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... brief news ...
Garth Cartwright talks to pianist Brian Jackson about his collaboration with singer Gil Scott-Heron in the 1970s, how he felt betrayed by Scott-Heron when his credits as co-writer were removed, and how he overcame his anger by getting back into music and taking up some of the songs again which he and Scott-Heron had made known in the first place (The Guardian). --- Seth Colter Walls talks to composer and Bang on a Can co-founder David Lang, drummer Denardo Coleman, vocalist and electronics virtuoso Pamela Z about their re-imagining of saxophonist Ornette Coleman's 1959 album "The Shape of Jazz to Come" (New York Times).
John McWhorter argues that "classical music hasn't to be ugly to be good" (New York Times) a statement causing quite a debate on social media about the aesthetic criteria he uses and whether this isn't a discussion from another (the mid-20th) century. --- Gary Kamiya tells the story of The Blackhawk club in San Francisco, that was "leaky, unheated, dimly lit, badly furnished, and reeked of the petrified smoke of a million cigarettes" and yet presented the top acts of jazz between 1949 and 1963, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and many others (San Francisco Chronicle).
Reinhard Köchl talks to German pianist Tim Allhoff about his broad musical interest that makes it hard to limit his activities to one genre, about his latest album "Morla" which he would rather have called just "music" than either jazz or classical, about the basic function of music to emotionally move people, as well as about his other artistic voice as a photographer (Augsburger Allgemeine). --- On the occasion of International Jazz Day Johannes Kunz reflects about jazz as a political music over the years and social systems (Wiener Zeitung). Matthew Allen uses the occasion to examine the "racist origin" of the word "jazz" and reflect about artists who resented the label (The Grio).
Prathyush Parasuraman talks to Indian pianist and singer Louiz Banks about getting into jazz after hearing a recording by Oscar Peterson, about the challenges and complexity of jazz, about improvisation in jazz and in Indian classical music, about working with Indian film music composer RD Burman, as well as about producing around 10,000 jingles for commercials, making him the "jingle king of India" (Firstpost). --- On the occasion of his 85th birthday David Chiu talks to bassist Ron Carter about his long career, about a concert in his honor to be held at Carnegie Hall, about starting out on cello, about his time with Miles Davis in the 1960s and with many other musicians and bands including his own, as well as about always seeing his gigs as a free class (Forbes). Tom Vitale talks to Ron Carter as well, about age having made him slower but not made him refuse gigs, as well as about the Miles Davis band as a laboratory with Miles as "head clinician" (NPR). Marcus J. Moore meets Ron Carter at home in New York, and the bassist talks about his change from cello to double bass, about the first LP under his own name recorded in 1961, about fulfilling a job with Art Farmer before joining Miles Davis, as well as about keeping on searching for the right notes and for an ever-inspiring mood within the band (New York Times).
Michael Toland talks to drummer Andrew Cyrille about his latest duo with saxophonist Billy Harper, about often being labeled an avant-garde musician, about the need for musicians to connect with their audience, as well as about some of the musicians he worked with and some of the musicians he would have liked to work with (Austin Chronicle). --- Ted Gioia writes about an interview from 1935 in which Duke Ellington was unusually frank about George Gershwin and "Porgy and Bess" and relates these remarks to Ellington's own ambition to write an opera. He also looks at rumors that Gershwin tried to collaborate with Ellington but got turned down by the Duke. Only rarely did Ellington play Gershwin songs, Gioia finds, and argues that "the fraught relationship between Ellington and Gershwin was a classic example of the positive influence of rivalries on musical culture" (The Honest Broker).
Thomas Lindemann talks to Ukrainian-German pianist Vadim Neselovskyi about his latest album "Odesa", planned and recorded before the war started, about how the war changes everything for him, including his approach to art, about his own biography, arriving in Germany in 1995 as a Jewish refugee, about feeling at home in both jazz and classical music, about the emotional depth of the blues, as well as about the need for music to serve as a source of hope during wartime (Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung). --- Ben Sisario reports about the new Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and opens a notebook containing original handwritten lyrics used on the Dylan album "Blood on the Tracks" with a reference of Dylan and his friends having listened to John Coltrane (New York Times).
Cormac Larkin talks to guitarist John McLaughlin about arthritis, choosing art over money and working with Miles Davis (The Irish Times). --- Bobbi I. Booker remembers pianist Beryl Booker and talks to journalist Thom Nickels, a good friend of the pianist during her last years (WRTI). --- Ken Daly reports about trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, still in federal prison for mail and wire fraud (Fox8Live). --- Simon Perry finds out that Queen Elizabeth has a passion for jazz, and especially for Duke Ellington (People). --- Herbie Hancock performed his own "Maiden Voyage" at the funeral of former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright (YouTube). --- Ted Gioia remembers Belgian harmonica virtuoso Toots Thielemans on his centennial (The Honest Broker). --- Ray Tawney recalls the career of Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (U Discover Music). --- New York impresario Jack Kleinsinger remembers how he started the concert series "Highlights in Jazz" in 1973 that is still going strong (Nite Life Exchange). --- The Jazz Journalists Association has announced the winners of the JJA Awards (JJA Jazz Awards). --- Elizabeth Blair reports about the 16-year-old trumpeter Skylar Tang who just won an award for a composition that was recorded by Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (NPR). |
