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

By: Brian Rundstrom

Brian Rundstrom — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 18:46:09 +0000

Hi Mike, Thanks for a great site for sharing thoughts and ideas on all things jazz, and music in general. I bought Zen Guitar a couple of years ago, and found it so inspiring in its delving into the spiritual side of thinking about music, and where it is all coming from. Highly recommend it to ALL guitarists (or any musical instruments) in all generes of music. Anyone interested can currently find the book in most branches of Waterstones Bookshops fo less than £10. Amazing read.

By: steven

steven — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:50:30 +0000

the guitarists guide to composing and improvising by jon damian ,very inspirational

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 donâ€™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 itâ€™s a very bad discipline to expose yours ears to bad music in the name of technique.”
- “You canâ€™t see where you are unless you are working 5 years ahead of yourself, looking back from where you are now.”

John