Sunday Session: December 24, 2017

Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have shown up in one of StLJN's inboxes over the past week:

* Chicago Jazz Pianist Willie Pickens Is Remembered For Performing And Teaching (NPR)
* Spotify Executives Are Earning Seven-Figure Salaries, Tax Returns Show (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Saxophonist Ralph Carney Dead at 61 (Pitchfork.com)
* Music and technology: Blurred lines (ITProPortal.com)
* After Losing Ground In the Streaming Era, Rock Charts Its Comeback (Billboard)
* Disney, Netflix and the Squeezed Middle: The Real Story Behind Net Neutrality (Music Industry Blog)
* Irvin Mayfield, New Orleans Jazz Pillar, Indicted For Laundering Library Funds (NPR)
* Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee to Head New Jazz Caucus, Presents New Preservation Bill (Billboard)
* Kevin Mahogany, Jazz Singer with a Big Sound and a Soulful Style, Has Died at 59 (WBGO)
* The Power of the People: Kamasi Washington on artistic freedom and intellectual expansion (TheKey.xpn.org)
* Bassist and Singer-Songwriter Thundercat Talks About 'Drunk,' and A Year in the Spotlight (WBGO)
* New instrument composes music based on human body's biorhythms (CBC.ca)
* 50 Out of the Top 50 SoundCloud Artists are Rappers (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Donald Fagen Discusses the Loss of Walter Becker and Steely Dan's Future (Rolling Stone)
* Adam Rogers: Rhythm, Guitar (Jazz Times)
* How British Jazz Won The Underground In 2017 (TrenchTrenchTrench.com)
* Plundering dead artists for Christmas sales is more than creepy (TheConversation.org)
* Mississippi Goddam: Dr. Nina Simone Remembered (FashionUnfiltered.com)
* Sunny Murray 1936–2017: Eye Of The Storm (The Wire)
* A Look Back At 4 Jazz Luminaries Who Died In 2017 (NPR)
* YouTube, Music Labels End Standoff, Move Toward Paid Service (Bloomberg.com)
* Call to rename Williamsburg Bridge after saxophonist Sonny Rollins gains steam (Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
* Why hip-hop, once ostracized in clubs, is ruling the festival circuit (Los Angeles Times)
* 'Jazz Night In America' Remembers Artists We Lost In 2017 (NPR)
* Is Secretive Virtual Reality Startup Magic Leap Dreaming Up the Future of Music? (Pitchfork.com)
* How the U.S. Used Jazz as a Cold War Secret Weapon (Time)
* RIP, Roswell Rudd (Ottawa Citizen)
* Roswell Rudd Dies at 82 - Trombonist and composer bridged gap between early jazz and the avant-garde (Jazz Times)
* I’m Dreaming Of A Blue Christmas (London Jazz Collector)
* Analog For The People: Synth Master Tatsuya Takahashi On Engineering Fun (NPR)
* ‘Santa Baby’ composer Phil Springer, 91, still can't figure out why his sexy Christmas song endures (Los Angeles Times)