STRIDE BOOKS
"one of the most impressive small presses" - Times Literary Supplement
www.stridebooks.com for ordering information
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We are about to receive delivery from the printer of Robin Tomens's POINTS
OF DEPARTURE: ESSAYS ON MODERN JAZZ, price $20 U.S. / 10 pounds
U.K.
POINTS OF DEPARTURE is an alternative version of Jazz criticism, one which
scratches beneath the veneer of Objectivity and challenges the tyranny of
so-called
expertise. Robin Tomens believes that Jazz has for too long been at the
mercy of
academics - who often serve only to alienate potential listeners, and that
America's
greatest musical art form deserves to be "freed from the cultural ghetto and
given the
chance to astound all who encounter the many treasures it contains."
POINTS OF DEPARTURE offers both snapshots and larger portraits of post-war
Jazz in a style that is distinctive, humorous, ironic, serious and honest.
It deals with the
reverential idolisation of jazz gods such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane,
as well
as lesser-known artists such as Don Ellis and Joe Harriott. It is not a
guide or a
history but one man's expression of the listening experience which he hopes
will
"entertain, inspire, provoke and playfully debate the nature of Jazz."
The book features Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Lennie
Tristano,
Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Ornette Coleman,
Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Wayne Shorter, Andrew Hill,
The
Art Ensemble of Chicago, Gil Evans, Jimmy Giuffre, Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry,
Roland Kirk, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders and many others.
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Alistair Fitchett, author if the Stride book YOUNG & FOOLISH, has just
launched
a website for 50 word fictions. Contributors thus far include David Lehman,
Ron
Palmer, Sheila Murphy, Peter Finch and others. If you want to contribute,
read
some, or find out more, visit www.fiftywords.co.uk.
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Just published by Spirit Level Books and available from Stride Books is a
collaborative prose poem pamphlet by Roselle Angwin and Rupert Loydell,
price $5 U.S. / 2 pounds 50 pence.
___________________________________________________________
Rupert Loydell, Managing editor
Stride, 11 Sylvan Road, Exeter, Devon EX4 6EW, England
Ethan Paquin, American advisor
Stride, 85 Old Nashua Road, Londonderry, NH USA 03053
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