Jack Kerouac's writing, and On the Road in particular, is commonly associated with the word "jazz." This is not only because of his streamy spontaneous writing style, but also because his shenanigans took place in an extremely fertile, influential, interesting, and changing time in jazz history, as well as American culture & sentiment. Call it restless, call it bop. Compiled are some of the musicians & songs mentioned in On the Road.
Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra "Central Avenue Breakdown"
Dexter Gordon & Wardell Gray "The Hunt"
Slim Gaillard
George Shearing
"Close Your Eyes"
Dizzy Gillespie "Congo Blues"
Stan Getz
Lester Young
Lucky Millinder
Wynonie Blues Harris "I Like My Baby's Pudding"
Willie Jackson "Gator Tail Pts 1 or 2"
Perez Prado "Mambo No 8" "More Mambo Jambo" & "Mambo De Chattanooga"
Sal mentions other infamous jazz giants, as well as mysterious & random players he encounters in his journey to and fro. Above are the musicans or songs mentioned by name, or at least alluded to. Some of the artists are mentioned a few times, like George Shearing and Dizzy Gillespie. Of course Dizzy is a foundational artist of the time and spirit in terms of Bebop, and Dean's character also had a fascination with Shearing. I might have missed a few. Sal also mentions going to a Duke Ellington concert at the very end of the book, as he watches Dean fade away in the streets. So it would be appropriate to end this with something of the times for Ellington.
Duke Ellington "The Harlem Suite"
Some Resources
Definitely check out the link above (Resources), there's a few great interviews, essays, etc, especially the Sam Charters bit.
5 comments:
Nat, NAC bootlegable?
could very well be. listened to the whole sam charters thing . . . very cool. his reading though, was a bit shallow, which in turn might discredit the broader mission of his point — the jazz poet. but then again, i'm wrong to criticize on such an account, it being clear his intellectualization of kerouac was born of love, fascination rather than mimicry, or the naive sense of ability the discussion of art so commonly associates itself with. you get a genuine sense of the fine culture he was speaking for. thanks.
yes, it was interesting, but him trying to do kerouac was endearing, but unnecessary. Great little find though, him putting on the records during this lecture...
oh yeah . . . the "live mixtape with commentary" was the real deal of the thing — the jazz talk. kerouac was more of a thematic line — the color we could all agree on, so to speak. i've attempted numerous models for his sorta thing with actual mix tapes, but they tend to . . . ah . . . coughcough . . . lose their "academic focus."
hahaha, I'll reference some of those.
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