Acoustical Swing Year 1 Recap
This Substack page was launched a year ago, and posts have been added on a (mostly) weekly basis. Hopefully, the initial idea of “a space for free-form writing about jazz history” has held up. One thing I’d like to do after a year of experiment would be to open the page to further collaborations.
Acoustical Swing had the pleasure of publishing contributions by bassist Mike Johnston and radio host Olivier Delaporte, and for this second year I’d like to extend an invitation to readers looking for a space to host work matching our general “historical avant-garde” line. This, whether we’ve already met or not, and whether it is written, visual, or audio work. Another idea, not fully developed yet, would be to start a research group for people interested in learning how to research jazz history and produce collaborative work.
Of course, general feedback on what has appeared here is always welcome, good or bad! I can be reached by responding to any newsletter email. Alternatively, my email address is listed here.
Now, on to a quick recap of what has been published on Acoustical Swing in this first year. The main focus has been on the “Some Jazz Records” series, an investigation into recordings discussed as important by musicians. Its (semi-covert) goal has been to see how much things differ from the established jazz cannon. Installments have covered Jackie McLean, Ornette Coleman, Bennie Maupin, Grachan Moncur III, Baikida Carroll, Dave Burrell, Burton Greene, Andrew Cyrille (on solo drums), Patty Waters, Jimmy Lyons, McCoy Tyner, Abbey Lincoln (twice), Yusef Lateef, Jacques Thollot, Joachim Kühn, Sonny Sharrock, Sunny Murray (twice), Cecil Taylor (three times), Herbie Nichols, Leon Thomas (on "pygmy" music), Faruq Z. Bey, Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgins, Barre Phillips (on his solo bass recordings), Paul Bley (twice), Steve Lacy (twice and a third time, on Watazumi Dōso), and Joseph Déjean. This series has also featured original writing by bassist Mike Johnston (twice).
The occasional “Out There” series about notable online resources has included entries on Unissued 1962 Ornette Coleman Test Pressings, an Unissued Barre Phillips/Beb Guérin/Léon Francioli Tape, a David S. Ware Short, ayler.co.uk, the Noah Howard Papers, a Jimmy Giuffre OST, 50 Miles of Elbow Room, and the Frank Kofsky Photo Collection.
My more extensive writing appears in various publications (see here), but this page has also hosted related research posts: bibliographies on Byard Lancaster and Jef Gilson, a Candid Records Chronology, and a Preliminary Checklist of the Vendémiaire Label.
One final thing: currently, jazz writing sorely lacks effective ways to reach its readers. Sharing material that has been of interest helps in a significant manner, and it is much appreciated!
Acoustical Swing for more than a year, has been interesting, absorbing, diverting, sometimes surprising, and something to look forward to.
Short, sharp sweet pieces that are nevertheless rich in content: - particularly enjoyable even in the shortest pieces, are the invariably interesting links which always seem to point to absorbing content and are never the ubiquitously bland and self-explanatory type. They however, are the garnish for the meat of the content - so far it tastes delicious.