Heroes and Villains

September 29, 2009
In this rollicking collection of mostly previously published essays, Hadju (The Ten-Cent Plague; Positively 4th Street) combines the cutting candor of Lester Bangs and the measured and judicious cultural learning of Lionel Trilling as he takes aim at subjects ranging widely from jazz, rock and country music and cartoon characters like Elmer Fudd to broader cultural topics such as blogging, MySpace, and remixing. Hadju writes affectionately about the old Warner Brothers cartoons, recalling the respite they provided from the tumult of the 1960s, every night before dinner. In another essay, he uses the release of Joni Mitchell's album, Shine, as an entrée into a moving retrospective of her music and a bit of mourning over her recent absence from the music scene. In a superb comparison of the music of Lucinda Williams, Taylor Swift, and Beyoncé, he captures Williams as a woman rare among pop stars, possessing unfeathered intelligence, untheatrical carnality, and uncompromising humanity. Hadju's opening essay on jazz great Billy Eckstine is alone worth the price of admission, a poignant portrait of a brilliant musician whose star might have risen even higher had he been born in a different era. Hadju's essays never fail to amuse, please and provoke.

September 1, 2009
Hajdu (Journalism/Columbia Univ.; The Ten Cent-Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America, 2008) returns with a graceful collection of essays, most previously published, on a variety of topics—jazz mostly, but also Elmer Fudd, Elvis and others.

The author writes with enormous confidence and competence in these pieces, most of which appeared in the New Republic, where he is a music critic. His encyclopedic knowledge of jazz history and musicians never reduces the prose to pedantry, and he is generally compassionate—though occasionally his criticisms are sharp. In Ken Burns's documentary on jazz, for example, Hajdu detects"subtle hints of racism and anti-Semitism," and he feels the music of Philip Glass can be"frigid." Hajdu is harsh when he needs to be—he declares that there are"four thousand holes" in a recent biography of John Lennon—and is often wry and amusing (see his quotation of Monica Lewinsky's note to President Clinton thanking him for Leaves of Grass). On the whole, the author is an able instructor whose vast knowledge inspires rather than intimidates. He moves easily from essays on celebrities everyone knows (Paul McCartney, Wynton Marsalis) to those known principally to the cognoscenti (Harry Partch, John Zorn). Hajdu includes a lovely essay on the brief life of pianist Michel Petrucciani, whose enormous talent was complemented by his capacious sexual appetite and shortened by bone disease. Among those earning the author's high praise are Susannah McCorkle, Billy Eckstein, Ray Charles and Mos Def. Those stung include Sting, Bobby Darin and Starbucks (whose CDs Hajdu equates with"state-sponsored music"). Occasionally he even chides himself, noting, for example, that as a young man he did not adequately appreciate the cartoons of Jules Feiffer. Hajdu's lengthy piece on Marsalis is a revelation.

A gift for readers who enjoy erudition seasoned with lan.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 13, 2009
In this collection of essays from a variety of sources, including the New Republic, Hajdu (The Ten-Cent Plague) uses his discerning eye to highlight controversial junctures in popular taste. Pieces on music and comic book artists are heavy on background and context and touch on issues of race, aging, authenticity, and technology. Hajdu explores the life of little-known musician Billy Eckstine and includes essays on Elvis Costello, Sting, Ray Charles, Dinah Washington, and Alan Lomax. Verdict This collection from a popular nonfiction writer is recommended for fans and students of music and pop culture writing.-Lani Smith, Ohlone Coll. Lib., Fremont, CA

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