Back to the original question : Goodis, jazz and his
work.
You certainly remember the fascination Goodis had
for the low end of the entertainment places (bars, clubs…)
and his attraction for places run by Blacks.
Knowing this we can say that at least he was
tolerant to jazz and r&b (the real stuff, not this pale
tasteless soup they serve under the r&b label
nowadays).
You will remember also that in quite a number of
his novels music plays a role, direct or indirect (the
pianist of Down There, a singer in street of No Return).
Besides, in another novel he gave a realistic and frightening
description of a poor and violent Black neighbourhood (Street
of the Lost) wherein music is present in a kind of low class
bar.
There must be other references to jazz in his
novels, but I cannot remember details.
By the way, he also liked to use classical music
performers as characters (Down There…)
As I remembered that Philippe Garnier in his
Goodis' biography described some of Goodis music tastes, as
confirmed by friends and witnesses, I quickly searched the
book and it appears:
-Goodis learned the violin when he was a
kid
-he always owned jazz records, and
classical
-he liked Count Basie, Lionel Hampton (under
others)
-he often played kazoo to support the records he
was listening
-he liked to go to jazz clubs in Philadelphia
West (he met Duke Ellington)
-his favourite song: "How High the Moon" -he
played it himself
And of course, a lot of confirmations that he
liked to spend nights in Black neighbourhood, looking for
women, music and depravation (but he was not a heavy
drinker)
E.Borgers
POLAR NOIR http://www.geocities.com/polarnoir
e_lynskey <
e_lynskey@yahoo.com> a 飲it : I've been reading David
Goodis' DARK PASSAGE and noticed his frequent references to
jazz (Count Basie, especially). Is this a theme running
through his noir books?
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