Peter Erskine's autobiography

[Paul Marangoni]

Such a great read! I'm only about a third of the way through it and I'm loving it! I was laughing out loud hysterically last night. Highly, highly recommended!



It's the best autobiography in the history! (that statement will make more sense after you read it)

[beat hit]

Paul, you rock!! I had read Bruford's Autobiography through your HOD announcement way back... I will definitely get this one too.. Looking forward to it... THanks for the heads up..

[Paul Marangoni]

You're going to love it Stephane!

I read the Buddy Rich biography (by Mel Torme) a month ago (great), then I finished Miles Davis' autobiography last week (wow!), I'm reading Peter's now and then I'll be reading the Wayne Shorter biography after that. I'm on a tear!

[beat hit]

And now the link for those interested...

http://fuzzymusic.com/nobeethoven.htm

[nomsgmusic]

Paul since you are on a "music book" tear and I don't know what you have already read, may I make a few suggestions off the top of my head...

The recent Monk book written by Peter Keepknews is stellar.
The Klook book written by Mike Hennessy is very good
The Earl Palmer book is very good, the book that Idris Muhammad wrote is good "light-hearted" reading.
The book that Lew Porter wrote on Trane is THE BEST book EVER on Trane.
Jazz Rock by Stuart Nicholson is very good ( a little English biased but very good nonetheless.)
Nick Mason's book on Pink Floyd is good.
"The Singer's Drummer" by Harold Jones is a fun read as well, from a GREAT drummer.
And the new edition of the Jaco book has a TON of new info (it's almost like a "new" book,) the Milkman really did a good job updating it!

If you haven't read the two volumes of "Drummin' Men" they are essential! "The Brazilian Sound," is a wonderful resource for researching Brazilian music, "Memphis Beat" is pretty good, "Blues People" by Leroi Jones is a classic, as is "Mister Jelly Lord," and I LOVE the autobiography of Chuck D called "Fight The Power."

I haven't read the Zawinul book yet but that's probably next (any opinions?) As is the book about The Mwandishi Years (Herbie Hancock.)

The book on Wayne is good (not great, but very worth reading, I learned a lot.) Granted writing a book on (let alone having a conversation with) Wayne is probably one of the most difficult assignments EVER! Wayne is my musical hero!!!! I would like to know what you think afterwards...

The Erskine autobio should be REQUIRED reading for all musicians!
MSG
(sorry for the unsolicited suggestions, especially if you have read most of these.)

[Paul Marangoni]

Thanks Mark, I'll look into a few of those. Looks like I'll be busy for a while...

I hadn't heard that there was a new edition of the Jaco book. You mean the one by Milkowski?

[Julián Fernández]

Nice one, Peter!

[Rhythmatist]

There was a Bix Biederbeck bio that a friend loaned me back in college...sorry, the title escapes me now...but a very interesting read. There's a lot about life as a musician during the infancy of Jazz...his association with Louis Armstrong and the turbulent times having to play in dance bands (Paul Whitehead) to pay the bills.