by David Remnick
A florilegium of eleven profiles and essays, mostly from The New Yorker,
on legendary musicians centered around the uncomfortable question: what
keeps an artist going after the peak years are behind them? The
subjects are largely figures from the deep canon with decades-long
careers, who in and of themselves represent an era or musical genre: Bob
Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, Aretha Franklin,
Mavis Staples, Buddy Guy, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards (this one is
largely a panning of Richard’s self-serving memoir), and Luciano
Pavarotti. This is not traditional musical criticism, but examinations
of impact and character. What drives Springsteen to keep playing
marathon concerts in his sixties? Why did Cohen continue writing and
touring into old age? How does Buddy Guy shoulder the burden of
preserving an entire musical tradition? In addition to delving into the
history of gospel, blues, and rock, Remnick investigates, the stubborn
need to keep creating, to keep "holding the note." Memorably, he also
presents a "Unified Theory of Bob Dylan," positing that Dylan's entire
raison d'etre is to absorb, keep alive, and rework the American musical
tradition.
Throughout, Remnick combines deep knowledge with
elegant prose, curiosity, and humane humor. It's readable, fascinating,
extremely thorough, and holds surprises even for those who, like me,
have read about some of these icons extensively. My favorite piece is
one devoted not to a superstar but to jazz scholar and radio host Phil
Schaap. A brilliant obsessive who devoted his life to preserving the
legacy of Charlie Parker, Schaap embodies another kind of artist: the
guardian of memory. Through him, Remnick explores not only the beauty of
total devotion but also the melancholy reality of jazz's decline as a
mass cultural force.
four stars
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