For The Love Of Harry

BIG NEWS: Fans have been pining for a full-length biography of Harry Nilsson for years, while numerous writers, followers and self-appointed Nilsson authorities have been attempting, promising, threatening to get Harry's story into print for decades. Well… mark your calendars for July, 2013, for the release of Nilsson - The Life Of A Singer-Songwriter, by author Alyn Shipton - jazz critic for The Times of London and author of celebrated books on Dizzy Gillespie, Cab Calloway, Ian Carr, Bud Powell, Fats Waller and George Shearing, among others. Nilsson's Estate has granted Shipton "exclusive access" to Harry's papers, as well as Nilsson's own unfinished autobiography for this book, which will feature interviews with friends, family and associates. We asked Shipton how a jazz specialist got sidetracked into Nilsson's pop universe, and learned that it began, in part, via a BBC radio documentary the author put together on Nilsson producer, Richard Perry. Shipton elaborated on his piqued interest and the upcoming book: "Although I'm normally a jazz writer, I've tackled all kinds of musical subjects in print and on BBC Radio. So as I got going on this book, I settled happily back into the world of 60s and 70s pop music, the sounds with which I grew up. And then one day I was listening to the bass playing on "Sleep Late My Lady Friend." Something about it seemed familiar - so when I got into the RCA archives and looked in detail at the session sheets for Pandemonium Shadow Show, I found it was none other than the doyen of jazz musicians Ray Brown. And it was also the jazz world that put me in touch with Mike McNaught, who'd been a pianist at Ronnie Scott's before he arranged the music for the second UK stage production of The Point and all the charts for Knnillssonn. He was able to give me a huge amount of new information about that album, including the full personnel of all the musicians on it, which I think I will be publishing for the first time." Nilsson - The Life Of A Singer-Songwriter (Oxford University Press) will be shipping in July, but is available now for pre-order from Amazon (where you can lock in a low price guarantee). We'll try to get you more information about the book's contents in the coming months.

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According to noted Nilsson authority Curtis Armstrong, the purported 17CD box set of Nilsson albums and rarities has been scrapped. "I just heard two weeks ago the whole project has been canceled," Armstrong said. "Not happening. Who's buying CDs?," Armstrong said, by way of explanation. Thanks to Chevy W for the tip.

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HOT OFF THE PRESS: From the February 28, 1897 Los Angeles Times, comes this advertisement for "Nilsson's Aerial Ballet (The Original Flying Ballet)"... only about 70 years before Harry's 1968 album, Aerial Ballet. Just click the image for a pop up enlargement of this long lost newspaper ad/curio.

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See more on the sessions, HERE.

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The Point! (VINYL 2012)

Skidoo (2011 DVD) ...................................... VINYL
Nilsson Schmilsson (2011)
A Little Touch Of Schmilsson In The Night (2011) ...................................... Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?) (2010 DVD) ...................................... Spotlight On Nilsson (2010) ...................................... Nilsson By Tipton (2010) ...................................... Best Of Harry Nilsson (2009) ......................................

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Enter The Wormhole... ........................................ .