He was the leading light of the Beat Generation writers and the most dynamic author of his time, but Jack Kerouac also had a lifelong passion for music, particularly the mid-century jazz of New York City, the development of which he witnessed first-hand during the 1940s with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk to the fore. The novelist, most famous for his 1957 book On the Road, admired the sounds of bebop and attempted to bring this energy to his own writing, a torrent of semi-autobiographical stories he published between 1950 and his early death in 1969. Yet, he was also drawn to American popular music of all kinds—from the blues to Broadway ballads—and when he came to record albums under his own name, he married his unique spoken word style with some of the most talented musicians on the scene.
Kerouac’s musical legacy goes well beyond the studio recordings he made himself: his influence infused generations of music makers who followed in his work—from singer-songwriters to rock bands. Some of the greatest transatlantic names—Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead, Van Morrison and David Bowie, Janis Joplin and Tom Waits, Sonic Youth and Death Cab for Cutie, and many more—credited Kerouac’s impact on their output.
Contents:
Jack Kerouac’s Jazz Scene Jim Burns
2nd Chorus: Blues: Jack Kerouac Larry Beckett
Duet for Saxophone and Pen: Lee Konitz and the Direct Influence of Jazz on the Development of Jack Kerouac’s ‘Spontaneous Prose’ Style Marian Jago
Interview 1: Lee Konitz Marian Jago
Jack Kerouac Goes Vinyl: A Sonic Journey into Kerouac’s Three LPs: Poetry for the Beat Generation; Blues and Haikus; and Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat Generation Jonah Raskin
Art Music: Listening to Kerouac’s ‘Mexico City Blues’ A. Robert Lee
Interview 2: David Amram Pat Thomas
Beat Refrains: Music, Milieu and Identity in Jack Kerouac’s The Subterraneans, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Film Adaptation Michael Prince
Bob Dylan’s Beat Visions (Sonic Poetry) Michael Goldberg
Carrying a Torch for Ti Jean Paul Marion
Interview 3: Richard Meltzer Michael Goldberg
The Grateful Dead: Jack Manifested as Music Brian Hassett
Driver Mark Bliesener
Jim Morrison/Angel of Fire Jay Jeff Jones
Light is Faster than Sound: Texans, the Beats and the San Francisco Counterculture Holly George-Warren
Hit the Road, Jack: Van Morrison and On the Road Peter Mills
Detecting Jack Kerouac and Joni Mitchell: A Literary/Legal (Not Musicological) Investigation into the Search for Influence Nancy Grace
Kerouac and Country Music Matt Theado
‘Straight from the Mind to the Voice’: Spectral Persistence in Jack Kerouac and Tom Waits Douglas Field
Interview 4: Barney Hoskyns Simon Warner
From Beat Bop Prosody to Punk Rock Poetry: Patti Smith and Jack Kerouac; Literature, Lineage, Legacy Ronna Johnson
Poems: Marc Zegans
Interview 6: Allen Ginsberg Pat Thomas
Tramps Like Them: Jack and Bruce and the Myth of the American Road Simon Morrison
Interview 5: Graham Parker Pat Thomas
Punk and New Wave James Sullivan
Interview 7: Jim DeRogatis on Lester Bangs James Sullivan
The Tribute Recordings Jim Sampas and Simon Warner
Kerouac on Record: A Literary Soundtrack (softcover)
$24.95
Edited by Simon Warner & Jim Sampas
Paperback. Published by Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. 480 pages
In stock
Description
He was the leading light of the Beat Generation writers and the most dynamic author of his time, but Jack Kerouac also had a lifelong passion for music, particularly the mid-century jazz of New York City, the development of which he witnessed first-hand during the 1940s with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk to the fore. The novelist, most famous for his 1957 book On the Road, admired the sounds of bebop and attempted to bring this energy to his own writing, a torrent of semi-autobiographical stories he published between 1950 and his early death in 1969. Yet, he was also drawn to American popular music of all kinds—from the blues to Broadway ballads—and when he came to record albums under his own name, he married his unique spoken word style with some of the most talented musicians on the scene.
Kerouac’s musical legacy goes well beyond the studio recordings he made himself: his influence infused generations of music makers who followed in his work—from singer-songwriters to rock bands. Some of the greatest transatlantic names—Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead, Van Morrison and David Bowie, Janis Joplin and Tom Waits, Sonic Youth and Death Cab for Cutie, and many more—credited Kerouac’s impact on their output.
Contents:
Interview 1: Lee Konitz Marian Jago
Interview 2: David Amram Pat Thomas
Interview 3: Richard Meltzer Michael Goldberg
Interview 4: Barney Hoskyns Simon Warner
Poems: Marc Zegans
Interview 6: Allen Ginsberg Pat Thomas
Interview 5: Graham Parker Pat Thomas
Interview 7: Jim DeRogatis on Lester Bangs James Sullivan
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