Book Review : The Eclectic World of Tom Schnabel

Stolen Moments: Conversations With Contemporary Musicians by Tom Schnabel (Acrobat Books, P.O. Box 480820, Los Angeles 90048: $13.95, 221 pages)

Whenever I hear the sound of Tom Schnabel’s voice on my car radio, I know two things with certainty.

First, I know that I’ve lingered too long over espresso at Paris Pastry in Brentwood--Schnabel, music director and “morning man” of KCRW-FM, comes on the air at 9 a.m. every week day with “Morning Becomes Eclectic.”

Second, I know that Schnabel will broadcast music and conversation about music that is simply without competition or comparison in contemporary broadcasting--his choices of music are intriguing, challenging and wildly eclectic; his conversations are cool, cerebral and superbly well-informed. At least half of Schnabel’s genius for good music and good talk is captured in his new book, “Stolen Moments,” an anthology of brief encounters between Schnabel and some three dozen composers, songwriters and performers.

“This book embodies my love of music,” says Schnabel, who has studied and taught literature, but whose real passion is the turntable, the club and the concert hall. “It is about my fascination for the substance and spirit of music, this ethereal and invisible art form that can grab you so powerfully, and make you laugh, dance or cry.”

Transcripts of Interviews

“Stolen Moments” consists of edited transcripts of Schnabel’s brief, pointed interviews with contemporary composers (Philip Glass, John Adams), jazzmen (Mose Allison, Branford Marsalis, John McLaughlin), poets and performance artists (Leonard Cohen, Laurie Anderson, Jonathan Boroofsky), a folk singer (Joan Baez), a diva (Kiri Te Kanawa), a pop singer (Michael Feinstein), a “bandeonista” and master of the Argentine tango (Astor Piazzolla), a motion picture composer (Ryuichi Sakamoto), a 94-year-old “failed wunderkind” (Nicholas Slonimsky), some of the more interesting rockers (Robbie Robertson, Tom Waits, Joe Jackson, David Byrne) and musicians from Asia and Africa: Ravi Shankar, Miriam Makeba, King Sunny Ade, Johnny Clegg.

The best of these conversations will reveal something intimate, something wry or something memorable about the musician and his music. For example, John Adams, composer of “Nixon in China,” recalls that his first orchestral piece was performed at the New Hampshire State Mental Hospital: “Frequently these mental patients went off the wall in the midst of rehearsal,” Adams deadpans, “the music affected them so strongly.”

Laurie Anderson on collaborator William S. Burroughs: “I consider him a kind of very cranky, slightly degenerate Mark Twain-type of guy.”

Leonard Cohen: “I’m grateful to have an audience anywhere.”

Philip Glass (in response to Schnabel’s question: “Are you a Buddhist?”): “I keep reading about that in the paper. I also read that I was born in Chicago, which I was not. I was born in Baltimore.”

Tom Waits on Clifton Chenier and the accordion: “He certainly takes it out way beyond the butcher paper and the white socks and puts it in a real brown bag.”

Wayne Shorter on John Coltrane: “The overall something that he demonstrated to me was like a bombardment of light. In the nightclubs, the talking stopped when he . . . really started to deal on the bandstand.”

Simon Is Missing

Of course, the talking never stops in “Stolen Moments,” and that’s why the book cannot capture the richness of Schnabel’s original broadcasts. I noticed that Schnabel omits, for example, his long and intriguing interview with Paul Simon, which turned out to be an annotated version of his superb “Graceland” album--Simon arrived at Schnabel’s studio with the original tracks of African music that were the inspiration for “Graceland,” and demonstrated how the real stuff was almost literally transcribed for his album. I have the interview on a homemade audiocassette--and I found myself wishing I could hear the voices and especially the music of the other artists who appear in “Stolen Moments.”

But, unhappily, what’s missing from “Stolen Moments” is the music itself. Although Schnabel provides a discerning but highly selective discography, the book does not (and cannot) capture what’s best about Schnabel--his own voice, cool and casual but exquisitely refined, and his similarly exquisite taste in music. I found myself wishing that “Stolen Moments” was available on audiocassette, or at least that the book came with a sound track. But, then, it does--Schnabel is still on the air.