Comments on: 19 great books about music, musicians, artists and the creative process

By: Mike Outram

Mike Outram — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:43:37 +0000

Thanks, David. All new, apart from ‘Free Play’, which I haven’t read yet! Roll on Xmas :)

By: Mike Outram

Mike Outram — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:39:53 +0000

Thanks, John. I’ll certainly be adding that to my list of things to get this Xmas :)

By: DHM

DHM — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:07:59 +0000

Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening by Christopher Small.

Genesis of a Music by Harry Partch.

Sync or Swarm: Musical Improvisation in a Complex Age by David Borgo.

Free Play: Power of Improvisation in Life and the Arts by Stephen Nachmanovitch

Noise: Political Economy of Music by Jaques Attali.

Derek Bailey and the story of Free Improvisation by Ben Watson

By: John

John — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:35:10 +0000

time will tell: conversations with paul bley by norman meehan (Berkeley Hills Books, 2003). I have just reviewed this on my blog (http://ajazzblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/time-will-tell-conversations-with-paul.html).

Absolutely brilliant on the subject of improvisation. For example:
- “I don’t think musicians can study improvisation very well, but they can certainly study composition.”
- “Improvisation is composition in real time.”
- “A scale is an ugly thing and it’s a very bad discipline to expose yours ears to bad music in the name of technique.”
- “You can’t see where you are unless you are working 5 years ahead of yourself, looking back from where you are now.”

John

By: Mike Outram

Mike Outram — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:25:03 +0000

Thanks, Peter! Sounds immense :)

By: Tony Penultimate

Tony Penultimate — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:31:44 +0000

Hi Mike – I’d recommend The Recording Angel: Music, Records and Culture from Aristotle to Zappa – good read LOL