FORTHCOMING FROM HEYDAY BOOKS | September 2008
May 7th, 2008Shipping September 1, 2008
JAZZ IDIOM
Blueprints, Stills and Frames
the jazz photography of
Charles L. Robinson
poetic takes and riffs by
Al Young
Joseph L. Robinson
The jazz greats, as photographed on stage and
behind the scenes
Thirty-nine jazz luminaries are captured in this book,
including Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, Louis Bellson, Ray
Brown, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny
Hodges, Carmen McRae, Thelonious Monk, Nina Simone,
and Anita O’Day. Poet Laureate of California Al Young riffs,
bobs, and croons his way across the page, providing poetry,
anecdotes, and insight into the players captured on film by
photographer Charles L. Robinson. Robinson was a friend to
many of the musicians photographed and, as a result, often
caught them in moments of candor and intimacy.
In Robinson’s photographs we see artists rehearsing before
a set: Charles Mingus, goateed and pensive, hunched over a
Steinway, phrases dancing in his head. Or the legendary Earl
“Fatha” Hines at the Monterey Jazz Festival, in the groove,
the original cool cat in sunglasses (back before Ray Charles
was even born) and famous for breaking the bass strings of
a piano. We see Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rushing backstage,
talking about some time “back in the day.” We see Milt
Jackson and Dizzy Gillespie sharing a joke. When the last
blue note of a performance is but a memory, and the smoke
cascades up to the beams of a club at two in the morning,
Robinson is there.
Born in 1934 and raised in Baltimore, Charles L. Robinson
earned a B.A. in biological science as well an M.S.
in vocational rehabilitation counseling from California
State University, San Francisco. At the invitation of Ralph
J. Gleason, Robinson became the staff photographer of the
Monterey Jazz Festival for several years.
Al Young is the author of more than twenty books of
poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and has taught
writing and literature at Stanford University, U.C. Santa
Cruz, and the University of Michigan. The recipient of
Guggenheim, NEA, and Fulbright fellowships, he lives in
Berkeley and is presently the Poet Laureate of California.
Jazz Idiom
Blueprints, Stills and Frames
The Jazz Photography of Charles L. Robinson; Poetic Takes and Riffs by Al Young
- ISBN-10: 1597140953
- ISBN-13: 978-1597140959
© Charles L. Robinson, Al Young, Heyday Books
by Al Young. The title probably already tipped you off to the fact that every one of the 120 poems has a relation to the blues, whether it is about the groupies, the gigs, the music itself, people who play it, or the lifestyle of those who live it. Most of the poems span two pages; occasionally a poem will reach as many as three pages or only one page in length. I appreciated the thoughtful choice of font size that is large and very easy on the eyes, allowing the reader to concentrate on the feeling the words invoke, rather than on trying to read them. The author also includes a 16-page short story near the center of the book entitled “Silent Parrot Blues.”
Young covers thoughts on society, music, genres of the blues, black culture and making love. He displays light humor in “Elevator Over the Hill,” and observations on life, people or situations in the city. I particularly enjoyed “April in Paris,” Potato Head Blues” and “You do All This For Love.” Some of the poetry opens with a setting for the piece or quotations.
