NEW YORK IS NOW!

I love jazz. I wouldn’t consider myself to be a connoisseur by any means, but I am somewhat knowledgeable about the world of jazz. So I was very excited when I heard about The Telegraph Company’s debut publishing attempt: Phil Freeman’s New York is Now! The New Wave of Free Jazz. Overall, this was a good read. I could really only find one flaw with the book: the author. Like The Telegraph Company, New York is Now! is Phil Freeman’s first book. Freeman is currently a jazz journalist, but prior to that he was a death metal fan. Quite a change in styles. He became obsessed with avant-garde jazz a few years back. New York is Now! is his tribute to the music he loves. However, there are problems with this book. The most glaring one being that it seems that free jazz is the only music that Freeman thinks matters. His elitist and pompous writing made me quiver in parts. “...it’s safe to say that in order for jazz to move forward, or even to sustain itself, it’s long past time to tell the current, rapidly aging and helplessly out-of-date ‘jazz establishment’ to just go away, and stay gone.” Wow! If you’re like me, you’ll have to read that sentence again to believe it. I just can’t get past the fact that someone that hasn’t even been around jazz for more than a few years would say things like this. However, when Freeman gets off his soapbox and turns the book over to the artists, it gets interesting. The book is worth its price just to read what jazz musicians like Matthew Shipp, Charles Gayle and William Parker have to say. The free jazz movement is amazing and these musicians love what they do. You can feel their passion in what they have to say. So, New York is Now! isn’t all bad. They just should have taken this book out of the hands of a critic and placed it into the hands of those who know the music the best: the musicians. If you’re a free jazz fan, visit thetelegraphcompany.com for more.