Music to wear berets by.
October 1, 2006 11:53 PM Subscribe
Help me find Beat music. I've got my beret and black turtleneck, now I just need tunes.
I want cliched beat poetry reading music. Bongos, the whole nine yards. Where do I start?
I want cliched beat poetry reading music. Bongos, the whole nine yards. Where do I start?
If you are looking for cliched beat music, you probably can't do better than some of the tracks of "Beat Beat Beatsville", which is Beatniksploitation music at it's best.
posted by extrabox at 4:26 AM on October 2, 2006
posted by extrabox at 4:26 AM on October 2, 2006
You can't do the hipster thing without knowing the lingo; for that there's Lord Buckley; previously discussed on MeFi.
I could swear madamjujujive had a post on this subject in the blue a couple of years ago, but I can't find it; perhaps I am attributing it to the wrong person.
posted by TedW at 5:26 AM on October 2, 2006
I could swear madamjujujive had a post on this subject in the blue a couple of years ago, but I can't find it; perhaps I am attributing it to the wrong person.
posted by TedW at 5:26 AM on October 2, 2006
Beats listened to a lot of bop. They were also fond of Slim Gaillard -- Kerouac name-checks him in On the Road. Movie beatniks listen to bongo music. And hipsters in general of the era listened to calypso.
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:18 AM on October 2, 2006
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:18 AM on October 2, 2006
You've had some good suggestions for cliched faux-Beat music.
On preview, Astro Zombie just beat me to the punch: the real Beat authors and artists, especially the New York Beats, listened to a hell of a lot of jazz, specifically bebop (or a later variant, "hard bop") because that was what was going on in the late 1940s and 1950s when they were coming of age.
So for *authentic* music to set your beret spinning, let me suggest some Bird and Diz.
Charlie Parker: The Complete Verve Master Takes and one of the Dial/Savoy box sets (or, if you want just one Parker album, the one you want is Now's The Time)
Dizzy Gillespie: Groovin' High
Town Hall 1945, Gillespie and Parker
And Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool, too.
Also, one or more of the following from the period:
Clifford Brown, Charlie Christian, Dexter Gordon, Barry Harris, any of the Heath Brothers but especially Percy, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell.
posted by enrevanche at 6:41 AM on October 2, 2006
On preview, Astro Zombie just beat me to the punch: the real Beat authors and artists, especially the New York Beats, listened to a hell of a lot of jazz, specifically bebop (or a later variant, "hard bop") because that was what was going on in the late 1940s and 1950s when they were coming of age.
So for *authentic* music to set your beret spinning, let me suggest some Bird and Diz.
Charlie Parker: The Complete Verve Master Takes and one of the Dial/Savoy box sets (or, if you want just one Parker album, the one you want is Now's The Time)
Dizzy Gillespie: Groovin' High
Town Hall 1945, Gillespie and Parker
And Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool, too.
Also, one or more of the following from the period:
Clifford Brown, Charlie Christian, Dexter Gordon, Barry Harris, any of the Heath Brothers but especially Percy, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell.
posted by enrevanche at 6:41 AM on October 2, 2006
Don't forget Oliver Nelson's "Blues and the Abstract Truth", Sonny Rollins, and Clifford Brown.
posted by rottytooth at 7:04 AM on October 2, 2006
posted by rottytooth at 7:04 AM on October 2, 2006
Oh, and Lee Morgan too.
posted by rottytooth at 7:04 AM on October 2, 2006
posted by rottytooth at 7:04 AM on October 2, 2006
A couple of useful-looking lists: The Beats and Beatnik & Jive (& Beatploitation).
posted by misteraitch at 7:07 AM on October 2, 2006
posted by misteraitch at 7:07 AM on October 2, 2006
I bought this 4-disc set in college. Rhino has replaced it with a single-disc compilation.
posted by grabbingsand at 8:41 AM on October 2, 2006
posted by grabbingsand at 8:41 AM on October 2, 2006
Also ... Tom Waits does a fine job of channelling beatnikism through most of his early albums ... The Heart of Saturday Night, in particular.
posted by grabbingsand at 8:45 AM on October 2, 2006
posted by grabbingsand at 8:45 AM on October 2, 2006
Well, if berets are one of your criteria, Dizzy Gillespie is the man; this collection of his classic early bop is a better place to start than the "Groovin' High" CD. Dizzy and Charlie Parker together in the mid-40s on some of the greatest bop sides ever - music the original beats lived for. Avoid the too-short "Now's the Time" Parker CD enrevanche mentioned, only because it's been released in a much improved version.
Strong second for Slim Gaillard, and a vote for this CD of Babs Gonzales, both of whom sang a kind of vocalese. They're funny, sure, but don't underestimate their talent; what they did with language was often amazing, and got the beats thinking about words and writing in new ways.
posted by mediareport at 10:00 AM on October 2, 2006
Strong second for Slim Gaillard, and a vote for this CD of Babs Gonzales, both of whom sang a kind of vocalese. They're funny, sure, but don't underestimate their talent; what they did with language was often amazing, and got the beats thinking about words and writing in new ways.
posted by mediareport at 10:00 AM on October 2, 2006
Don't sleep on Gene Krupa, whose arrest for mj possession and his rad drumming made him beloved.
Depending on how widely one casts the net, Paul Bowles is sometimes considered Beat. He's a classical composer with several works to his credit that would quite literally be "the music of the beats." He's also got a couple of ethnomusicology collections of Gnawa music that he recorded. (I think this is one, but it doesn't seem to say so on the Amazon page, but I'm pretty sure this is the one whose liner notes I read that credited Bowles.)
posted by OmieWise at 10:42 AM on October 2, 2006
Depending on how widely one casts the net, Paul Bowles is sometimes considered Beat. He's a classical composer with several works to his credit that would quite literally be "the music of the beats." He's also got a couple of ethnomusicology collections of Gnawa music that he recorded. (I think this is one, but it doesn't seem to say so on the Amazon page, but I'm pretty sure this is the one whose liner notes I read that credited Bowles.)
posted by OmieWise at 10:42 AM on October 2, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
It's him reading, with music. The first disc has Steve Allen playing jazz piano in the background, the 2nd has Zoot Sims and Al Cohn; even better than bongos.
posted by spasm at 12:18 AM on October 2, 2006