or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
June 18, 2008
"Don't Explain"
By: Bernard Chazelle
One of the most poignant love songs I know.
[...]Quiet, dont explain / What is there to gain / Skip that lipstick / Don't explain
You know that I love you / And what love endures / All my thoughts are of you / For I'm so completely yours
[...]
It's a tune by and about Billie Holiday. I am an unconditional fan of hers. I chose not to feature her own version, however, but instead Dexter Gordon's cover with Sonny Clark on piano. Along with Lester Young, Dexter Gordon is one of the great underrated geniuses of jazz. I once got a flurry of angry emails for including him in my top 10 list. Jazz fans take their rankings seriously. I don't. I just put him there because his playing has always so enchanted me. It's so mature and sophisticated and so damn emotional and romantic. (This piece is so melodic it is not the best example of his harmonic mastery.) If I were a movie director and shot a movie in Paris I would have Dexter Gordon in the soundtrack -- drats, it's already been done.
— Bernard Chazelle
Posted at June 18, 2008 09:19 PMNice choice of music Bernard. I saw Dexter play at the Keystone Corner in San Francisco which was a small club and I had a table right in front of the group. Dexter played beautifully and performed a great rendition of Round Midnight. I don’t know why Jazz fans insist on fighting over who is best what ever that means. Jazz fans can be weird. One guy told me that Jazz musicians that were the best were in the following order –Blacks, Jews, Italians, whites -- hilarious. He left out several races but it didn’t cross my mind at the time as I was too amazed by this proclamation by race. A friend of mine saw two guys get in a fist fight over who was better Phil Woods or Charlie Parker. You go figure.
Posted by: Rob Payne at June 18, 2008 10:10 PMRob: I am envious. I never saw Dexter play. That would have been quite something, really.
His recorded version of Round Midnight (not the movie) is absolutely amazing.
I'll take his CDs to my desert island.
Bernard, I was lucky to see him play, back in the 70's a lot more of the true greats were still around and there were more jazz clubs than today. At least we have their recordings. I want a desert island too.
Posted by: Rob Payne at June 19, 2008 01:13 AMCharlie Parker. It's not even a contest.
And that would be true even if Woods hadn't worked with Steely Dan or Billy fucking Joel.
Posted by: Sully at June 19, 2008 09:22 AMI agree Dexter was one of the tenor greats. In the mid-80s I was driving a cab in San Francisco and had ther great pleasure of picking Dexter up at Keystone Korner around 4:00 a.m. He was very warm and very gracious - and refused my offer of a free cab ride.
Posted by: Bob Della Valle at June 19, 2008 03:53 PMI agree Dexter was one of the tenor greats. In the mid-80s I was driving a cab in San Francisco and had ther great pleasure of picking Dexter up at Keystone Korner around 4:00 a.m. He was very warm and very gracious - and refused my offer of a free cab ride.
Posted by: Bob Della Valle at June 19, 2008 03:53 PMI still like Nina Simone's version.
Posted by: wareq at June 19, 2008 07:11 PM
