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.