Weather Bird

Writing about music isn't easy - except that it's easy to slither into windy metaphors and purple rhetoric. Garry Giddens was the jazz critic of the Village Voice between 1974 and 2003, and this selection from his weekly columns (plus assorted interviews, sleeve notes, and reviews) shows how it can be done successfully. Course, you've got to be well informed about your subject - which he is. There are feature-length essays on stars such as Billy Holliday, Benny Carter, and Sonny Rollins, plus inside views from what's happening in New York City club life. It's an excellent compilation if you want to catch up with who's new on the scene, or you want a taste of the state of jazz at the start of its second century. See our FULL REVIEW HERE for further details.

Working definition ...

A professional is a man who can do his job when he doesn't feel like it. An amateur is a man who can't do his job even when he does feel like it.
James Agee (1909—1955)

Critical Theory

Two new titles from the Oxford University Press 'very short introduction' series both deal with the issue of what's now called 'Critical Theory'. Cynthia Freeland's Art Theory takes a number of art objects - from painting and sculpture to buildings and even the gardens at Versailles - and shows how various contemporary theories can explain their meaning. Jonathan Fuller treats a variety of texts in a similar manner in his Literary Theory. And they come to roughly the same conclusion - that the meaning in a work of art is not fixed. It varies according to the context in which it is perceived. This is bad news for those hoping for a secure guide to interpretation. But the good news is that at any given time there will be a number of competing explanations or theories - and the most persuasive will prevail. So there.

Powder her Face

Thomas Adès is reputed to be the bright young star of English 'classical' music - the new Benjamin Britten. So I've been listening to a couple of examples of his work - the string quartet Arcadia plus Living Toys, and his chamber opera Powder her Face. The string quartet is very mellifluous, restrained, and pastoral, but the opera uses a wide range in dynamics, volume, and pitch, plus unusual instrumentation, with touches of tango and Astor Piazzola. It's tonal, fairly logical, but demanding to listen to - though I imagine the very expressive Powder her Face would be even better for being seen. There are terrific performances on this EMI recording, with four singers playing multiple roles, and sometimes singing in the voice of one character imitating another. It's ironic in tone - reminiscent of Kurt Weill and maybe Alban Berg - and the libretto by novelist Phillip Hensher manages to be simultaneously funny and tragic. It's the story of the Duchess of Argyll, who enjoyed a life of lofty upper-class self indulgence and lubricious sexual adventure - before crashing out in penury and a scandalous court case in the 1963. This was the trial which brought to light the notorious photo of the duchess in flagrante giving a blow job to the 'headless man' - who was later rumoured to be Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Wot larks!

Dictionary of British Politics

My friend Bill Jones has just published another title in the series he edits on UK politics today. His Dictionary of British Politics is a reference book which offers potted biographies of prominent members of parliament (including bits of gossip); explanations and definitions of key terms, offices of state, and political events; and explanations of some of the arcane parliamentary rules. Woven in as a sort of sub-text are sketches of the other institutions such as pressure groups and media companies who have an influence on political life in the UK today. For those interested, he's also just started a blog on the same subject at SKIPPER.

Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Moholy

These three names represent the finest of Russian constructivist design at the highpoint of modernism in the 1920s. Typography, advertising, photography, product design: they ranged widely, exploited new technology, and had an influence which is still felt today in the work of people such as Neville Brody. But they were also political revolutionaries, and prepared to put their talents to the service of the Bolsheviks, with results which were sometimes not too clever. Victor Margolin has written a fascinating study The Struggle for Utopia: Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy which explains how they managed to square their artistic ambitions with their work as propagandists for the communist state. It's an elegant book, well illustrated, and scholarly to the nth degree.