Email Author Dave McElfresh

2000 Stories by Dave McElfresh

• Le Grand Tango: The Life and Music of Astor Piazzolla

  published December 28, 2000

  Historically, the tango has been at least as resistant to change as church music -- odd, given that the former was born in the whorehouses of... More >>

• Future Shock

  published December 14, 2000

  Gumbo has queried the finest psychics to be found at the Valley's swap meets, seeking predictions regarding the state of music in 2001. Be afraid.... More >>

• Write or Wrong

  published November 23, 2000

  Listed below are 17 pounds of new and worthwhile music books all you fact-obsessed tune junkies will need to buy and haul around every time you... More >>

• Bop the Question

  published November 2, 2000

  This month Gumbo dips into the mailbox and answers those cosmic questions regarding jazz and blues. But first, a little press for those jazzers... More >>

• Bacharach Bonanza

  published October 5, 2000

  Feel like you'll throttle Dionne Warwick's scrawny little neck if you hear her version of "I Say a Little Prayer" one more time? Don't throw Burt... More >>

• Hey, Joe!

  published September 28, 2000

  Writing lyrics? Well, nothing rhymes with "orange." Or "Arpaio." Except maybe, a joint got me six months and now I want to die-o, which... More >>

• Rollin' and Tumblin': The Postwar Blues Guitarists

  published September 28, 2000

  Blues history is fraught with lurid tales of ballers and brawlers, so much that the fans of the genre usually take in as much lore as music.... More >>

• Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy

  published September 7, 2000

  As embarrassingly primitive as it may seem, rock 'n' roll is foremost an expression of rebellion against firmly held parental values. The primary... More >>

• Weird Impressions

  published August 17, 2000

  From the '60s through the early '70s, jazz fans clamored for something as "far out" as what was happening in rock music. They were offered what... More >>

• Cosmic Stew

  published August 10, 2000

  As you know, the Moon is in the Seventh House, and Jupiter aligns with Mars, which means you'll find, in the reviews below, synchronistic... More >>

• Fourth Coming

  published June 29, 2000

  The Fourth of July is also celebrated as Louis Armstrong's birthday, even though in reality it probably isn't. While the trumpeter was frequently... More >>

• Open Sky: Sonny Rollins and His World of Improvisation

  published June 1, 2000

  About time a bio was written on Sonny Rollins, the last living jazz patriarch, who also met repeatedly with the author as the book was taking... More >>

• Smooth Operators

  published May 18, 2000

  Gumbo loves slamming pud jazz wanna-bes and goo-heavy R&B warblers. But my insensitive editor stubbornly refuses to allot me an extra page for... More >>

• The Artist Formerly Known As Print

  published April 20, 2000

  Sure, reading about music is no substitute for listening, but probably only a music book is going to show the typical Rolling Stones fan how Jimmy... More >>

• Upbeat

  published April 13, 2000

  Let's be frugal. Why sell your own body to science for CD money when you can sell someone else's, especially when the scumbag probably wasn't a... More >>

• Pompousness and Circumstance

  published March 2, 2000

  Let's be smug. Smug and proud of it, even. Yes, those of us who favor underdog music inevitably experience existential loneliness as we thumb... More >>

• Brand New Year

  published January 20, 2000

  As we bitterly curse the fact that the apocalypse skipped over us, at least there's some new music to commiserate with. Make a statement against... More >>