Mike Zwerin
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300108064
- eISBN:
- 9780300127386
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300108064.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
In his Beat-like jaunt through the Parisian and European jazz scene, the author of this book is not unlike Jack Kerouac, Mezz Mezzrow, or Hunter S. Thompson—writers to whom, for different reasons, he ...
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In his Beat-like jaunt through the Parisian and European jazz scene, the author of this book is not unlike Jack Kerouac, Mezz Mezzrow, or Hunter S. Thompson—writers to whom, for different reasons, he owes some allegiance. What makes him special is his devotion to the troubled musicians he idolizes, and a passion for music that is blessedly contagious. Many jazz fans will know the author for his witty, irreverent, and undeniably hip music reviews and articles in the International Herald Tribune that have entertained us for decades. Based in Paris, or, rather, stuck there, as he likes to say, the author has been a music critic for the Trib since 1979 and also had a distinguished career as a trombonist. When he was just eighteen years old, he was invited by Miles Davis to play alongside Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, and Max Roach in the band that was immortalized as The Birth of the Cool. This book offers a personal account of the jazz scene in Paris in the 1980s and 1990s. The author writes lovingly but unsparingly about figures he knew and interviewed—such as Dexter Gordon, Freddy Heineken, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Chet Baker, Wayne Shorter, and Melvin Van Peebles. Against this background, he tells us about his own life—split allegiances to journalism and music, and to America and France, his solitary battle for sobriety, a failing marriage, and fatherhood.Less
In his Beat-like jaunt through the Parisian and European jazz scene, the author of this book is not unlike Jack Kerouac, Mezz Mezzrow, or Hunter S. Thompson—writers to whom, for different reasons, he owes some allegiance. What makes him special is his devotion to the troubled musicians he idolizes, and a passion for music that is blessedly contagious. Many jazz fans will know the author for his witty, irreverent, and undeniably hip music reviews and articles in the International Herald Tribune that have entertained us for decades. Based in Paris, or, rather, stuck there, as he likes to say, the author has been a music critic for the Trib since 1979 and also had a distinguished career as a trombonist. When he was just eighteen years old, he was invited by Miles Davis to play alongside Gerry Mulligan, John Lewis, and Max Roach in the band that was immortalized as The Birth of the Cool. This book offers a personal account of the jazz scene in Paris in the 1980s and 1990s. The author writes lovingly but unsparingly about figures he knew and interviewed—such as Dexter Gordon, Freddy Heineken, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Chet Baker, Wayne Shorter, and Melvin Van Peebles. Against this background, he tells us about his own life—split allegiances to journalism and music, and to America and France, his solitary battle for sobriety, a failing marriage, and fatherhood.
Mike Zwerin
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300108064
- eISBN:
- 9780300127386
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300108064.003.0018
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter discusses how the author's freelance writing for the Herald Tribune was affected when the New York Times bought out its fifty percent partner the Washington Post. It explains that his ...
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This chapter discusses how the author's freelance writing for the Herald Tribune was affected when the New York Times bought out its fifty percent partner the Washington Post. It explains that his weekly column for twenty years was reduced to biweekly and his articles were being scrutinized for the “hook,” or their relevance to major contemporary events. The chapter discusses the author's interview with a Lebanese guitar player and Mustafa Zadeh, a jazz pianist from Azerbaijan.Less
This chapter discusses how the author's freelance writing for the Herald Tribune was affected when the New York Times bought out its fifty percent partner the Washington Post. It explains that his weekly column for twenty years was reduced to biweekly and his articles were being scrutinized for the “hook,” or their relevance to major contemporary events. The chapter discusses the author's interview with a Lebanese guitar player and Mustafa Zadeh, a jazz pianist from Azerbaijan.
Nancy L. Green
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226306889
- eISBN:
- 9780226137520
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226137520.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter examines the construction of the American community in Paris (some 40,000 by the mid-1920s) while questioning the concept itself. While the more well off Americans clustered in a “golden ...
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This chapter examines the construction of the American community in Paris (some 40,000 by the mid-1920s) while questioning the concept itself. While the more well off Americans clustered in a “golden ghetto” in the well-to-do neighborhoods of the city, black Americans (several hundred in the interwar period) congregated near the Montmartre cabarets. Like other foreigners, the Right Bank Americans created numerous voluntary associations many of which still exist today (the American Church, the American Cathedral, the American Hospital, the International Herald Tribune). Business clubs and veterans’ groups gathered a world of men; women met together in the American Women’s Club in Paris and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). But the Americans in France were no ordinary immigrant group; their organizations, by Americans, for Americans, were also one of the most visible signs of the growing overseas presence of the U.S. in the first half of the twentieth century.Less
This chapter examines the construction of the American community in Paris (some 40,000 by the mid-1920s) while questioning the concept itself. While the more well off Americans clustered in a “golden ghetto” in the well-to-do neighborhoods of the city, black Americans (several hundred in the interwar period) congregated near the Montmartre cabarets. Like other foreigners, the Right Bank Americans created numerous voluntary associations many of which still exist today (the American Church, the American Cathedral, the American Hospital, the International Herald Tribune). Business clubs and veterans’ groups gathered a world of men; women met together in the American Women’s Club in Paris and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). But the Americans in France were no ordinary immigrant group; their organizations, by Americans, for Americans, were also one of the most visible signs of the growing overseas presence of the U.S. in the first half of the twentieth century.
Mike Zwerin
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300108064
- eISBN:
- 9780300127386
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300108064.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter focuses on the life of American cool jazz musician and author Mike Zwerin in Paris, France as a jazz critic for the International Herald Tribune. It discusses his relationship with his ...
More
This chapter focuses on the life of American cool jazz musician and author Mike Zwerin in Paris, France as a jazz critic for the International Herald Tribune. It discusses his relationship with his wife, and his thoughts about his “exile” in France for five years. The chapter also explores the author's publication of a book on internal colonialism titled A Case for the Balkanization of Practically Everyone.Less
This chapter focuses on the life of American cool jazz musician and author Mike Zwerin in Paris, France as a jazz critic for the International Herald Tribune. It discusses his relationship with his wife, and his thoughts about his “exile” in France for five years. The chapter also explores the author's publication of a book on internal colonialism titled A Case for the Balkanization of Practically Everyone.
