Series of live events, book presentations and photo exhibition
A series of four events on the theme of the relationship between Jazz and Literature and a jazz photography exhibition will be hosted at RIFIFI restaurant-bar (Emm. Benaki 69A, Expiration) every Thursday in March. The aim of the events is the presentation of literary books inspired by jazz or books that reflect the aesthetic climate of the musician of this genre. The presentation of the books is accompanied by live music from jazz groups and singers.
The books to be presented are 'Who Still Listens to Jazz;» (Cedar) of John N. Bascozu (1 March). It is presented by the author himself and the band Swing Shoes plays with the participation of the singer Irini Dimopoulou. The second book to be presented (8 Of March) it is probably the best text that talks about jazzmen who wrote history, that of Geoff Dyer “And yet, nicely…» (Papyrus). Presented by Thanasis Minas and performed by the band Human Touch. The third book to be presented (15 Of March) is the "Marseille Trilogy" Jean – Claude Izzo (City), which reflects the jazz atmosphere of the detective book. Presented by Giorgos – Ikaros Babasakis and the band John Floros plays- Music soup. The month will close with the presentation (22 Of March) of Jack Kerouac's book Peak (Attempt), indicative of the love the beats had for jazz. Presented by Thanasis Minas and G. Micky Pantelus plays Basque.
At the RIFIFI site, the photo exhibition "Jazz moments" by Andreas Zaharatos with photos of Greek and foreign jazz artists who gave concerts in our country is presented throughout the month.
All events start after 10pm.
Details of the books that will be presented:
THURSDAY 1 MARCH
Yannis N. Bascozos – Who still listens to jazz?; and other strange stories
Cedar, 2011
(the author presents it)
"Music is your experience, your thoughts, your wisdom, if you don't live it, it will not come out of your horn", said Charlie Parker.
Most of the stories in this book go the other way around: the experience, the thoughts, the actions of the protagonists are shaped, for some inexplicable reason, through music.
Music of many genres that become a narrative field on which stories of everyday people unfold.
Stories about misplaced friendships, difficult relationships, sudden ones, small and sometimes betrayed loves, little vices, great expectations. Stories about people sticking out their tongues p’ The,what does not suit them and for others, who are the most numerous and retreat in front of a society that simply tolerates them.
Among human entanglements, once dominant, sometimes accompanying, even silent, it shines, everything, the music.
THURSDAY 8 MARCH
Geoff Dyer – And yet, nicely… A book about jazz
translation: Danai Stefanou
Papyrus, 2008
(it is presented by Thanasis Minas)
Lester Young, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Ben Webster, Charles Minkus, Art Pepper, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie…: the author creates portraits of creators who sealed the evolution of jazz with their music. The verb "philosophize" is used literally; Dyer does not merely list biographical facts, nor does he develop with the language of a music critic some theoretical opinions about their work, but resorts to fiction and poetic language to be able to recreate the experiential space in which their music was born. Accepting that the standard criticism, as a mediator between the creator and the listener, it usually functions as a simple substitute that fails to bring out the essence, the soul of the project, Dyer talks about jazz in the maker's way, combining criticism and fiction.
Dyer "writes" like a jazz musician: the raw material he used are sayings of musicians, information about their lives from various sources, but also photos of musicians on stage. These are his "constants"., which, however, function as a starting point for a creative improvisation which leads him to the field of fiction, in the same way that a jazz musician relies on the "constants" of his musical tradition to improvise. The way in which he utilizes the photographic material is revealing: “even though it only captures a fraction of a second, the experienced duration of the image is extended several seconds before and after this still moment to include […] The,what just happened or what,what is going to happen…Dyer therefore transforms images, sounds and information in speech art to help the reader - who at times feels like he is becoming a listener, that "reads sounds"- to hear the soul of Lester Young, of Thelonious Monk or Bud Powell, to "hear" the soul of jazz.
THURSDAY 15 MARCH
Jean – Claude Izzo – The Marseille Trilogy
(The black song of Marseille. The crowd. Solea)
translation: Richard Someritis, Alexis Emmanuel
City, 2011
(George presents it- Ikaros Babasakis )
Under the title "The Marseille Trilogy" the novels of Jean-Claude Izzo "The Black Song of Marseille" were republished in one volume, "The Crowd", "Usual", with Fabio Modal as the hero, this sensitive policeman, descendant of immigrants, enemy of violence, who loves poetry, the jazz, the fishing, his women and his city, Marseille: a city at the crossroads of peoples and cultures, the great port of France.
Marseille, with the port and its people, the streets and her girls, where French racists cross, corrupt cops, Islamic fanatics, while the shadow of the Mafia spreads everywhere, it is the ideal setting for noir stories.
And the hero, full of self-doubt, always determined to make it to the end, continues his wanderings in the streets of lost innocence. Struggling between nostalgia and rebellion, it acts for the sake of companionship and friendship with humanity itself.
Izzo, child of "illegal immigration" too, as is Zidane, he gave his city something that his city now returns with love and gratitude: a new image, a new life. A myth. "I envy Marseille. I would very much like to find Fonfon's bar one day - its good time- and shout at him: “Patron, a pastis!”». In memory of Izzo.
THURSDAY 22 MARCH
Jack Kerouac – Pic
translation: Yannis Livadas
Attempt, 2008
(it is presented by Yiannis Baskozos and Thanasis Minas)
Little Pike escapes from his aunt's house in North Carolina with the help of his big brother. They go to New York, and from there they end up in the coveted California. Jack Kerouac seems to recall the romanticism of the old American tradition, and to deliver his last literary child to her: a new kind of Huckleberry Finn, which constitutes an already completed, finished snapshot of american quest.
The central character of the narrative is an integral part of the American zero or otherwise the futile attempt to escape from the nightmare of Barba-Sam.
It is not difficult to see the similarities with the life course of Jack Kerouac himself . The constants of the outcast, of the street, of jazz and the cult of the American landscape remain.
Source : tovima.gr