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Matt Shedd

Charlie Parker Sketches: 3. Embraceable You, Irreplaceable You

Charlie Parker Sketches: 3. Embraceable You, Irreplaceable You

Charlie Parker recorded his completely unique take on George and Ira Gershwin’s Embraceable You for Dial on October 28, 1947. Returned to New York after 16 month haze in California, which included a stay at Camarillo State Mental Hospital, a parting with Dizzy Gillespie, new developments in bop, and

Review of Nick Tosches: Jerry Lee's Dionysian HELLFIRE and the Raunchy History of COUNTRY

Review of Nick Tosches: Jerry Lee's Dionysian HELLFIRE and the Raunchy History of COUNTRY

BOOK REVIEWS: Tosches, Nick. Hellfire. New York: Grove, 1982. and Tosches's Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock 'n' Roll. New York: Da Capo, 1984. If you are interested in the history of American music--country, blues, hillbilly ballads, minstrelsy, jazz, rock and roll--and how they all come

Marlon Brando's Jazz-Culture Cool in a Muical Era before Elvis

Marlon Brando's Jazz-Culture Cool in a Muical Era before Elvis

Scattered thoughts on Elvis, Jazz, and The Wild One: John Lennon famously said, "Before Elvis, there was nothing." In terms of dominant cultural conceptions of cool, I almost entirely agree. But before Elvis, there was Marlon Brando. It's hard for those of us who weren'

All Due Respect, SGT. PEPPER, Sir, but in 1967, it's the BASEMENT TAPES for Me

One Man's Opinion on the Rock & Roll Canon: Rolling Stone's Top 500 Albums-#1 In 1967, through Sgt. Pepper's and The Basement Tapes, we see popular music going two distinct directions. The Beatles explored the unknown and Dylan and the Band kept it

“South of the Border”: The Sexual Politics of Autry and Sinatra

I was listening to a Gene Autry record yesterday--by the way, if you don’t own any Autry recordings you should get your hands on some. I know I had heard him sing “South of the Border” (recorded in 1939) at some point, but I hadn’t thought too much

Jimmie Rodgers, the Blue Yodel, and a Young America

Jimmie Rodgers, the Blue Yodel, and a Young America

I recently read Nick Tosches’s Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock 'n' Roll (New York: Da Capo, 1984), and his great work inspired me to revisit the recordings of Jimmie Rodgers. I was intrigued with the mysteries I found buried in those old recordings. I know that