V. as a recurring character

[Alan Westrope]

"Aaron Yeater" <AYEATER at ksgrsch.harvard.edu> wrote:

> >  Sphere plays at a club called the V-Note (alluding to the famous jazz club,
> >  the Five Spot), every chapter has the letter V, etc.... 

> interesting-i originally took this as a reference to the Blue-note 
> (v for violet, or v for 5, as in the 5th spectrum of colored light, 
> Blue)
> (roygBiv)
> then again, this is TRP-it's probably a reference to Both

Blue Note is (was?) one of the preeminent record labels for mainstream
jazz, and I'm sure there have been some jazz clubs with this name as
well.  The term originally referred to the practice of "flatting"
certain notes -- e.g., playing a D-flat against a B-flat major triad,
which contains a D-natural -- to create a "bluesy" and, some would say,
lascivious :-) effect.

The Five Spot was (is?) indeed famous, and Jules Siegel mentions Pynchon
going there to hear "God" play.  "God" was Pynchon's appellation for a
pianist and composer whose given name was Thelonious Sphere Monk.

So yeah, it's a reference to Both, and More too...


Alan Westrope                  <awestrop at nyx10.cs.du.edu>
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