious about the story behind songs favored by jazz musicians or composed by them. Go here.
Miles on Miles: Interviews and Encounters with Miles Davis (Musicians in Their Own Words), by editors Paul Maher Jr. and Michael K. Dorr. The days of reading about an artist while their music is playing are long gone. Today, you'd even be hard-pressed to find music lovers just sitting and staring at speakers while an album is on. Now in paperback, this book is an ideal companion to any or all of the trumpeter's recordings. The editors selected 30 leading interviews with one of jazz's most complex and enigmatic musicians and pioneers who constantly reinvented himself and the music. Go here.
A Miles Davis Reader (Smithsonian), by editor Bill Kirchner; and The Art Pepper Companion: Writings on a Jazz Original (Cooper Square) by editor Todd Selbert also are worthy anthologies of previously printed material on their subjects by two editors who know their subjects well. Go here and here.
And don't forget my three books—Why Jazz Happened (University of California), Anatomy of a Song (Grove Press) and Rock Concert (Grove Press). Go here, here and here.
