Really the Blues

by Mezz Mezzrow

Other authorsBen Ratliff (Introduction)

Paperback, 2016

Status

Available

Call number

788.6

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

NYRB Classics (2016), 464 pages

Description

Mezz Mezzrow was a boy from Chicago who learned to play the sax in reform school and pursued a life in music and a life of crime. He moved from Chicago to New Orleans to New York, working in brothels and bars, bootlegging, dealing drugs, getting hooked, doing time, producing records, and playing with the greats, among them Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, and Fats Waller. Really the Blues, the jive-talking memoir that Mezzrow wrote at the insistence of, and with the help of, the novelist Bernard Wolfe, is the story of an unusual and unusually American life, and a portrait of a man who moved freely across racial boundaries when few could or did, "the odyssey of an individualist . . . the saga of a guy who wanted to make friends in a jungle where everyone was too busy making money." [Publisher description]… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member NateJordon

Published in the late 1940s, this book had to be a huge influence on the Beat Generation writers - and yet, that comes as a surprise because who's heard of this man or his book? Presented here is the life of Mezz Mezzrow - "the guy, behind the guy" in the Jazz world. Drug addict, drug pusher, and

good friends with - and musical director of - Louis Armstrong, Mezz tells the story behind the scenes of the jazz explosion of the 20s and beyond. Written in Harlem vernacular, you don't need to understand jive to dig his story, you can simply dig the language itself; however, if you're not a jazz aficionado, the many people/musicians Mezz writes about will be completely foreign and seem somewhat insignificant to the plot-line - but how can one equate one's life with a plot-line anyway? All in all, a good document of the counterculture of the 20s.

Show Less

2 more

LibraryThing member Stahl-Ricco

I picked this up after it was mentioned in Diane di Prima's "Memoirs of a Beatnik", which I had read recently. It's a decent read, with a lot of the interest lying in the fact that the author was describing a time when jazz was blossoming, and the language, attitudes, and culture that went with

that. The language was probably most interesting to me, all of the slang and such, and the glossary in the back is super helpful. Who knew that before Harry Potter, "muggles" meant marijuana cigarettes! Pretty funny in my opinion!
As for the negative, the overall tone of the writing is braggadocios and filled with name dropping, in a way that started to feel almost "Forrest Gump" like. I mean, Mezzrow hears a piano being played, opens the door, and there is Jelly Roll Morton! He talks back to Al Capone! He unknowingly makes friends with the notorious Purple Gang! It just goes on and on like that, making it feel like fiction, or at least a lot of truth stretching! Oh yes, and he writes quite a bit about what a good jazz musician he is. No humble pie for this guy!
Despite all of that, I did like the read. He really captures the "scene" and true or not, I was glad to pick it up! And I'll never think of muggles in the same way again. :-)

Show Less

LibraryThing member kcshankd

Started reading on beach in Spain, and almost gonged it 100 pages in. Tried again the next day, but instead of reading it as a straight memoir (it's not, or at least not a good one), I read it more in the spirit of _On the Road_ or _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_ - capturing an ethos of an ear,

even if it means telling a story that is too good to be true.

In that light I was able to finish of the 'ol Mezz. Will have to look up the numerous songs and compositions bragged on in the text.

Show Less

Fewer