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Who's Next? Need to decide who to write my next book on...


Bilbo
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I have no interest in jazz and have never written a book ad my only expereince of writing a research disertation for a masters degree BUT are you not going about this the wrong way. I'm guessiing that the people on this list are either American or dead so I suppose the only material you are going to get is going to be second hand interviews from other writers and articles which have beenpublished . So can you bring a new angle to it ? I suppose that if a book hasnt been written on these guys then bringing together all the available information into one place may be justification enough but I have the nagging suspicion that you may have a more fruitful project if you have someone who you could gather information on first hand either by interviewing directly or through friends and that may mean a "lesser" british player but a more in depth analysis and perhaps a more interesting story?

Any way just my opinion which you can ignore :lol:

BTW I voted for Steve Harris :blink:

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[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1330606808' post='1560197']
Strangely,I've read a couple of (auto)biographies of musicians that are based around 'drugs,parties and rock and roll'
and find them boring...I like reading about their musical background and accomplishments.
[/quote]

I think the idea is that you'd do both. A good life story would have broader appeal, and bring more people closer to the music, than a straight-laced story of Jazz. Which, let's face it, would be inordinately dull to the average punter.

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I really good study of Danny Thompson would be great. Perhaps a living UK giant like Danny or Dave Holland may end up with an interview and more original material than Ray Brown etc..

I actually voted Vitous as I don't know much about him, but NHOP would also be a great choice.

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Why dont you do something off the wall and do one on...... ooh I dont know....... how about some random noobie whos only posted 3 times, joined last week and whos name begins with M. Drop them a PM, you might hit gold :D

Something like that? ;)

A

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[quote name='apa' timestamp='1330769520' post='1562661']
Why dont you do something off the wall and do one on...... ooh I dont know....... how about some random noobie whos only posted 3 times, joined last week and whos name begins with M. Drop them a PM, you might hit gold :D

Something like that? ;)

A
[/quote]

I see what you did there ;)

And yes, I would read that more than a straight Jazz opus.

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Lots of useful thoughts here, guys. Thank you. I have my own thoughts, of course. Just one point, in response to the 'all these cats are dead and American' point. Very true but people who are alive are not always willing to cooperate with projects like this or may be involved in something themselves (Steve Swallow is working with another biographer, for example) so the dead guys tend to be less 'complicated' in terms of putting the material together. Dead people are also less concerned that you leave out the embarrassing bits so you can sometimes get a more complete picture (there were a few people I wanted to speak to during my Chambers research who refused to coppoerate with the project as they had wanted to 'protect' PC in some way or wanted to carry on with their lives without opening old wounds etc e.g. a couple of ex-girlfriends, one of PCs sons, some musicians who wouldn't speak to me etc).

The Amercian bit is certainly a factor (although Vitous (Czech), Gomez (Puerto Rican), the two Lopez' (Cuban) and Holland (UK) aren't American - that's 33% of the list) but I guess that s an indication of the genre we are discussing. I also need someone who has a sufficiently substantial career to warrant the research - someone who has done three cds probably isn't going to fill's a book!! I also need to consider who is sufficiently interesting to warrant the research. A book on Basingstoke's leading bass player is not going to get published, even if he's brilliant!

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Someone beat me to it with NHOP with the snappily titled: 'Scandinavian Wood: The musical career of Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen in the light of his discography' (Jaeargen Mathiasen)



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scandinavian-Wood-Niels-Henning-Pedersen-discography/dp/3842351577/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330954006&sr=1-1-fkmr0

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[quote name='jakenewmanbass' timestamp='1330607457' post='1560226']
As someone who worked with Frank Zappa material and Alumni in the 2 years following his death I would say keep one eye on the owners of the estate!!!
[/quote]

indeed!

just been going through my youtube favourites list - all the little grey unavaialabe icons ... guess what ... a majority of them are anything to do with FZ :(

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  • 2 months later...

I've gone for Dave Holland; his Miles connection alone would be interesting. Shame James Blanton didn't get a vote tho'. He was a real ground breaker and died in his mid twenties, as did Scott LaFaro who also died young and was equally inovative.

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