© Columbia University Press
The Velvet Lounge: On Late Chicago Jazz
September, 2005
Cloth, 224 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-13682-2
$31.50
/ £18.50
"Interesting descriptions of the jazz scene emerge--most notably in the chapter on the Velvet Lounge." — Library Journal
"His descriptions actually make you want to hear again--or listen to for the first time--the music described." — Ken Waxman, jazzword.com
"A quietly visionary autobiography, the story of a life and of a complex, ugly/beautiful city." — Sunday Herald
"Far closer to capturing the experience of listening to music than any jazz book you've read this year." — Matthew Lurie, Time Out Chicago
"He is a virtuoso writer, wrapping the reader in his lush descriptions of concerts." — Elizabeth Hoover, Chicago Tribune
"A quietly visionary autobiography, the story of a life and of a complex, ugly/beautiful city." — Brian Morton, Sunday Herald (Scotland)
"A deeply moving memoir in tune with the rhythms of jazz music itself and its influence on American society." — James A. Cox, Midwest Book Review
"A deeply moving memoir in tune with the rhythms of music itself and its influence on society." — James A. Cox, Wisconsin Bookwatch
"This book is a rich evocation of the important legacy of modern jazz in Chicago." — Library Journal April
"Masterfully crafted." — Marsha Walker, Multicultural Review
"Gerald Majer's propulsive, rhythmic essays celebrate the history and spirit of jazz. Like a seasoned improviser, he varies and syncopates his delivery, casting rim-shot fragments against long, slalomlike sentences—pushing, probing, and staying on the run through fast-track narrative and lyric measure. The prose fluidly shifts between earthy vernacular and reflective mood swing. And yet Majer's technical gifts as an essayist never betray or eclipse the emotional heart of these engaging, memorable meditations." — Sascha Feinstein, author, Misterioso; editor, Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz and Literature
"The Velvet Lounge is a book like none other. Part memoir, part homage, Gerald Majer's remarkable odyssey through the world of late Chicago jazz is a haunted, vertiginous account of both the music and the lives it was made from. This is finally a book about soul—no, about the soul—rapt by essence and experiment. Majer writes with an exhilarating passion and a rare elegance, and his book is sure to be a classic." — J. D. McClatchy, author of Hazmat: Poems