Posted by David Apolloni on February 09, 2001 at 21:21:22:
In Reply to: Re:I Wanna See Your Videography posted by Arnett Howard on February 09, 2001 at 11:56:07:
I threw that "videographer" bit in as a joke, partly because my point stands without it, partly because I suspect that my credentials in this area are probably just as good as yours. I have done some historical work in jazz--see my article on Thelma Terry, for example, at Scott Alexander's website (www.redhotjazz.com).Insofar as I solved a seventy year old mystery of what happened to a significant jazz musician--something not even Brian Rust could do, I probably have earned it(or at least I will have earned it when the family and I get together). Leslie can vouch that she and I have talked about an article in the MR. .
You may quibble if you want, but that's up to you.
It is not incumbent upon me to prove anything--you are the one who appeared upon this bulletin board fists swinging, proclaiming Burns a virtual messiah of jazz when the evidence is heavily to the contrary.
I am a historian by profession, not a jazz historian, but a historian of philosophy--I work with ancient texts, so I have to know something about historiography. I also have real publications in real juried journals (if you know what that means).
May I add that a published book really doesn't mean a lot by itself. There are all sorts of bad books that are published all the time, even by major academic presses; some people pay to get their drivel published, and presses take their money in full knowledge that no intelligent person will read it.
I haven't seen your work, but if the attitudes you express are indicative of your historical competence, I'm sorry to say, I'm not very impressed. But, I'm afraid, if you belong to Mr. Burns' school of historical film-making, you might have a bright future ahead of you on PBS. Good luck!
Now I have spent far too much time trying to answer you sympathetically. "Solum stultus stulto argumentum facet."