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Using the "mad genius" to sell clothing, sheet music, dolls, and ...erasers?
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
Like Don Quixote, I often find myself smashing against windmills--especially the big, spinning illusion that great creativity requires great craziness. That's why I wrote The Insanity Hoax: Exposing the Myth of the Mad Genius (Shrinktunes Media). Published in 2012, it remains the only book that explains how this fiction began with a misunderstanding of Plato, gathered ...
Into the Shoulds - Sondheim and Freud
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
Inspired by the stage version of “Into the Woods," this article provides an unusual psychological spin on the 2014 film. Whether or not we agree with him, Freud was a genius. His cosmology is so compelling that it continues to pervade Western culture; nearly a century after he first developed it, his symbolic imagery ...
Playing it Forward: The Boys at the Blue Note
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
It seemed to happen overnight. One minute it was all video games, with the boys totally immersed in furious thumbwork. They'd sit together for hours on end, staring at a busy screen, manipulating cartoon adversaries to kill each other in great bursts of color and noise. There was considerable musical talent among them, and assorted lessons ...
The Mingus Excerpt
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
“The Mingus Excerpt" shows a sweet side of Charles Mingus that few people saw or could imagine. After all, his nickname was “The Angry Man of Jazz," and most biographical material supports that designation in one way or other. But for all his bluster and bombast, there was also generosity and kindness. This story ...
Fred Hersch's "My Coma Dreams" World Premiere
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
There's much to say about the extraordinary My Coma Dreams, the new multimedia piece that describes the medically induced coma experienced by pianist/composer Fred Hersch in 2008. But three days after its world premiere at Montclair State University's Kasser Theater, I'm still looking for the right words to describe it. It seems that my usual critic's ...
The Continuing Adventures of the Mad Musician and the Bipolar Genius
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
For those interested in the continued rumors about bipolar geniuses and mad musicians, here's the latest installment of my campaign against those popular myths. This article appeared in the May/June issue of The National Psychologist, the 19 year-old newspaper for independent psychology practitioners that prints what's really going on in the trenches, as opposed ...
Gene Lees, 1928-2010: Someone Who Lit Up My Life
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
On April 23, 2010 we all lost Gene Lees, the incomparable jazz writer, historian, and lyricist. I also lost an irreplaceable mentor and friend. Unlike the great pianist Eddie Higgins--who died criminally unsung in 2009--Gene was granted a New York Times obituary. Published on April 27, it was written by Peter Keepnews, who attributes ...
The Definitive Monk Bio: So, Was He Crazy, or What?
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, by Robin D. G. Kelley, was published in the fall of 2009. It arrived surrounded by buzz that, since the author had unprecedented access to the Monk family, he could finally answer those lingering questions about his “mental illness"--as in, was Thelonious schizophrenic, bipolar, ...
Jeff Hamilton: Sound Painter
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
If Jeff Hamilton isn't the world's greatest living drummer, he's on the short list for coronation. For the past five years, he's been in Modern Drummer's top five (#1 in 2004 and 2006), and was #4 in the most recent Jazz Times readers' poll. Whether you think such polls reflect true quality or just recent visibility, ...
Fred Hersch: Celebrating Life in a Musical "Leaves of Grass"
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
I attended the sold-out March 11, 2005 performance of Fred Hersch's (see April 2005 interview) Leaves of Grass at Zankel Hall, a relatively new and wondrous performance space in the belly of Carnegie Hall. This Palmetto CD has already been reviewed by two AAJ colleagues, and since I largely agree, I'll leave the parsing of the ...
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