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August 14, 2007
Freedom Of The Prez Followup
In response to last week's Rifftides posting on free press issues, DevraDowrite brings up the Bush administration's relationship to press freedom and journalistic responsibility, particularly in regard to the Joseph Wilson-Valerie Plame episode. As I would have if I'd had the presence of mind to think about it, Devra links to the conversation on a recent PBS program among Bill Moyers and two constitutional scholars . To read her comments and get a link to the transcript of the Moyers program, go here. And think about Devra's concluding paragraph:
Having watched the program, I realized how little I know about the Constitution, the intentions of those who wrote it, and the predictions they made. I was fascinated by the discussion, and heartened that it took the subject of impeachment out of the realm of Bush bashing, or even partisan politics, and placed it in a solidly historical, impersonal perspective.
I wonder how many of us know as much about the Constitution as we think we do. I keep a copy on my desk and one in my laptop case, but I don't look at them nearly often enough. I'm making a resolution to brush up. We all should. With civil liberties under attack (as they always are) and a crucal election on the horizon, we need the understanding. For the price of shipping and handling, you can get a free copy here.
Posted by dramsey at August 14, 2007 1:05 AM
COMMENTS
Forgive me, but I feel obligated to recommend a book I read recently on the press and the Bush administration. "When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina (Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion)" by Bennet, Lawrence and Livingston is a blow-by-blow account of the media's complicity in Bush's subversion of their "watchdog" role. It's available at:
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/When-Press-Fails-Political-Communication/dp/0226042847/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-7719225-9287664?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187105096&sr=1-1
Posted by: Michael J. West at August 14, 2007 8:32 AM
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CD: Herbie Hancock Herbie Hancock, River, The Joni Letters (Verve). Without its cadre of vocalists, Hancock's tribute to Joni Mitchell would not have received a Grammy nomination or widespread critical attention. In varying degrees, Mitchell, Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Luciana Souza and Corinne Bailey Rae do justice to Mitchell's songs. Leonard Cohen is effective in his atmospheric delivery of her lyrics in "The Jungle Line." But if the CD contained only instrumental tracks of the quality of "Both Sides Now," "Sweet Bird," "Solitude" and "Nefertiti," it might be the best Hancock-Wayne Shorter album ever. As it is, River is one of their finest collaborations. CD: Gambarini And Jones Roberta Gambarini and Hank Jones, Lush Life (55 Records). With a new collaboration of the Italian singer and the American pianist about to be released, it is past time to tell you about this one. Gambarini and Jones are all but flawless in this collection of classic songs and two jazz standards, Gigi Gryce's "Reminiscing" and Tadd Dameron's "Cool Breeze." Highlights of the duets: a spirited "Just Squeeze Me" and a gorgeous "Then I'll Be Tired Of You" that includes the seldom-heard verse. Four tracks add bassist George Mraz and drummer Willie Jones III. A slightly different US release of the CD, called You Are There, has only Gambarini and Jones duets. CD: Stu Pletcher Stu Pletcher, The Story Of Stewart Pletcher (Jazz Oracle). Stu Pletcher is not a household name. Even in the 1920s and '30s when he played in popular bands led by Ben Pollack, Smith Ballew and Red Norvo, he was not a household name. Nonetheless, he was a splendid cornet and trumpet soloist who modeled himself after Bix Beiderbecke and yet, like Bix admirers Rex Stewart and Bobby Hackett, developed his own conception. This collection assembled from rare sources by Pletcher's son Tom gives a rounded picture of Stu Pletcher's considerable gifts as a soloist, arranger and journeyman vocalist. DVD: Benny Carter Benny Carter, Symphony In Riffs (Rhapsody Films). This documentary was made several years before the death in 2003 of the great saxophonist, trumpeter, clarinetist, arranger, composer and occasional vocalist. It tells Carter's story from early development as a prodigy through his crucial contribution to the development of big bands, his breakthrough as the first major black composer in Hollywood and his status as a universally acclaimed cultural figure. Burt Lancaster narrates this skillfully produced hour in which we see Carter in action as soloist, leader, teacher and avuncular role model to several generations. A coda to the new edition updates the original 1989 version and includes identification of key musicians who go unnamed in the body of the film. Book: Gary Giddins Gary Giddins, Weather Bird: Jazz At The Dawn Of Its Second Century (Oxford). I take my time getting through Giddins's big compilations of his columns, reviews and essays. This one was beside my bed for a couple of years. I savored it a piece at a time, enjoying insights like this about Erroll Garner: "Two things invariably keep the train on the track. First, he swings hard enough to allay reservations; if he has charge of your foot, he can get to your mind. Second, and more impressively, he improvises with a matchless lucidity that allows people who glaze over at the thought of improvisation to follow Garner's most fanciful inventions." And this, in a chapter called "How Come Jazz Isn't Dead?": "For half a century, each generation mourned anew the passing of jazz because each idealized the particular jazz of its youth." Or, as Woody Herman, surveying the crowd at a dance he was playing, told me, "These people haven't listened to anything new since high school." Giddins, as they say, gets it.
Terry Teachout
This blog is founded on Doug's conviction that musicians and listeners who embrace and understand jazz have interests that run deep, wide and beyond jazz. Music is its principal concern, but it reaches past...
Doug lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he settled following a career in print and broadcast journalism in cities including New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, Cleveland and Washington, DC. His writing about jazz has paralleled his life in journalism...
Doug's most recent book is Poodie James, a novel published in 2007.
Previously, he published Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond. He is also the author of Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of its Makers. He contributed to The Oxford Companion to Jazz and co-edited Journalism Ethics: Why Change? He is at work on another novel in whch, as in Poodie James, music is incidental.
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