But Beautiful

But Beautiful, by Geoff Dyer, discusses the lives of many jazz musicians. Prior to reading this book, I was unaware of what these musicians went through to get to where they wanted to be musically. Once musicians like Monk, Mingus, and Bud Powell achived fame, they oftentimes ended up spending their money on drugs, alcohol, and an excess amount of food.

Monk did not spend much of his time with these things, which I found interesting. I would have thought that this incredible jazz player would enjoy these luxuries of the time period. I also was unaware that Thelonius Monk was autistic. It is truly amazing how he could be so lacking in social abilities and still be a great pianist. Monk’s style of playing was unlike any pianist that has ever played. He slams his fingers onto the keys, uses his elbows, and also manages to play while he is wiping the sweat of his forehead. Once Monk finished playing, he occasionally would remain seated on the seat, simply staring at the keys.

Charles Mingus was an enormous guy. He could easily carry one of the biggest instruments around, the bass, over his shoulder like it was nothing. Amazingly, Mingus’ tough, angry personality subsided whenever he played the bass. His large fingers could play as softly as anyone else’s, which would be a difficult feat. Mingus played the piano and composed music as well, so he was a very accomplished musician. Unfortunately, he got to a point in his career where he could not play music anymore due to his body being frozen inside of him. “lf he didn’t practice constantly the strings sliced his fingers when he touched them. Not only that but the stiffness in his fingers never left now, some days they felt not simply stiff but numb…”(123).

I believe that Jazz musicians are similiar to Rock musicians, due to their excessive drug use and their excessive use of their pay. They both love to do what they do, but the way in which they do their work is somewhat suspicious. Musicians with money often decide to spend their money in unhealthy ways because they always have money coming in. But beautiful shows that being a musician and having a steady flow of money is not always a good thing.

Drove my chevy to the levee

For the first essay, I am planning on writing about Ma Rainey’s play and the parallels to the “Sunshine Special” and the fact that the railroad is being torn down, from a blues song by Blind Lemon Jefferson. August Wilson places an epigraph in the beginning of her play to stimulate thought about hopes and dreams being destroyed, as well as how a person can try to make their own trail to achieve what they desire. In Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Levee and Ma Rainey attempt to go away to avoid their problems, just like in the epigraph.

Levee’s greatest dream is to have his own band, which proves to be difficult, so he attempts to “build his own railroad”, or to create his own path to his goals. One of Levee’s apparent issues is that he thinks too highly of himself. He always claims that he is an incredible musician, despite the fact that he makes many mistakes. The other members of the band repeatedly shut Levee down, either by stepping on his newly bought shoes or telling him that his written music is not good enough to sell. When his shoes are stepped on, Levee’s soul is being stepped on. His shoes are symbols of success, which are stepped on or basically destroyed. Levee is humiliated further when Sturdyvant tells Levee his songs won’t sell, offering him five dollars for every song he produces. Levee believes his talent is worth much more than that.

Ma Rainey’s dream is to be loved for who she is instead of solely being used for her voice. This is the main reason she tries so often to stall the recording of her music. She realizes that once she is done singing, the white men will disregard her importance and not treat her well. She believes way too highly of herself to let this happen, so she brings her stuttering nephew to the recording studio to try and sing part of a song. This does not run smoothly, and the recording crew become frustrated with her. Contrary to Ma’s belief that the stalling of time will result in the crew’s prolonged respect of her, Sturdyvant and Irvin’s respect for her decreases.

This is basically what I have so far. I will use direct and indirect quotes to show how both Ma Rainey and Levee attempt to follow their own paths in order to make something more of themselves. I will also compare these two musicians because while Levee strives to make a name of himself, Ma already has a well-known name. Ma Rainey is simply trying to make other people respect her, while Levee solely cares about the fame and money.