2020 in Books

Here are the books I read in 2020, with favorites at the bottom.

Non-Fiction

 

The Discoveries by Allan Lightman

A collection of 25 papers (for 22 discoveries) that changed the course of 20^th century science. A very good, well-explained work. Having been published in 2005 it is increasingly dated (the Higgs boson is still referred to as theoretical, for example) but all in all an excellent place to start to get a good sense of how much science changed in the last century, and what the most important discoveries and breakthroughs were.

 

Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius

The gossipy account. I have, at this point, read Plutarch, Livy, Tacitus, Gibbon, and Mommsen. Suetonius is sort of fun – a contrary version of Plutarch’s upstanding models, a contrast in vices. I highly doubt I’ll have cause to ever revisit the Julio-Claudians after this, though. Apparently Graves’ great ‘I, Claudius’ is based on Suetonius, so that may be a more enjoyable work for readers.

 

Dhammapada

I realized, with a bit of surprise, I’d not actually read the Dhammapada in full, so I went ahead and read it. A short little work, but an excellent distillation of Buddhist ideas.

 

Popol Vuh Trans. Dennis Tedlock

Mesoamerican mythology was mostly a blank for me – but this excellent edition of the Mayan creation story helped fill in a lot of gaps, and lay a foundation from which I can continue to learn more. Plus, much of it is a genuinely enjoyable series of myths.

 

A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman

The subtitle is “The Calamitous 14^th Century” – but this is not quite the case. Tuchman focuses her entire tome on Europe, and further almost exclusively through the eyes of France, which she asserts was the most important kingdom of the age. That said, it is a very good account of France during that century, and she handles the main European issues of the Hundred Years War, plague, and Great Schism well.

 

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The poetic and page-turning memoir is a deserving classic, and one of the finest memoirs I’ve ever read. Angelou tells of growing up as a black girl in locales as different as Stamps, Arkansas and San Francisco.

 

Arthashastra by Kautilya

I engaged in a lot of world-building as a kid, but man, Kautilya went overboard… He creates a hypothetical state and covers every aspect of its existence, from how the king chooses allies, to how to manage elephant forests, to pay scales for prostitutes, to the architectural design of your treasury building, to…

 

The Rise of the Novel by Ian Watt

The title is misleading in scope, and should be amended to “The Importance of Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding in the Rise of the English Novel”. It’s fine, then, for that.

 

The Philosophy of Leibniz by Bertrand Russell

Out of respect for Russell I’ve carried this around, unread, since I took a class on Leibniz while studying abroad in 2007. I finally read it, and it’s fine. Very limited in appeal – only those who are familiar with Leibniz are likely to get anything out of it, and I’m at a point in my life where these old philosophical debates no longer move me.

 

The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

Read this as part of the newly revised Penguin Great Ideas series – very optimistic, and nearly nonsensical. The rhetorical equivalent of “Phase 1: Get the people mad. Phase 2: ???? Phase 3: Profit!” Only, in this case, replace ‘profit’ with ‘functioning anarcho-communism’. Yeah, right.

 

Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitabe

Also read as part of the new Penguin Great Ideas. Written for Western audiences in 1900, this work has many of the issues of that era, but all in all is a very interesting little study of the role of Bushido, the samurai code, in what was then a fast-changing Japan.

 

Records of the Grand Historian: Han, Vol. 1 by Sima Qian

Western historians have debated and stewed over Tacitus’ most famous passage – the funeral oration of Pericles. Was Tacitus really there to hear it? Did he just make it all up? If he was there, could it be a blend of memory and myth? Sima Qian’s work does not present this problem. His history, detailing the early years of the Han Dynasty, is 500 pages describing battles and court etiquette, and, most importantly, dramatic dialogues and monologues, some of them pages long, that almost certainly never happened. So… is it a history? Kind of? It feels more like a blend of Plutarch’s morals and Herodotus’ disregard for objectivity.

 

The Protestant Ethic and the ‘Spirit’ of Capitalism by Max Weber

A once-heralded work, Weber’s hypothesis is simple: Protestant countries, because of their faith, were more inclined to foster capitalist practices. In 1905 that was a startling rebuke to the dialectic theories of the day. Weber’s work was an important milestone in the nascent field of sociology, but his conclusions have (demonstrably, and rigorously) been shown to be false. More of an interesting read in the history of sociology, then, than anything else.

 

The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson

This delightful short work is a fun time capsule of oceanographic research in the early 1950s. Much of the scientific work remains just as relevant now (how the tides work, the currents) while some aspects are dated (this is pre-plate tectonics, and a chapter tries to figure out climate change unsuccessfully), but no less interesting. Carson’s excitement comes across with every as-then unknown facet left to study.

 

Fiction

 

Lucky Per by Henrik Pontoppidan

This turn-of-the-century work deals with a young man who screws up his life twice: first attempting to be a Great Man, when the world is handed to him on a silver plate, and then again when he rejects all that he gets a second chance – the provincial, rooted family life. He screws that up to. Then he dies.

 

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

Dreiser. Once lionized in the American canon. I finally grappled with him, and his magum opus – and found that he has been justifiably cast aside. There are two good reasons: first, he over-writes and piles on far too much. Second, and worse, a lack of respect for his own characters pervaded the work – an irony and mean tone that unfolds across this 800-page melodrama. We have many better writers now.

 

The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin and Gao E

The massive, five-volume classic novel deals with the fortunes and foibles of a well-to-do Chinese family. The first 80 chapters have a certain slowness and style – playing with poetry, subtlety, and nuance that can become a bit exhausting. The last 40 chapters, edited by someone else, are much brisker, but also less adept, stylistically. As is, I preferred the later sections, even if they weren’t as well-written. Beyond the main character, Bao-Yu, and his very immediate circle, I had little interest in anyone else. And so, after 2 ½ years, I’m glad to have finished it, and to be able to say I’ve read all of the Four Chinese Classics.

 

Possession by A.S. Byatt

A book only for the initiated, with little tolerance for those not already very well-versed in the Western canon: Victoriana, Norse legends, Medieval Breton mythology, and so forth. It’s well-written otherwise, and Byatt juggles a variety of voices convincingly, while giving the reader many intrigues: two romances, two good old-fashioned whodunnits, and one solid post-modern heap (or commentary) of literary philosophy and academic navel-gazing.

 

The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa

Published posthumously this collection of aphorisms and ‘essays in idleness’ are an interesting, if not uncommon, male, solo voce, existentialist perspective on life. While perhaps well worth reading – Pessoa has a beautiful command of language – there is some tedium to the work.

 

Segu by Maryse Conde

Interesting for historical details, if not particularly adeptly written. The story tells of the changing times of the West African city Segu, and a noble family whose sons live lives lousy with coincidence and magical realism.

 

Native Son by Richard Wright

A long-overdue read. Wright’s fatalism makes the book challenging, but after the first two thirds the final third is stronger – but plagued with certain difficulties and issues which effect other classics about race and justice, such as To Kill a Mockingbird. Whether this work would be an adequate replacement for Lee’s increasingly challenged text is an issue that came to mind frequently throughout, albeit not one which I felt I had an answer.

 

The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa

A massive historical fiction, I would probably have enjoyed this work of Brazil’s sertao region more if I had not read Rosa’s brilliant 'Grande Sertao: Veredas'. That said, Llosa’s work takes the first third to warm-up, but then becomes stronger, telling a not-quite-page-turning tale of religious fanaticism and brutality.

 

Blindness by Jose Saramago

An excellent allegory, of an epidemic of blindness, and its results. Perhaps heightened in intensity due to Covid, this was a page-turner from a clear master story-teller. Saramago’s peculiar writing style (avoiding names and quotations when speaking, lengthy sentences – but in no ways onerous) didn’t inhibit the novel in any way, but fit the theme well.

 

Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryonosuke Akutagawa

A few nice short stories from a well-regarded Japanese author, dealing with themes of morality, death, and insanity. The final section is autobiographical, and somewhat dulled the enjoyment of the earlier pieces.

 

The Old Wives’ Tale by Arnold Bennett

Bennett is another turn-of-the-century novelist who was admired at the time, and now nearly forgotten. This work, considered his best, shows off that he was a good storyteller, but not a very good writer. He’s not actually bad, but definitely not first-rate. That said, it must have been rare, a century ago, to dedicate nearly half of a 600-page work telling the lives of two sisters (Sophia who is worldly and sophisticated and Constance who never leaves her home town – get it?) by focusing on their middle and old age. Some passages are well-written and genuinely amusing, and there is some depth – which, like the main story, deserved a better author.

 

Averno by Louise Glück

After Glück won the Nobel Prize I immediately tracked down her work. I was deeply moved by the collection, which dealt with death, trauma, Persephone, and family, and understood why she had been given the award.

 

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

Parts of this are really excellent – some truly great passages and work that deeply resonates. But then so much of it, unfortunately the majority, is practically unreadable, it makes for a work that feels more ‘important’ than ‘good’. My eyes glazed with very troubling frequency after the first three hundred pages.

 

The Sportswriter by Richard Ford

After 'The Magic Mountain' I wanted something very light, but instead got this. Come, spend 400 pages with Frank Bascombe, the New Jersey divorcee of the early 1980s – and easily one of the most unpleasant characters I’ve encountered in fiction. As punchable as Melville’s Bartleby, as self-deluded as Gordimer’s conservationist, and as smiley as Nurse Ratched, having to spend this much time with Bascombe is more a punishment for the reader than anything else.

 

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk

About 30-40 pages in I realized I’d read this “unclassifiable” work before – only it was written by ‘Geoffrey Crayon’. Flights is a mashup of fiction, reflective essays, and short entries that sounds similar to Joan Didion in tone, and focuses on themes of permanence and transience, circa 2007. It’s a nice work, well worth a look.

 

The Woman Who Had Two Navels and Tales of the Tropical Gothic by Nick Joaquin

My introduction to Filipino literature. Joaquin’s stories teeter between short story and novella in length, each using magical realism to explore a single vivid concept. The long play “Portrait of the Artist as Filipino” is also included, and explores some interesting territory as well. A worthwhile read.

 

The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles

An excellent postmodern novel, which manages to still keep the reader’s interest in the main narrative despite the intellectually meta themes. A century after the height of the Victorian era, Fowles muses on that society, and follows his character’s journey with seeming unknowing interest.

 

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

I was initially wary of a story of China told by an American in the 1930s, but that fear was unfounded. Chinese literature, historically, rarely if ever dealt with the farming class, and Buck presents her family with empathy and brisk, solid story-telling.

 

The Annotated Archy and Mehitabel by Don Marquis

A selection of newspaper columns between 1916 and 1922 by Marquis built on the premise of a cockroach named archy (lowercase intentional), inhabited by a reincarnated poet, who jumped on the typewriter keys to produce free verse poetry. Mehitabel, whose tribulations are related by archy, was an unrepentant alley cat, another reincarnate, who was once Cleopatra. Occasionally amusing, and as the years went on, philosophic.

 

Graphic Novels

 

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

The follow-up to Allie Brosh’s 'Hyperbole and a Half', this is far, far darker. That said, it is still a captivating read, but more of a personal journey than the previous book, which was a gallimaufry of amusing and poignant anecdotes with no real sense of order.

 

Top 5

Averno

The French Lieutenant’s Woman

Blindness

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The Discoveries

 

Honorable Mentions

Flights

Native Son

The Book of Disquiet

The Popol Vuh

Solutions and Other Problems

Black American Musicians

Some highlights, before we begin

A weird thought entered my head: How many African-American musicians do I have in my music collection? This was quickly followed by: Are there enough to listen to one a day, for a year, without repeats?

June is African-American Music month, but that’s only 30 days. I wondered if I could celebrate an African-American artist or band each day for a whole year. Of course, that means 365 musicians would be needed.

So began the process. Some were obvious, no problem – Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry. But then I began running into difficulties. Jimi Hendrix is black, but the Jimi Hendrix Experience is mostly white. I decided, after initially coming up shy, to allow mixed acts on the list: Sly and the Family Stone, Booker T and the MGs, Parliament, etc. I was even more lenient with jazz artists, since for some older recordings it’s hard to know who was even on the session. That said, classical artists (such as opera singers Leontyne Price and Shirley Verrett) were still omitted.

Biographies were carefully combed – they had to be American, after all, and that process weeded out some more. (Who knew Oscar Peterson was a Canadian?)

I gathered up all of the black American artists whom I had albums of their work and it totaled around 160. Not enough. So I then went and looked at my singles – the one-hit wonders and artists who I only liked a single song of theirs. That brought me up to around 230. Still not enough. Finally, I delved into my compilations and anthologies, four of which proved essential: The Anthology of American Folk Music, From Spirituals to Swing, The Doo Wop Box, and Rhapsodies in Black: Music and Words from the Harlem Renaissance. These provided scads of little-known artists whom I could pad out my list with. 

These, combined with artists from musicals (such as Leslie Odom Jr. and Lena Horne) finally brought me to an exact 365*.

Here, then is that insane list, comprised of personal favorites, in alphabetical order. (Note: Common epithets such as ‘Fats’, ‘Little’ and ‘Blind’ are treated as first names, while unique epithets such as ‘Howlin’, ‘Muddy’, and ‘Professor’ are listed as artist names.) 

If I wanted to, I now know, I could listen to one black American artist each day of the year.

* I was actually two shy, but after buying two songs on iTunes, I was all set.

Cannonball Adderley – Love For Sale

The Ad-Libs – The Boy from New York City

Air – Paille Street

Albert Ammons – Boogie Woogie (Live)

Marian Anderson – Go Down Moses

Louis Armstrong – St. James Infirmary Blues

Eric B. and Rakim – I Ain’t No Joke

Baby Huey – Hard Times

Erykah Badu – Cleva

Lavern Baker – Jim Dandy

Hank Ballard – Work with Me Annie

Afrika Bambaataa – Planet Rock

Band of Gypsys – Who Knows

Count Basie – One O’clock Jump

Jon Batiste – Humanism Redux

Andrew and Jim Baxter – Georgia Stomp

Sidney Bechet – Sweetie Dear

Gladys Bentley – Worried Blues

Chuck Berry – Maybellene

Beyonce – Crazy in Love

Blackstar – Re: Definition

Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle – I’m Just Wild About Harry

Art Blakey – Thunder Drum Suite

Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland – Two Steps from the Blues

Mary J. Blige – I’m Going Down

Boney M. – Rasputin

James Booker – On the Sunny Side of the Street (Live)

Booker T and the MGs – Green Onions

Perry Bradford – Lucy Long

Tiny Bradshaw – She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain

Jackie Brenston – Rocket 88

Big Bill Broonzy – Done Got Wise (Live)

Cleo Brown – Lookie, Lookie Here Comes Cookie

Clifford Brown – Blues Walk

James Brown – Think (Live)

Oscar Brown Jr. – Afro Blue

Richard Rabbit Brown – James Alley Blues

Ruth Brown – 5-10-15 Hours

Buck and Bubbles – Lady Be Good

Buckwheat Zydeco – Ya Ya

Solomon Burke – None of Us Are Free

RL Burnside – Hard Time Killing Floor Blues

Benny Carter – Symphony in Riffs

The Cadillacs – Speedoo

Cab Calloway – Minnie the Moocher

James Carr – Dark Side of the Street

The Chantels – Maybe

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car

Ray Charles – What’d I Say

Chubby Checker – The Twist

Clifton Chenier – Allons A Grand Coteau

The Chocolate Dandies – Dee Blues

The Chords – Sh-Boom

Charlie Christian – Solo Flight

Sonny Clark – Blue Minor

The Coasters – Yakety Yak

Codona – Hey Da Ba Doom

Cozy Cole – Topsy Pt. II

Nat King Cole – Just You Just Me

Ornette Coleman – Congeniality

John Coltrane – Acknowledgement

Arthur Conley – Sweet Soul Music

The Contours – Do You Love Me

Sam Cooke – Wonderful World

Coolio – Gangsta’s Paradise

David ‘Baby’ Cortez – The Happy Organ

Ida Cox – ‘Fore Day Creep (Live)

The Crests – 16 Candles

Crash Crew – On the Radio

The Crows – Gee

The Crystals – He’s a Rebel

Tadd Dameron and Fats Navarro – The Chase

The Danleers – One Summer Night

Miles Davis – Freddie Freeloader

De La Soul – Me, Myself and I

The Dells – Oh What a Night

Bo Diddley – Who Do You Love

Digital Underground – The Humpty Dance

Dixie Hummingbirds – Amazing Grace

Snoop Dogg – Gin and Juice

Eric Dolphy – Gazzelloni

Fats Domino – Ain’t That a Shame

Carl Douglas – Kung Fu Fighting

Dr. Dre – Let Me Ride

The Drifters – Up on the Roof

Johnny Dunn – Ham and Eggs

Earth, Wind and Fire – Shining Star

The Edsels – Rama Lama Ding Dong

The El Dorados – At My Front Door

Duke Ellington – Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

Missy Elliott – We Run This

EPMD – Strictly Business

Sleepy John Estes and Yank Rachell – Expressman Blues

The Exciters – Tell Him

The Fairfield Four – Lonesome Valley

The Fiestas – So Fine

Fishbone – Freddie’s Dead

Fisk Jubilee Singers – Swing Low Sweet Chariot

Ella Fitzgerald – I’ve Got You Under My Skin

The Five Keys – The Glory of Love

The Five Satins – In the Still of the Nite

5 Spirits of Rhythm – I Got Rhythm

Roberta Flack – Killing Me Softly with His Song

The Flamingoes – I Only Have Eyes for You

The Four Tops – Baby I Need Your Loving

Aretha Franklin – Respect

Bobby Freeman – Do You Want to Dance

Fugees – Zealots

Funkadelic – Who Says a Funk Band Can’t Play Rock?

Funky 4+1 – That’s the Joint

JM Gates – Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting

Marvin Gaye – Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wannna Holler)

The Genies – Who’s That Knocking

Geto Boys – Mind Playing Tricks on Me

Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive

Golden Gate Quartet – Noah

Dizzy Gillespie – Manteca Theme

Renee Elise Goldsberry – Satisfied

Dexter Gordon – Cheese Cake

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five – The Message

Dobie Gray – Drift Away

Al Green – Love and Happiness

Cee Lo Green – Fuck You

Buddy Guy – Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues

The Halos – Nag

Lionel Hampton – Ring Dem Bells

Herbie Hancock – Chameleon

WC Handy – St. Louis Blues

The Harptones – A Sunday Kind of Love

Eddie Harris and Les McCann – Compared to What

Thurston Harris – Little Bitty Pretty One

Johnny Hartman – They Say Love is Wonderful

Coleman Hawkins – Body and Soul

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – I Put a Spell on You

Ted Hawkins – Big Things

Isaac Hayes – Shaft

Bobby Hebb – Sunny

Fletcher Henderson – Copenhagen

Joe Henderson – Black Narcissus

Rosa Henderson – Hard Hearted Hannah

Andrew Hill – Dedication

Lauryn Hill – Doo Wop (That Thing)

Teddy Hill – Lookie, Lookie Here Comes Cookie

Billie Holiday – Strange Fruit

John Lee Hooker – Boom, Boom

Claude Hopkins – Minor Mania

Lightnin’ Hopkins – Come Go with Me

Lena Horne – Stormy Weather

Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You

Howlin’ Wolf – Smokestack Lightnin’

Freddie Hubbard – Red Clay

Helen Humes – Blues with Helen (Live)

Alberta Hunter – Sugar

Mississippi John Hurt – Frankie

Bobby Hutcherson – Little B’s Poem

Hasaan ibn Ali – Off My Back Jack

Little Anthony and the Imperials – Tears on My Pillow

The Impressions – People Get Ready

The Ink Spots – If I Didn’t Care

The Isley Brothers – Shout

The Jacks – Why Don’t You Write Me

Jackson 5 – ABC

Christopher Jackson – One Last Time

Janet Jackson – Empty

Jim Jackson – Old Dog Blue

Mahalia Jackson – Move on Up a Little Higher

Michael Jackson – Billie Jean

Ahmad Jamal – Woody ‘n You

Elmore James – Dust My Broom

Etta James – At Last

Rick James – Super Freak

Keith Jarrett – Part II C (Live)

Jay Z – 99 Problems

Wyclef Jean – Perfect Gentleman

Blind Lemon Jefferson – See That My Grave’s Kept Clean

The Jesters – The Wind

The Jewels – Hearts of Stone

The Jive Five – My True Story

Little Willie John – Fever

Blind Willie Johnson – Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground

James P. Johnson – St. Louis Blues

Jimmy Johnson – Fare Thee Honey Blues

Lonnie Johnson – Playing with the Strings

Margaret Johnson – Dead Drunk Blues

Robert Johnson – Hellhound on My Trail

Scott Joplin – Maple Leaf Rag

Louis Jordan – Saturday Night Fish Fry

Jurassic Five – Quality Control

Kansas City Six – Allez-oop (Live)

Kevie Kev – All Night Long (Waterbed)

Alicia Keys – Fallin’

Junior Kimbrough – Work Me Baby

Albert King – Born Under a Bad Sign

BB King – You Upset Me Babe (Live)

Ben E. King – Stand By Me

Chris Thomas King – Hard Time Killing Floor Blues

Gladys Knight – My Imagination

Kool and the Gang – Celebrate

Kendrick Lamar – Loyalty

Leadbelly – In the Pines

Furry Lewis – Kassie Jones Parts 1 and 2

Meade Lux Lewis – Honky Tonk Train Blues (Live)

Ted Lewis – Royal Garden Blues

Fred Longshaw – Chili Pepper

Darlene Love – A Fine, Fine Boy

Jimmie Lunceford – Swingin’ Uptown

Frankie Lymon – Why Do Fools Fall in Love

The Marcels – Blue Moon

The Marvelows – I Do

Moses Mason – John the Baptist

Johnny Mathis – My Funny Valentine

Curtis Mayfield – Superfly

Makaya McCraven – Black Lion

McKinney’s Cotton Pickers – Wherever There’s a Will Baby

Clyde McPhatter – A Lover’s Question

Blind Willie McTell – Statesboro Blues

The Mean Machine – Disco Dream

The Meters – Look-Ka Py Py

Charles Mingus – Boogie Stop Shuffle

Mitchell’s Christian Singers – What More Can Jesus Do (Live)

Modern Jazz Quartet – Bluesology (Live)

Janelle Monae – Dance Apocalyptic

Thelonious Monk – Bemsha Swing

The Monotones – Book of Love

Wes Montgomery – Four on Six

The Moonglows – Sincerely

Jason Moran – Ringing My Phone (Straight Outta Istanbul)

Lee Morgan – Hocus-Pocus

Thomas Morris – Lazy Drag

Jelly Roll Morton – Black Bottom Stomp

Muddy Waters – Hoochie Coochie Man

Nas – NY State of Mind

Oliver Nelson – Hoe Down

Notorious BIG – Juicy

The Nutmegs – Story Untold

NWA – Express Yourself

Odetta – Santy Anno

Leslie Odom Jr. – Wait for It

The O’Jays – Love Train

King Oliver – Dipper Mouth Blues

The Orioles – It’s Too Soon to Know

Shuggie Otis – Strawberry Letter 23

Outkast – B.O.B.

Charlie Parker – Just Friends

Parliament – P. Funk

The Pastels – Been So Long

Charley Patton (‘Masked Marvel’) – Mississippi Boweavil

The Penguins – Earth Angel

Washington Philips – Paul and Silas in Jail

Wilson Pickett – In the Midnight Hour

The Platters – Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Bud Powell – Ornithology

Billy Preston – That’s the Way God Planned It (Live)

Lloyd Price – Stagger Lee

Prince – When Doves Cry

Professor Longhair – Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Public Enemy – Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos

Sun Ra – Enlightenment

The Rainbows – Mary Lee

Ma Rainey – See See Rider Blues

Ramblin’ Thomas – Poor Boy Blues

The Ravens – Count Every Star

Otis Redding – Dock of the Bay

Jimmy Reed – Big Boss Man

Leo Reisman – Happy as the Day is Long

Little Richard – Long Tall Sally

Max Roach – Freedom Day

Paul Robeson – Deep River

Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson – My My Ain’t That Somethin’

Smokey Robinson – Tracks of My Tears

Sonny Rollins – St. Thomas

The Ronettes – Be My Baby

Run DMC – Walk This Way

Luis Russell – Panama

Sam and Dave – Soul Man

Santigold – LES Artistes

Savoy Bearcats – Sengalese Stomp

Cecil Scott – Bright Boy Blues

Jill Scott – A Long Walk

Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The Sequence – Funk You Up

Tupac Shakur – California Love

Shep and the Limelites – Daddy’s Home

The Shields – You Cheated

The Shirelles – Mama Said

Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil

The Silhouettes – Get a Job

Horace Silver – Song for My Father

Nina Simone – Mississippi Goddam

Percy Sledge – When a Man Loves a Woman

Memphis Slim – Everyday I Have the Blues

Slum Village – Players

Sly and the Family Stone – Everyday People

Bessie Smith – Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out

Huey ‘Piano’ Smith – Rockin’ Pneumonia

Jimmy Smith – Back at the Chicken Shack

Mamie Smith – Sweet Man o’ Mine

Pinetop Smith – Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie

Trixie Smith – Railroad Blues

Willie ‘Lion’ Smith – Echoes of Spring

Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans – The Bells of St. Mary’s

Esperanza Spalding – Black Gold

The Spaniels – Goodnite Sweetheart Goodnite

The Staple Singers – I’ll Take You There

Edwin Starr – War

Barret Strong – Money

The Students – I’m So Young

Sugarhill Gang – Rapper’s Delight

Donna Summer – I Feel Love

The Supremes – You Keep Me Hangin’ On

Wilbur Sweatman – Indianola

Taj Mahal – The Cuckoo

Art Tatum – Tea for Two

The Temptations – Get Ready

Sonny Terry – Mountain Blues (Live)

Sister Rosetta Tharpe – Rock Me (Live)

Henry Thomas – Old Country Stomp

Big Mama Thornton – Hound Dog

The Treacherous Three – Whip It

A Tribe Called Quest – Vibes and Stuff

The Turbans – When You Dance

Big Joe Turner – Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Ike and Tina Turner – Proud Mary

McCoy Tyner – Passion Dance

The Valentines – Lily Maebelle

The Vandellas – Jimmy Mack

Sarah Vaughan – Misty

The Velvets – I

Veronica – Why Don’t They Let Us Fall in Love

The Videos – Trickle, Trickle

Junior Walker – Shotgun

Fats Waller – Ain’t Misbehavin’

Little Walter – My Babe

William Warfield – Old Man River

Dionne Warwick – Walk on By

Dinah Washington – All of Me

Ethel Waters – There’ll Be Some Changes Made

Chick Webb – Let’s Get Together

Junior Wells – Good Morning Little School Girl

Mary Wells – My Guy

Kanye West – Lost in the World

West Street Mob – Break Dance - Electric Boogie

Randy Weston – African Village Bedford Stuyvesant 2

Barry White – You’re the First, the Last, My Everything

Georgia White – Honey Dipper Blues

Josh White – Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed

Bert Williams – Brother Low Down

Big Joe Williams – Baby Please Don’t Go

Clarence Williams – My Handy Man

Fess Williams – Do Shuffle

Joe Williams – All Right, Okay, You Win

Larry Williams – Boney Moronie

Mary Lou Williams – Aries

Maurice Williams – Stay

Tony Williams – Vashkar

Cassandra Wilson – I Can’t Stand the Rain

Jackie Wilson – Higher and Higher

Teddy Wilson – It Never Dawned on Me

Bill Withers – Lean on Me

Bobby Womack – Looking for a Love

Stevie Wonder – Superstition

The Wrens – Come Back My Love

Wu-Tang Clan – CREAM

Larry Young – Zoltan

Lester Young – Way Down Yonder in New Orleans

Favorite Television Shows

It has been quite some time since I updated this list of favorites, and my tastes have adapted and changed. For example, Fawlty Towers, which I used to adore, I now find nearly unwatchable. And, of course, I’ve seen all sorts of new shows. I'm also not including shows that are currently ongoing (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for example). That said, here are my newest twenty favorite shows, roughly ranked, in order both of regular series and miniseries:

First-Tier Shows:

 

Connections

Still one of the best things ever put on television. Increasingly dated, of course, but the ideas and the history lessons still hold, as do the important messages about humanity, our past, and our future. James Burke guides the viewer through all the twists and turns that led to the late 20^th century, in all of its staggering, and dangerous, complexity.

 

Planet Earth / Blue Planet

David Attenborough is a treasure, and these two series, and their follow-ups, make for one of the most spectacular documentary feats. Sprawling in scope, the show’s global reach can sometimes still fall into the standard patterns of animal behavior, which can feel repetitive. Overall, though, the breathtaking vistas, astonishing diversity, and peculiar habits make for endlessly entertaining viewing.

 

Firefly

I have a thing for short shows – the longer they last, the more likely you’re going to be disappointed. Arcs become confused, threads get lost, character development stalls. This abruptly-canceled sci-fi western therefore avoids all that, by being only one season (with a movie that finishes the story). Joss Whedon was fresh off of Buffy when he made this. and we all learned who Alan Tudyk was.

 

Avatar: The Last Airbender

One of the finest pieces of character development and storytelling. The show produced three seasons of beautiful world-building, drama, and comedy. Avatar is epic in scope, without feeling overwhelming, and full of heart. It was followed by The Legend of Korra, which has its moments, but doesn’t live up to the original series.

 

The West Wing

Aaron Sorkin’s work was never better (The Newsroom was somewhat close, though). An incredible ensemble cast navigates amazing dialogue and marvelously-crafted plots. After four seasons the show wobbled for a bit, especially in a rough patch through the end of the fifth and start of the sixth season. That said, the show ended so strongly, with Jimmy Smitts and Alan Alda duking it out for President, it managed to redeem itself.

 

Coupling (UK)

This turn-of-the-millennium BBC comedy allowed Steven Moffat to stretch his writing talents in top-notch comedy. The episodes are still laugh-out-loud funny twenty years on, which is always the mark of a top-tier sitcom, in my opinion. Many of the cast have gone on to more visible and memorable roles, and Moffat went on to make Sherlock and Dr. Who.

 

The Prisoner

A show that was way ahead of its time. Intellectually more on par with programs decades later (like Lost) The Prisoner combined mystery, wit, and science fiction. Patrick McGoohan subverted the Cold War spy tropes of the day and delved into uncharted psychological territory for television. In the final few episodes, it launched into a whole new realm, far beyond anything television had tackled up to that point.

 

BoJack Horseman

Over six series this show provides a rollercoaster of very challenging and sometimes hilarious viewing. As the themes delve ever-darker, and the story becomes all the more uncomfortable we have to reckon over, and over, with the morality and actions of our ‘protagonist’. It isn’t always easy, but the majority of the series is great television.

 

Daria

A flawed masterpiece, Daria takes some time to warm-up. A high-school comedy, Daria is the unpopular girl who is different because she’s smart and bored, and her best friend Jane is unpopular because she’s a legitimate artist - who is also bored. They have a non-clichéd relationship, which was fairly rare for the time, surrounded by characters who you may find all-too-familiar…

 

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage

Unlike Connections, Cosmos really is increasingly hampered by its age. Carl Sagan provided some needed updates, around a decade later, but much has changed since those updates in the early 1990s. The fundamentals remain excellent, however, and the Tyson reboot, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, is also a nice series, and worth viewing.

 

Second-Tier Shows

 

These are great shows. They are worth your time. But… there are consistency issues.

 

Clone High

A nice single-series show. As time goes on, the show gets increasingly dated, with early 2000s pop culture references and cameos making it more difficult to relate to. Still, the amusing high school comedy with the premise of famous clones from history all trying to work out their problems and love lives together remains delightful.

 

The Twilight Zone

The original series with Rod Serling is full of amazing episodes. But, to be honest, the majority of the episodes we’ve forgotten - most aren’t memorable at all. There were 156 episodes – and about 30 really good ones (The Obsolete Man, The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, The Invaders). Those standouts deserve a slot on this list, but the show as a whole is second-tier.

 

Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Original)

As Joel or Mike critiqued movies with their robot pals, they popularized the riffing that we now take for granted. The early episodes with Joel had better filler material (Dr. Forester) but the later episodes with Mike (whose filler was just awful) had better comedy. Some of MST3K’s movies are real treasures (The Final Sacrifice, Space Mutiny)… but so many aren’t that it remains second-tier.

 

Black Mirror

I'm including this because, even though on-going, it is an anthology series. Charlie Brooker’s dystopian take on the early 21^st century has some of the finest writing in recent times. The first two seasons, of three episodes each, were excellent, including the Christmas special. The fourth season, had three nice episodes, out of six. I’ve not seen the more recent work, but hear nice/mixed things...

 

Miniseries:

 

Band of Brothers

An incomparable historical drama, detailing America’s first paratroopers as they serve through the entirety of the American engagement in Europe in World War II. Having personally felt underwhelmed by Saving Private Ryan, this takes the Spielberg/Hanks vision and gives it the breathing room it needed, chronicling the lead-up to D-Day all the way through the end of the War.

 

Brideshead Revisited

The story of Charles and Sebastian…and Julia. A beautiful work of nostalgia and memory, Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews provide the leads, with an amazing supporting cast that includes John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier. The adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's roman a clef tackles themes from the transition to adulthood, exploring one's moral identity, and abandoning oneself to love.

 

The Singing Detective

A work which does ‘meta’ better than any other I know. Complex narrative and ideas don’t cloud an otherwise enjoyable story, however, but elevate it. Michael Gambon is a writer afflicted by two diseases, one psychological and one physical. The initially bed-ridden journey to recovery makes him confront himself and us, the viewers.

 

John Adams

Another great historical drama. Against the backdrop of the early history of America, Giamatti portrays Adams superlatively, and is surrounded by a wonderful cast of familiar faces. Covering the period from the dawn of the Revolution to Adams’ death as a remarkably old man, it deservedly ended up winning all sorts of awards.

 

Dekalog

Kieslowski’s great ten-part work has each episode focus on a different commandment. Poland in the 1980s was just starting to thaw, and the series portrays a stark Cold War desolation. Moving portrayals and clever adaptations of the Old Testament values to modern times make for an unforgettable series that still resonates over thirty years later.

 

Watchmen

I loved this, but I’m putting it a bit lower for two reasons. One, it just came out, and sometimes ardor cools. Second, I have the background of having read the book (which the story builds on) and I’m not sure it would make as much sense to someone who hadn’t read the graphic novel. The sci-fi mystery is set in Tulsa in 2019, and feels like the ultimate miniseries for our times.