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... brief news ...
Ethan Iverson argues that pianist Andrew Hill "never sounded that much like Thelonious Monk, but, like Monk, he was an alternative to conventionally hip and conventionally virtuosic pianists", then listens to two of Hill's albums, "Shades" from 1986 and "Strange Serenade" from 1980 (Do the Math). --- Canadian saxophonist Jon Gordon talks about being happy for his nomination in the "best solo" category for this year's Juno Awards, but art not really being about competition (CBC).
Roland Spiegel and Ulrich Habersetzer talk to Ukrainian musicians living in Germany and learn how the war in Ukraine has changed their lives as much as their artistic approaches. Singer Ganna Gryniva tells of many concerts she gave to collect money and keep people aware. Singer Viktoria Leléka focuses on help projects more than her music at the moment. Guitarist Igor Osypov remembers that this is not the first time, how in 2014 his family had to leave their home in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine, and he explains that his next album will be called "Motherland" and contain thoughts and memories of his home country. Pianist Leonid Chizhik cried a lot, he explains, thinking of his youth in Kharkiv, a city that is now being destroyed by war. Singer Tasiya tells how her "soul feels permanently sick" and talks about her emotions when she gives benefit concerts with Leonid Chizhik (BR Klassik).
On the occasion of a new production of pianist and composer Anthony Davis' opera "X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X" in Detroit Seth Colter Walls finds it time for a reappraisal of Davis' work in general: He recounts Davis' career as a pianist in 1970s New York, talks to colleagues such as poet (and cousin) Thulani Davis, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and Davis himself who argues that "categories can imprison you, really stifle creativity", and he re-listens to some of Davis' work, his 2019 opera "The Central Park Five", some "chamber dramas", as well as "X" which after Detroit will play in Omaha, New York, Seattle and Chicago (New York Times). Duante Beddingfield attends the Detroit production of Anthony Davis' "X" (Detroit Free Press). --- Ulrich Stock talks to Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler, and he listens to her music that, as he finds, is as close to or as far from jazz as contemporary composed music, and he learns the meaning of the Slovenian word "vrt" = garden (Die Zeit).
Meghna Majumdar talks to Indian pianist Louiz Banks about the joy of the teaching days during his early career and how he has now returned to teaching through an online learning platform (The Hindu). --- Jazz Monroe reports that "Sun Ra House, the three-story Philadelphia building that has been a cradle for Sun Ra’s evolving Arkestra outfit since the 1960s, has been listed as a historic landmark in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places" (Pitchfork).
John Thomason talks to vibraphonist Warren Wolf about what appealed to him about his instrument when he took it up, about playing with the Boston Symphony at age 6, about his latest album "Reincarnation", as well as about the influence of classical music on his art (Boca Magazine). --- Ted Gioia discusses the reality of a musician's life and income, calling to mind that musicians such as composer Philip Glass or singer Sheila Jordan worked music-unrelated day jobs (The Honest Broker).
Geoff Edgers talks to drummer and music executive Nabil Ayers about the strained relationship to his father, vibraphonist Roy Ayers whom, "with the exception of a single lunch 16 years ago", he had rarely spoken with (Washington Post). --- Jordan Potter learns that Pete Townsend, guitarist of rock band The Who, was seriously into avant-garde jazz of the 1960s, specifically "The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One" (Far Out Magazine).
Annie Yanbekian talks to pianist Fred Hersch (France Info). --- Gwen Ansell listens to the latest album by South African bassist Shane Cooper and his band Mabuta, "Finish the Sun" (The Conversation). --- Marc Myers talks to pianist Alan Broadbent (JazzWax).
Scott Threlkeld reports (with photos) about a New Orleans second line honoring the late pianist Ellis Marsalis (New Orleans Times-Picayune). --- Ilse Romahn introduces Czech-German bassist Ivan Habernal who just won the Frankfurt Jazzstipendium (Frankfurt Live). Norbert Krampf attends a concert by Ivan Habernal (FAZ). --- Swedish-German bassist Petter Eldh will receive the SWR Jazzpreis award 2022 (NMZ).
Andrian Kreye hears guitarist Pat Metheny in Munich, Germany and is underwhelmed (Süddeutsche Zeitung). --- Nate Chinen listens to Ella Fitzgerald's "Ella at the Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Song Book", a 1958 live recording to be released in June (WBGO). --- Marc Myers celebrates trombonist Eddie Bert on his centenary (JazzWax).
Arthur's Tavern, a legendary New York Club hosting jazz performances since 1936, has re-opened (Celebrity Access). --- Emily Lang reports about the closing of 55 Bar in New York which had presented live jazz since the 1980s (Gothamist). Gus Saltonstall (The Patch) and Bill Milkowski (Bill Milkowski) report as well. --- Detlef Kinsler talks to author Rainer Erd about his latest book about the Barrelhouse Jazzband (Journal Frankfurt).
Ronald Pohl appreciates Austrian flugelhornist Franz Koglmann on the occasion of his 75th birthday (Der Standard). --- Gereon Hoffmann appreciates pianist Richie Beirach on the occasion of his 75th birthday (Die Rheinpfalz). --- Guido Holze reports about a square in Frankfurt being renamed in honor of Bernhard Sekles who founded the first "Jazzklasse" (jazz class) at a conservatory in 1928 (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).
Marc Myers talks to flutist Andrea Brachfeld (JazzWax). --- Bill Parry reports about a street corner in his former Corona neighborhood named in the honor of late saxophonist Jimmy Heath (QNS). --- Dana Oland talks to saxophonist Curtis Stigers (Idaho Stateman). --- Trumpeter Arturo Sandoval is selling his home in Tarzana, California, for $3.5 million (Los Angeles Daily News). --- Denise Oliver Velez tells the story of Smalls' Paradise in Harlem (Daily Kos). |
