Kerouac on Record: A Literary Soundtrack

He was the leading light of the Beat Generation writers and the most dynamic author of his time, but Jack Kerouac also had a lifelong passion for music, particularly the mid-century jazz of New York City, the development of which he witnessed first-hand during the 1940s with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk to the fore. The novelist, most famous for his 1957 book On the Road, admired the sounds of bebop and attempted to bring something of their original energy to his own writing, a torrent of semi-autobiographical stories he published between 1950 and his early death in 1969. Yet he was also drawn to American popular music of all kinds – from the blues to Broadway ballads – and when he came to record albums under his own name, he married his unique spoken word style with some of the most talented musicians on the scene. Kerouac's musical legacy goes well beyond the studio recordings he made himself: his influence infused generations of music makers who followed in his work – from singer-songwriters to rock bands. Some of the greatest transatlantic names – Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead, Van Morrison and David Bowie, Janis Joplin and Tom Waits, Sonic Youth and Death Cab for Cutie, and many more – credited Kerouac's impact on their output. In Kerouac on Record, we consider how the writer brought his passion for jazz to his prose and poetry, his own record releases, the ways his legacy has been sustained by numerous more recent talents, those rock tributes that have kept his memory alive and some of the scores that have featured in Hollywood adaptations of the adventures he brought to the printed page.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Permissions Foreword Introduction Simon Warner 1. Jack Kerouac's Jazz Scene Jim Burns 2. 2nd Chorus: Blues: Jack Kerouac Larry Beckett 3. Duet for Saxophone and Pen: Lee Konitz and the Direct Influence of Jazz on the Development of Jack Kerouac's 'Spontaneous Prose' Style Marian Jago Interview 1: Lee Konitz Marian Jago 4. Jack Kerouac Goes Vinyl: A Sonic Journey into Kerouac's Three LPs: Poetry for the Beat Generation; Blues and Haikus; and Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat Generation Jonah Raskin 5. Art Music: Listening to Kerouac's 'Mexico City Blues' A. Robert Lee Interview 2: David Amram Pat Thomas 6. Beat Refrains: Music, Milieu and Identity in Jack Kerouac's The Subterraneans, the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Film Adaptation Michael Prince 7. Bob Dylan's Beat Visions (Sonic Poetry) Michael Goldberg 8. Carrying a Torch for Ti Jean Paul Marion Interview 3: Richard Meltzer Michael Goldberg 9. The Grateful Dead: Jack Manifested as Music Brian Hassett 10. Driver Mark Bliesener 11. Jim Morrison/Angel of Fire Jay Jeff Jones 12. Light is Faster than Sound: Texans, the Beats and the San Francisco Counterculture Holly George-Warren 13. Hit the Road, Jack: Van Morrison and On the Road Peter Mills 14. Detecting Jack Kerouac and Joni Mitchell: A Literary/Legal (Not Musicological) Investigation into the Search for Influence Nancy Grace 15. Kerouac and Country Music Matt Theado 16. 'Straight from the Mind to the Voice': Spectral Persistence in Jack Kerouac and Tom Waits Douglas Field Interview 4: Barney Hoskyns Simon Warner 17. From Beat Bop Prosody to Punk Rock Poetry: Patti Smith and Jack Kerouac; Literature, Lineage, Legacy Ronna Johnson Poems: Marc Zegans Interview 6: Allen Ginsberg Pat Thomas 18. Tramps Like Them: Jack and Bruce and the Myth of the American Road Simon Morrison Interview 5: Graham Parker Pat Thomas 19. Punk and New Wave James Sullivan Interview 7: Jim DeRogatis on Lester Bangs James Sullivan 20. The Tribute Recordings Jim Sampas and Simon Warner Appendix I: Jack Kerouac Biography Appendix II: Jack Kerouac Discography Dave Moore Appendix III: Tribute Discography Appendix IV: Kerouac/Cassady Song List Dave Moore/Horst Spandler Notes on Contributors Index