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Lists

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  New Books in the Art Department - DEC 2024 JAN/FEB 2025
  

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  Universal Human Rights Month
  

  The United Nations established the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10th, 1948.

Reviews

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  A Closed and Common Orbit by Chambers, Becky

  ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

  This is the sequel to The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, is one of my favorite books that I have read in many years. I didn't like this one quite as much, but these are very different books and should be evaluated differently. While Angry Planet was a almost a collection of vignettes that evenutally wove together into a narrative, Common Orbit is much more linear. Planet also focuses on the struggles of a large cast of characters while Orbit is very focused on just two.

  There was one or maybe two parts in Orbit that I felt it was dragging a little, but they were brief, I still enjoyed this book immensely. It explored its fairly trope-y themes in original ways. I love the depiction of Sidra as going through growing pains like a teenager might. The characters are very fleshed out and believeable. This is an excellent example of sci fi with heart, which is the best sci fi in my opinon.

  If I could give this book four and a half stars I would. I enjoyed it a lot, but not quite as much as its predecessor, so I feel I need to give it a lower rating.

  Reviewed by Kyle P on Dec 13, 2024

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  The battle of the Five Spot : Ornette Coleman… by Lee, David,

  ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

  I'm reading this book now, and I don't really like it

  Could be a me problem. I struggle with academic language, and this book has A LOT of that sort of thing (although the first chunk is written more casually, and I enjoyed that a lot more than what followed). I would not recommend it to anyone who is not accustomed to or looking for that, or who is not specifically interested in a sociological exploration of the Five Spot, jazz clubs in NYC, and race politics surrounding the birth of free jazz

  These are certainly worthy topics to write a book about, but as someone who has read lots about these subjects in other places, I don't really feel like I'm learning much. This book spends much of its brief length explaining how all of this can be viewed through the lens of French philosopher Pierre Bourdieu's worldview, which I found very uninteresting. I intuitively understand what "the new york jazz field," is yet the author spends an entirely page defining it in academic language, thats almost 1% of the entire book, and its really not paying off for me.

  I started writing this yesterday but today encountered this passage, which is exemplary of the problem:

  “As an example from the jazz field, we could take Miles Davis playing his composition ‘Kind of Blue.” The sound that came from Davis’ trumpet is completely his creation as a composer, interpreter and improviser. However, Davis’ own intentions and opinions as to how much that sound should be valued as art are only a small part of the eventual consensus as to the value of that sound – a consensus arrived at by the efforts of many. Value is added by the presenter who deems that sound worth presenting in a club or concert hall, and by the producer who believes that a recording of that sound can be promoted and sold as a work of art. Value is added by the audience who pays to hear that sound. Value is added by the scholar who can place that sound in the context of the jazz trumpeters who came before and after Davis. Value is added by any listener who acknowledges the worth of the recording of King of Blue by buying it. Whether they play it only to themselves, play it for friends, or buy it and never play it at all, in every case, it is their choice, their decision that has imbued that sound as a work of art.”

  That takes up almost a whole page of this book, which is 109 pages long before the epilogue and some added sections. If this passage does not intrigue you then I would recommend not reading this book.

  I also think that I am not going to finish reading this book. I skimmed the conclusions section and, meh, seems like more of the same.

  I recently read Coltrane: The Story of a Sound by Ben Ratlif, the end of which contains a section examining Coltrane’s legacy on modern jazz players. That section was much more compelling than this book.

  Reviewed by Kyle P on Dec 12, 2024

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  Q : the autobiography of Quincy Jones by Jones, Quincy,

  ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

  RIP Quincy Jones, he passed today so I figured I'd write a review about this book, which I read about five years ago, not knowing a lot about Mr Jones beyond the broad strokes of his bio and some highlights from his absolutely massive catalogue.

  This is a great book, but it is not for the faint of heart. QJ experienced and did a lot of dark stuff in his life, and discusses it openly in his autobio, It is perhaps not as unhinged as Miles Davis' autobiography, but it is close. You will spend a lot of time feeling... unsettled.

  Or that is my recollection at least. And that is not to discount the book, it will be interesting to anyone interested in jazz, pop music, film scoring, the history of music in general. Quincy Jones had a part in a literal ton of highly important recordings and genres of music in general. An absolute legend.

  There are also chapters in this book written by people close to QJ, including his daughter, actress Rasheeda Jones. These serve to offer some outside perspective and intimate details on a smaller scale to the larger than life tales he often tells himself.

  Maybe I should give this book five stars, I think I probably would if I were a bigger film scoring, or big band jazz, or Michael Jackson fan, as those topics might be more captivating for me. But I read this kinda randomly and am more of a small group, abstract jazz, underground music kind of person. so while I found this book very interesting and a solif read to be sure, it wasn't didn't grab me the way that, say, the autobiographies of Miles Davis or George Clinton did. That may be a me problem, I'd still definitely recommend this to anyone interested with my above caveat that you're in for a troubling, though fascinating, ride.

  Reviewed by Kyle P on Nov 4, 2024

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  Coltrane : the story of a sound by Ratliff, Ben.

  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

  This is a phenomenal book! I am a saxophone player myself and I feel like I got better just from reading this,

  Do be aware, this is not a biography. It spends very little time discussing John Coltrane's upbringing and personal life, only really mentioning these things in passing. Instead, author Ben Ratliff delivers a detailed history of who Coltrane played with when, who he looked up to, who he studied with, what he practiced, and how these things changed his playing and compositional style. It is all very detailed and insightful.

  The first half of the book focuses on Coltrane's approach and his music, and the people he played with. The second half examines how that music affected jazz, the world at large, saxophonists and musicians at the time and up to today. It ocntains thoughtful discourses on Free Jazz and jazz education, and the power of ,music to change the world (or not...).

  A really truly great read. All that being said, this may not be the right book for some people. I would hesitate to recommend it to someone who is not a musician or at least knowledgeable / curious about music theory and the innterworkings of music. There are lots of parts of this book that do not focus on these topice, but, particularyl in the first half, there are large parts that focus on them greatly. If you are curious about the life of John Coltrane I would find a different book. If you are curious about jazz history in general though, there is a lot to learn here, and if you are someone very interested in John Coltrane this is a must read,

  Reviewed by Kyle P on Nov 4, 2024

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  Music is history by Questlove.

  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

  This is an absolutely amazing book IF you are a big music nerd (which I am). Despite knowing really a whole heck of a lot about the genres and eras of music discussed in this book, I still did not know who many of the musicians mentioned were.

  I super enjoyed the personal and historical contexts Questlove placed familiar songs / artists / albums in, and likewise enjoyed learning about some new (old) music to check out.

  All of that being said, I'd like to reiterate that to get the most out of this book, you really need to have at least a strong interest in, if not a strong knowledge of, hip hop, classic rock, funk, R&B, jazz, soul, etc. It is not uncommon for the author to be discussing a particular sample in a hip hop song and then spend a paragraph talking about how the rhythm guitar player on that osng also played on a different song from earlier in the book, and oh yeah his dad was so and so who was in a band with his dad in the fifties, and so on.

  It is a fascinating web that bounces from pop culture meta narrative, to personal stories about growing up in West Philly. A+ 10/10 book for the right person.

  Reviewed by Kyle P on Oct 4, 2024

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  Black sun by Roanhorse, Rebecca

  ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

  This is a good book! In prose and structure it reminded me of a cross between Game of Thrones, but it is less complex than that (not necessarily a bad thing). If you're looking for a compelling fantasy novel in a non European setting this book is enjoyable, intriguing, not too diffictult to read. I enjoyed the second book as well and am looking forward to the thrid.

  Reviewed by Kyle P on Oct 4, 2024

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