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| New book just out on Chicago jazz avant-garde: The Velvet Lounge Just out from Columbia University Press, The Velvet Lounge: On Late Chicago Jazz by Gerald Majer. ”Gerald Majer's propulsive, rhythmic essays celebrate the history and spirit of jazz. Like a seasoned improviser, he varies and syncopates his delivery, casting rim-shot fragments against long, slalomlike sentences—pushing, probing, and staying on the run through fast-track narrative and lyric measure. The prose fluidly shifts between earthy vernacular and reflective mood swing. And yet Majer's technical gifts as an essayist never betray or eclipse the emotional heart of these engaging, memorable meditations.” —Sascha Feinstein, author, Misterioso; editor, Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz and Literature “The Velvet Lounge is a book like none other. Part memoir, part homage, Gerald Majer's remarkable odyssey through the world of late Chicago jazz is a haunted, vertiginous account of both the music and the lives it was made from. This is finally a book about soul—no, about the soul—rapt by essence and experiment. Majer writes with an exhilarating passion and a rare elegance, and his book is sure to be a classic.” —J. D. McClatchy, author of Hazmat: Poems Vivid descriptions and telling historical anecdotes explore the music's richness through a variety of political, social, and philosophical contexts. The Velvet Lounge, named after the famous Chicago club, is also one of the few works to consider the music of such avant-garde jazz musicians as Fred Anderson, Andrew Hill, and Roscoe Mitchell. In doing so, Majer builds a bridge from the traditionalist view of jazz to the world of contemporary innovators, casts a new light on the music and its makers, and traces connections between jazz art and postmodernist thought. Contents Jug Eyes Stitt's Time Proxima Ra Monstrosioso Batterie The Velvet Lounge Le Serpent Qui Danse Dreaming of Roscoe Mitchell Intuitive Research Beings Discography About the Author: Gerald Majer is professor of English at Villa Julie College. His poetry and essays have appeared in a variety of journals including, Callaloo, The Georgia Review, and The Yale Review. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |