It’s a fair question.

The answer is that yes, I should: the novel’s narrator, James Meisenheimer, is an American, through and through, born and raised in deepest, darkest Missouri.

The answer is also that no, I absolutely should not: my American accent is terrible, beyond strange, and if I tried it people would be so perplexed and offended that they wouldn’t pay any attention to what I was reading.  In terms of awful mangling, it’s somewhere beyond Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins, which is really saying something.

So, no surprise then that I was not invited to read for the audiobook version of A GOOD AMERICAN.

Instead the novel is going to be read by a gentleman named Gibson Frazier.  This is what he sounds like, reading the opening passage of the novel:

Just as every reader brings their own perspectives and experiences to a book, and so makes every act of reading a unique experience, so every person who auditioned to read for the audiobook interpreted the words on the page in a different way.  It was fascinating to hear the choices each person made – where to stop, where to pause, what to emphasize.  For me, it breathed fresh life into text that I had (as you might imagine) read more times than is probably strictly healthy.

It’s a funny sensation, though, hearing your words read by someone else.  Perhaps it shouldn’t be, given that the act of writing a book is itself an extended act of mimicry, especially when you choose a first person narrator to tell your story.  But the more I’ve listened to Mr. Frazier read this piece – this was his audition – the more I’ve grown to like it.  He has given my words a rich new dimension.  I’m looking forward to listening to more.

I confess I have no experience of audiobooks as a consumer and so I come to this all as a complete novice.  I’d love to know what you think.  Did you enjoy the reading?

When my first book was published, twelve long years ago, my characters cussed and cursed their way through the unlikely adventures I had concocted for them like drunken sailors on shore leave.  Their conversations were veritable cesspits of fruity idiom.  At the time I thought I was being terribly clever.  I believed that this was what writers did when they wanted to be edgy and interesting.

Of course, I was wrong.  Because of its very ubiquity in everyday life, swearing in novels is usually rather tedious, and just serves to slow down the dialogue.  (It has the added disadvantage, I can attest, of making your mother reluctant to brag about your book to her friends.)

I worked all this out somewhere between books 3 and 4.  I realized that swearing was actually a bit boring, and the expletive count plummeted.  It was liberating, this release from the tyranny of profanity, but also challenging – there was no more camouflaging banal conversations behind a wall of expletives.  I like to think my books improved as a result, though.  My characters still swear, of course – just a lot less than they used to.  They do live in the real world, after all.  (Well, you know, sort of.)

I’m curious to know what other people think about this.  Are you put off by bad language in novels?  Do you even notice?  Are there some words that you will tolerate, and others that you won’t?  And are there particular authors whose use of profanity makes you want to applaud, or throw the book away?  (I always think Philip Roth swears with splendid panache.)

Personally, I’m all for swearing, if done correctly.  Extensive, not to say excessive, use of the vernacular can work beautifully on occasion – I present, as Exhibit A, Derek and Clive.  To further reinforce the point, the clip below is perfect example of how persistent and filthy language can be utterly hilarious.  Maybe it’s just me, but this song gets funnier the more it goes on.  It’s all about context.  Enjoy – but please don’t play this out loud if there are children or easily offended Christians about.

Vijay Iyer is one of the most exciting and accomplished jazz pianists to have come along in years.  His latest album, Solo, is already at the very top of my “Best of 2010″ jazz albums.  It is a thoughtful, deeply beautiful record.  Look.  Even the cover art is wonderful:

As ever, Iyer draws from a wide musical palette in his song selections.  About half the tunes are his own compositions – thoroughly satisfying, richly crafted affairs that reward close listening.  Then there’s a Monk piece, a couple of Ellington tunes, and a standard.  Oh, and a Michael Jackson number.  Really.

“Human Nature” was one of the slightly less humungous tracks on Thriller.  I hadn’t heard it for a while when I popped Iyer’s CD into my stereo.  The pianist pulls off a brilliant trick – the tune is immediately recognizable, and yet a wholly different beast.

Listen how, before the melody begins, he take one of the song’s minor motifs and polishes it to a beautiful, burnished perfection.  Iyer plays the tune itself pretty straight (for a jazz musician.)  He thoughtfully shifts the pulse of the music, but never wholly unshackles himself from the melody.  This creates a delicious tension – I am always waiting for him to take flight, and it never quite happens.  That’s not to say that this version is bland in the slightest.  I like the dark-hued tonality that dominates the middle part of the tune – hear his left hand rumble towards the bottom of the instrument’s register.

Do yourself a favor, and have a listen.  It’s wonderful.  Oh, and leave a comment and let me know what you think.  Is this your kind of thing?

]]> http://www.alexgeorgebooks.com/human-nature/feed/ 1 It’s been a while since I’ve done a post about jazz treatment of pop songs.  I hope this will prove worth the wait – it’s possibly my favorite one yet. Vijay Iyer is one of the most exciting and accomplished jazz pianists to have come along in years.  His latest album, Solo, is already at the very top of my “Best of 2010″ jazz albums.  It is a thoughtful, deeply beautiful record.  Look.  Even the cover art is wonderful: As ever, Iyer draws from a wide musical palette in his song selections.  About half the tunes are his own compositions – thoroughly satisfying, richly crafted affairs that reward close listening.  Then there’s a Monk piece, a couple of Ellington tunes, and a standard.  Oh, and a Michael Jackson number.  Really. “Human Nature” was one of the slightly less humungous tracks on Thriller.  I hadn’t heard it for a while when I popped Iyer’s CD into my stereo.  The pianist pulls off a brilliant trick – the tune is immediately recognizable, and yet a wholly different beast. Listen how, before the melody begins, he take one of the song’s minor motifs and polishes it to a beautiful, burnished perfection.  Iyer plays the tune itself pretty straight (for a jazz musician.)  He thoughtfully shifts the pulse of the music, but never wholly unshackles himself from the melody.  This creates a delicious tension – I am always waiting for him to take flight, and it never quite happens.  That’s not to say that this version is bland in the slightest.  I like the dark-hued tonality that dominates the middle part of the tune – hear his left hand rumble towards the bottom of the instrument’s register. Do yourself a favor, and have a listen.  It’s wonderful.  Oh, and leave a comment and let me know what you think.  Is this your kind of thing? It’s been a while since I’ve done a post about jazz treatment of pop songs.  I hope this will prove worth the wait – it’s possibly my favorite one yet. Vijay Iyer is one of the most exciting and accomplished jazz pianists to have come [...] http://www.alexgeorgebooks.com/voice-male/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=voice-male http://www.alexgeorgebooks.com/voice-male/#comments Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:47:31 +0000 Alex George http://alexgeorgebooks.com/?p=3130 Click here to continue...]]> This is sort of thing makes me happy, although I’m not quite sure why.

I’ve already written about Old Spice parodies proliferating on the web.  Now we can all get in on the action.  Thanks to a fellow twitterer, I found this great website, which allows you to put the Old Spice dude on your phone.

Now, if someone could please tell me how to stick this little mp3 file on to my iPhone as the voicemail message, that would be lovely.

What's with the strange accent?

In this strange world we live in, it seems like a book just ain’t enough any more.

Fellow Amy Einhorn author Eleanor Brown recently wrote a great post about all the extra-curricular activities that writers have to do these days, in addition to, you know, actually writing the book.  One of the things I’m thinking about doing from time to time is to put out little snippets of this mysterious book with no title as podcasts, or at least mp3 files for y’all to listen to.  Here’s the first one – taken from the very start of the book.  This is humbly offered up more in the spirit of scientific enquiry than anything else… I’m curious to see whether it works as it should.  If all goes well, we shall see about some more, although probably not for a while.  Because I should probably finish the damn thing first.  Oh yes, and find a title – of which more in a later post.

It’s always something of a shock to hear one’s voice after it’s been recorded.  I sound quite different to how I think I sound.  I remember once going to see Julian Barnes read and being impressed by what a wonderful, resonant reading voice he had.  Oh well.  It hardly seems fair that he can write like an angel and sound like one too, does it?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.  I’d love to hear what you think.

The tune comes from Goldberg’s superb new CD, Home.  (It’s unfortunate that this CD has the same title as the wonderful live duo recording by Bruce Barth and Steve Wilson which I am very fond of, not least because there’s a shot of the back of my head on the CD cover.  But I digress.)  Goldberg is backed by two of my favorite players, drummer Eric Harland and bassist Reuben Rogers.  Saxophonist Mark Turner also joins in on some tracks.  Goldberg’s playing is in turn sweetly melodic and then strongly, excitingly percussive.  He’s got technique to die for.  All-round bad-ass pianist.  I love this whole album.

As for this song in particular – well, what’s not to love?  It’s a great tune, of course, but Goldberg has taken it and turned it into something quite new.  I love the romping, syncopated motif he returns to throughout the song.  You’d never guess on first listen what you were listening to, but it makes perfect musical sense once you hear the chorus – which he plays about as straight as a jazz musician can.  The first time you hear it, at 1:08, is a true ah-ha! moment.  Now I can’t listen to the original version without Goldberg’s delicious refinements echoing through my head.

]]> http://www.alexgeorgebooks.com/isnt-she-lovely/feed/ 3 All right, enough with the book stuff, at least for a while.  Here is something quite wonderful in my little pop v. jazz series – pianist Aaron Goldberg tearing up Stevie Wonder’s classic hit. The tune comes from Goldberg’s superb new CD, Home.  (It’s unfortunate that this CD has the same title as the wonderful live duo recording by Bruce Barth and Steve Wilson which I am very fond of, not least because there’s a shot of the back of my head on the CD cover.  But I digress.)  Goldberg is backed by two of my favorite players, drummer Eric Harland and bassist Reuben Rogers.  Saxophonist Mark Turner also joins in on some tracks.  Goldberg’s playing is in turn sweetly melodic and then strongly, excitingly percussive.  He’s got technique to die for.  All-round bad-ass pianist.  I love this whole album. As for this song in particular – well, what’s not to love?  It’s a great tune, of course, but Goldberg has taken it and turned it into something quite new.  I love the romping, syncopated motif he returns to throughout the song.  You’d never guess on first listen what you were listening to, but it makes perfect musical sense once you hear the chorus – which he plays about as straight as a jazz musician can.  The first time you hear it, at 1:08, is a true ah-ha! moment.  Now I can’t listen to the original version without Goldberg’s delicious refinements echoing through my head. All right, enough with the book stuff, at least for a while.  Here is something quite wonderful in my little pop v. jazz series – pianist Aaron Goldberg tearing up Stevie Wonder’s classic hit. The tune comes from Goldberg’s superb new CD, [...] http://www.alexgeorgebooks.com/one-day-ill-fly-away/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=one-day-ill-fly-away http://www.alexgeorgebooks.com/one-day-ill-fly-away/#comments Sat, 26 Jun 2010 11:35:15 +0000 Alex George http://ahgeorge.com/?p=2526 Click here to continue...]]> Jazz treatments of pop covers turn up in some unusual places, but I never thought I’d find one on a Keith Jarrett record.  But on Jasmine, his latest outing for ECM, a gorgeous duet session with bassist Charlie Haden, Jarrett covers One Day I’ll Fly Away, which was a hit for Randy Newman in 1980.

As you’ll hear, Jarrett and Haden this very straight.  There are no pyrotechnics, clever chord substitutions, whizzy improvisational delights.  Actually, to my ears, there’s not much of anything.  It’s all done with consummate musicianship, of course, but it left me a little cold.  By way of comparison, here’s Newman herself, performing the song live with Joe Sample (who wrote it), twenty-six years after it was first released.  Now, this gave me goosebumps.  It’s been a long time since I’d heard her sing, and I’d forgotten what a great voice she has – utterly distinctive, and (here, anyway) full of emotion.  I like the Jarrett/Haden version, but if I had to choose one to take one to a desert island, I’d take Randy Newman every time.

Pop 1, Jazz o.  Who’d have thought it?

Sophie Milman is an absolutely cracking singer, with a gorgeous, smoky contralto.  Occasionally she swallows a word or two and sometimes sounds as if she could open her mouth a little wider, but she can swing a lyric wonderfully well.

Milman lives in Toronto now.  She was born in Siberia and is of Russian-Jewish descent.  Her family moved to Israel when she was seven years old, and to Canada nine years after that.  I will forego the temptation to speculate as to whether such a peripatetic childhood and multicultural upbringing has had an influence on her music, but I will say that her choices of songs are certainly more eclectic than some.  On her latest album, Take Love Easy, she covers Bruce Springsteen and Joni Mitchell (as well as Paul Simon) in addition to more predictable choices from the standard jazz canon.  (Perhaps her most interesting song selection was on her previous album: “It’s Not Easy (Bein’ Green)” – first made popular, of course, by one Frog, Kermit T. She sings the lyrics without any of the knowing archness that you might expect, and, astonishingly, it works as a tender ballad.)

But back to “50 Ways”.  Milman has dispensed with Steve Gadd’s sinister, military snare drum that gives the original verse its haunting feel, opting instead for a more laid-back approach, but it’s only at the chorus that things really blossom.  Listen to that delicious Latin-tinged piano as it fills in at 1:20.  Glorious!

One of the things I like about this version is that Milman has maintained total fidelity with the original song while still making it her own.  Often jazzers feel obliged to re-arrange and re-harmonize songs so that they’re nearly unrecognizable.  (Brad Mehldau’s version of this same song, while excellent, is a good example of this.  If you listen closely you’ll hear a snippet of the melody surface about half way through the eight and a half minute tune, and that’s it.)  But Milman has enough confidence not to resort to such techniques.  If the song is strong enough, and your performance is strong enough (check, and check), just let the music speak for itself.

Enjoy.  Happy Monday to you all.

I’m not aware of the Beach Boys getting too many jazz treatments, but given the complexities and richness of much of Brian Wilson’s work, I’m now wondering why not.  I wrote before about Bollani’s “angular” approach to the piano, and this piece illustrates what I’m trying to convey by that.  He comes at this material elliptically – as perhaps you have to with something so familiar – and throws down some peachy, darkly atonal chords which sit (to my ears anyway) at glorious odds with the languid feel of the piece.

This also neatly fits into my off-again, on-again series of pop tunes getting reworked by jazz musicians.  Oh yeah, and it’s fabulous.