Recently I was asked what I would like for my birthday. My thirst for books has started once more so I headed to Amazon.co.uk to see what I could find. Searching for something jazz related I came upon The Jazz Loft Project by W. Eugene Smith. The synopsis is, Gene Smith moves into a Sixth Avenue apartment and basically opens it up to musicians, beat poets, artists and anyone else who happens to be passing. The result is not only a collection of great images – something you would expect from the legendary Life photographer – but a massive archive of recordings too. He became an obsessive sound recorder, everything from the practice/jam sessions from artists such as Thelonius Monk and Bill Evans through to conversations and all the other audible nuances that the loft provided.

The book represents only the visual aspect of the project but just this morning I happened upon the audio. It is presented in a programme by WNYC in 2010 and archived for persons like myself whose finger is not totally on the pulse. As I want to listen to it at my leisure I downloaded it for my personal listening when out and about (there is a little bit of trickery a friend showed me whereby you can download streaming data).

It is a great project, something that is placed in that era that cannot be done today. I am very lucky to have come across it. If you would like more info go to:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/jazz-loft/

Click here for the book on Amazon