Sunday Session: May 30, 2021

Doug Carn

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* Celebrating Gospel Music After the Civil Rights Era (AAIHS.org)
* My favourite Dylan song – by Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Jones, Judy Collins and more (The Guardian)
* Vanderbilt Heard Libraries are new home to Dizzy Gillespie Collection (Vanderbilt.edu)
* From the Deep South to Chicago, How Blues Music Shaped the Lives of 2 Japanese Men (NBCChicago.com)
* In his final months, Ralph Peterson pushed ‘onward and upward’ to complete ‘Raise Up Off Me’ (Boston Globe)
* You Just Can't Peg Pedrito Martinez And Rubén Blades (NPR)
* Live Music Is Back. America’s Indie Venues Are No Better Off (Rolling Stone)
* Strata-East Records: An Oral History (Jazz Times)
* The History of Reverb (Reverb.com)
* Unique Collection Of Classic 'Sweet Soul' Music From Chicago Finds New Home (WBUR)
* Branford Marsalis' 'Ma Rainey' Score Makes 100-Year-Old Blues Sound Relevant Today (NPR)
* In Conversation: Can’s Irmin Schmidt on the Band’s Legacy and Most Memorable Live Shows (FloodMagazine.com)
* Six Definitive Songs: The ultimate beginner’s guide to Sun Ra (FarOutMagazine.co.uk)
* Best Archie Shepp Tracks: 20 Essentials From The Jazz Firebrand (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* ‘Black music is my superpower. It’s my way of showing love’: the art of Georgia Anne Muldrow (The Guardian)
* Let’s talk about sax, baby: How one of music’s most maligned instruments reconquered pop and indie (The Independent)
* John Coltrane House project in Strawberry Mansion gets state blight remediation funds (PhillyVoice.com)
* Doug Carn’s Big Moment (DownBeat)
* Lost in Space Music: Records That Explore the Outer Limits (Bandcamp.com)

Sunday Session: April 4, 2021

Sons of Kemet

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* TONTO synth creator and Steve Wonder collaborator Malcolm Cecil has died, aged 84 (MusicRadar.com)
* Audio cassettes: despite being "a bit rubbish," sales have doubled during the pandemic — here’s why (Salon.com)
* Hardware Store With a Jazzy Past Prepares to End its 95-Year Run (WTTW)
* Sons of Kemet announces new album – Black to the Future (PlanetRadio.co.uk)
* The lavish Moog Sound Studio kits could bring modular synthesis to the masses: “just add headphones” (MusicRadar.com)
* The 100 Greatest Motown Songs (Rolling Stone)
* Stage on the water marks Montreux Jazz Festival's comeback (Reuters.com)
* Archie Shepp :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview (AquariumDrunkard.com)
* Highway Hi-Fi, the Revolutionary Vinyl-In-Your-Car Tech That Failed (AutoEvolution.com)
* Paul Simon Sells Song Catalog to Sony Music Publishing (Variety)
* How To Walk On Water - A Conversation With William Parker (TheQuietus.com)
* Music From Saturn (ImaginaryWorldPodcast.com)
* Chops: Teaching Adults to Play Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Live Music Is About to Get Its Grand Reopening (Medium.com)
* The story of Mahavishnu Orchestra: Devotional, dizzying, and downright revolutionary (LouderSound.com)
* Virtuosos, Voyagers & Visionaries: Five Artists Pushing Jazz Into The Future (Grammy.com)
* What a Wonderful World — the hit that was almost murdered at birth (Financial Times)
* A Beginner’s Guide to Can’s avant-garde rock (TrebleZine.com)
* Ambrose Akinmusire: The man with the horn (Bay State Banner)
* Symphony of a Thousand Millennia (LiteraryReview.co.uk)
* Inside the Barry Harris Method (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: March 28, 2021

Billie Holiday

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* 10 Albums That Explore the Multisided Record Phenomenon (Discogs.com)
* TikTok is changing the rules of the music industry (TechRadar.com)
* Huey Lewis and the News on His Hearing, the Power of Love, and More (Berklee.edu)
* More Oscar History Made as Two Black Composers Are Nominated for Best Original Score (Variety)
* Islands in the Stream (Prospect.org)
* Smalls Jazz Club, Emblem of Pandemic Perseverance, Shifts Gears Yet Again (WBGO)
* Introducing The Singer’s Mask, a costume designer’s invention for COVID-era performances (St. Louis)
* Why Is Tower Records Coming Back Now, of All Times? (Slate.com)
* A Grandson's Gift — A Spotlight — For His Grandfather's WWII Band (NPR)
* Mixtapes Are the Original Playlists, All Thanks to Lou Ottens (Discogs.com)
* Holiday Film Puts Drug War on Trial (DownBeat)
* The Market for Musical Gear Is Amping Up Like Never Before (Bloomberg.com)
* Pharoah Sanders Takes on Electronic Music (The New Yorker)
* Without Limits or Lyrics: The Human Voice as Instrument (Bandcamp.com)
* Indie labels call for end to streaming ‘payola’ – as IMPALA unveils 10-point plan to reform sector (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Saxophone Legends Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp Are Still Pushing Jazz Forward (Rolling Stone)
* Live album featuring Memphis music icons Alex Chilton and Hi Rhythm coming in May (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Global recorded music revenues grew 7.4% to $21.6bn in 2020, in spite of the pandemic (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Is the guitar solo dead in the 21st century? (Guitar World)
* National Identities in Jazz: Is There A British Jazz? (TDE Promotions)
* [Ahmed] Pays Tribute to a Titan of Islamic Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* Pioneering Bassist and Guitarist Carol Kaye Surveys Her Career in Music, Including Her Time in Jazz Clubs (WBGO)
* Instrument extinction: musical instruments that did not survive into modernity (ThisCityKnows.com)
* As Streaming Takes Over, Music Metadata Is Becoming More Critical for Musicians. How Critical, You Ask? (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* It looks like a saxophone but plays 512 notes — many you’ve never heard before (ExpMag.com)
* Jaco Pastorius, An Introduction To The Jazz Legend (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Anonymous Songwriters Group Calls for Artists to Stop Demanding Royalties for Songs They Didn’t Write (Variety)

Sunday Session: February 28, 2021

Archie Shepp

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* The music world’s awakening to women and Black composers will be game-changing (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Elliot Mazer, Legendary Producer/Engineer, Dead at 79 (Pro Sound News)
* Stevie Wonder explains why he’s moving to Ghana permanently (RollingOut.com)
* Dave Liebman: Placing Free Jazz and the Avant Garde in Musical and Historical Perspective (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Impulse! Records Makes Plans for 60th Anniversary (Jazz Times)
* No drone unturned: tracing the sound that unites ancient and modern (The Guardian)
* Bands rally to help as jobless roadies turn to food banks (The Guardian)
* Wallace Roney: The Man with the Horn (Jazz Times)
* Fay Victor’s Improvisational ‘Survival Toolkit’ (DownBeat)
* “Thankful for Everything”: A Conversation With Sergio Mendes (Tidal.com)
* Will Matthews: Keepin’ Freddie’s Legacy Alive with The Basie Orchestra (JazzGuitarToday.com)
* Exclusive interview: John Williams on composing for film, his concert work – and the Vienna Philharmonic (Classical-Music.com)
* From John Lennon to The Rolling Stones: Andy Warhol’s 20 greatest album covers (FarOutMagazine.co.uk)
* Archie Shepp on jazz, race and freedom: 'Institutions continue to abuse power' (The Guardian)
* Paula West's "Great American politic" (SFJAZZ.org)
* On Being Black: How Gamble & Huff Turned a Dream into Destiny (Billboard)
* The 50 Greatest Philadelphia International Songs (Billboard)
* Take A Look At The Jazz Legacy Of South Central LA (LAist.com)
* Loss and Grief in the Jazz Community (Jazz Times)
* How the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians Shaped Jazz in the Bay Area (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* A Further Exploration of the Many Sun Ra Albums on Bandcamp (Bandcamp.com)
* JazzTimes 10: Best Ghost Performances by Jazz Musicians in Films (Jazz Times)
* Moving Foward: A Conversation with Marcus Miller (Part One) (PostGenre.org)
* Captain Beefheart: a guide to his best albums (LouderSound.com)
* Vijay Iyer And A New Trio Reflect On The 'Uneasy' Past And Present (NPR)
* Influential: Charles McPherson’s Playlist (KPBS)
* Mapping Jah Wobble’s Interdimensional Dub (Bandcamp.com)
* On a Positive Note, Pandemic Piano Sales Are Booming (KQED)
* ‘Record companies have me on a dartboard’: the man making millions buying classic hits (The Guardian)

Sunday Session: October 25, 2020

Keith Jarrett

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest:

* Ronnie's review – fascinating story of the fabled Soho jazz club (TheArtsDesk.com)
* 5 Questions to Tyshawn Sorey (composer, multi-instrumentalist) (ICareIfYouListen.com)
* Met Opera’s musicians haven’t been paid since April. Now, a third have left New York (ClassicFM.com)
* Master Jazz Drummer Rodney Green on Jason Moran, Charlie Haden and Purgatory Perceptions (WhiteHotMagazine.com)
* With COVID-19 stimulus stalled, L.A. clubs face doomsday scenario: ‘We’re in the deep end, drowning’ (Los Angeles Times)
* Earl Freeman: Poems and Drawings (AquariumDrunkard.com)
* Louis Armstrong and Comedy Part 2: “Always a Showman!” 1922-1933 (LouisArmstrongHouse.org)
* Jazz Educators Step Up to Face COVID-19’s Challenges (Jazz Times)
* The Genius Of… Super Session by Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and Stephen Stills (Guitar)
* Toshinori Kondo, Trailblazing Modern Trumpeter, Dies At 71 (NPR)
* Acid, nudity and sci-fi nightmares: why Hawkwind were the radicals of 1970s rock (The Guardian)
* Pianist Keith Jarrett unlikely to perform again after two strokes (The Guardian)
* National Endowment for the Arts Announces 2021 NEA Jazz Masters (Arts.gov)
* Nubya Garcia Injects Fresh Energy Into The UK Jazz Scene (DownBeat)
* A Cultural History of the Cranked Snare Drum (Full-Stop.net)
* Analog Africa: digging deeper into forgotten corners of global groove (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Inside Bob Dylan’s Lost Interviews and Unseen Letters (Rolling Stone)
* Slo-mo artistry of a sax genius (Sydney Morning Herald)
* Little Richard Made Millions. It All Went to His Label (Vice.com)
* Jazz singer Kurt Elling moves back home to Chicago: ‘It was always a question of when was going to be right’ (Chicago Tribune)
* “You Need Both Sides of the Coin to Feel Like There is Substance:” An Interview with Nubya Garcia (PassionWeiss.com)
* With The Specter Of Winter Looming, Venues Explore Paths Forward (DownBeat)
* A Guide to the Music of Archie Shepp, Who Kept Jazz Vitally Political (Bandcamp.com)
* Jazz Clubs Are in Crisis (Jazz Times)
* Cindy Blackman Santana Blends Music, Spiritual Approaches (DownBeat)
* As Keith Jarrett Closes a Chapter, Jazz United Reflects on His Monumental Solo Piano Career (WBGO)
* Five Songs That Exemplify the Musical Legacy of Pharoah Sanders (WDET)
* Canadian musician Angie C just used a brainwave-reader to play the monster analogue synth TONTO with her mind (MusicRadar.com)

Sunday Session: February 10, 2019

Archie Shepp

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

* Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda (Pitchfork.com)
* 'Holy relic' blues guitar could sell for £120k (Gazette and Herald)
* Wadada Leo Smith Reflects on Civil Rights and Large-Scale Works (DownBeat)
* 'Green Book' doesn't do justice to Don Shirley's brilliant musicianship (Los Angeles Times)
* Roomful of Teeth Is Revolutionizing Choral Music (The New Yorker)
* SFJAZZ Honors Chucho Valdés at Annual Gala (DownBeat)
* 'American Pie' isn't a song about Buddy Holly, Don McLean says: 'It's about America' (Des Moines Register)
* "A Great Day In Harlem": Remembering the iconic 1958 photo of legendary musicians (CBS News)
* The One That’s Got the Mojo: The Ric and Ron Records legacy (Offbeat)
* Loop History: Skull Snaps’ “It’s A New Day” (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Malaco Records: A soul survivor celebrates 50 years (MississippiToday.org)
* Bobbie Gentry's Box of Surprises (PopMatters.com)
* When Jazz Was a Public Health Crisis (JStor.org)
* The Divine Madness of Bill Laswell (JazzDaGama.com)
* How Did They Do That? The Extraordinary Story of Tomorrow’s Warriors. (Jazz in Europe)
* Lost in the woods with James Brown’s ghost (CNN)
* Musicians Attempt Class-Action Lawsuits Against UMG & Sony to Reclaim Rights to Recordings (Billboard)
* Andy Statman: Practical Mystic (BrooklynRail.org)
* Restoration of Nina Simone’s childhood home to begin this spring (GoUpstate.com)
* How Saxophone Player Jean-Baptiste Jacquet Integrated Houston Audiences (Houstonia)
* Prospectus Feature: Baseball and Jazz (BaseballProspectus.com)
* Joseph Jarman (1937–2019) (Art Forum)
* Folklore as a political act: William Ferris on preserving Mississippi Delta blues (CBC)
* Travels with Joni Mitchell - An oeuvre inaugurated by disavowal (NPlusOneMag.com)
* Marvin Gaye's Unreleased Album 'You're The Man' To See The Light Of Day (NPR)
* The Anger Inside Gary Clark, Jr. (Rolling Stone)
* Did academia kill jazz? (TheConversation.com)
* Trumpeter Marquis Hill Has a Message (DownBeat)
* At 81, jazz titan Archie Shepp’s legacy comes into clear focus (Washington Post)
* The New Cool: Ben Wendel talks about his album that's not an album, until now (KNKX)

Sunday Session: April 10, 2016

Pharoah Sanders

Some interesting music-related items that have landed in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Local Jazz Musicians Turn to D.C. Council to Support the Scene (Washington City Paper)
* US Is One Of Just 4 Countries Not Paying Performers For Radio Play, And The Others Are... (Hypebot.com)
* Big Ears Festival diary – three days at Knoxville's genre-spanning event (The Guardian UK)
* Media's Digital Upheaval in 6 Charts (Bloomberg.com)
* Jeff Beck To Release New Album on July 15 (DownBeat)
* Abdullah Ibrahim: A Life in Song (SFJAZZ.org)
* Steven Bernstein Premiers Guitar-Centric Quartet in New York (DownBeat)
* 'The Dude': Remembering Quincy Jones’ Most Important Album Ever (Ebony)
* New owners to take over Heritage Guitar in old Gibson Guitar factory (MLive.com)
* ‘Jazz Masters’ honor genre’s greats, but keep them watching from the audience (Washington Post)
* Photos: NEA Jazz Masters Concert - Gary Burton, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders and Wendy Oxenhorn honored (Jazz Times)
* So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star: Photos of the 1960’s Garage Band Explosion (DangerousMinds.net)
* Carol Kaye, 81-Year-Old Pioneer of Rock, Gives Kiss’ Gene Simmons a Bass Lesson (OpenCulture.com)
* Man Who Stole Jazz Pianist Cecil Taylor’s Prize Money Is Sentenced (New York Times)
* Singer Bill Henderson Dies at 90 - Recorded with Oscar Peterson, Horace Silver; was also successful actor (Jazz Times)
* Merle Haggard’s America (DaveHoekstra.com)
* Why the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame should be put out of its misery (The Guardian UK)
* Long Live WWOZ (Offbeat)
* Rare Sun Ra singles to be issued on space-age 7″ vinyl (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Sony Sues Rdio Executives for Fraud, A Cautionary Tale for Entrepreneurs (MusicTech.Solutions)
* Branford Marsalis To Release New Album with Kurt Elling on June 10 (DownBeat)
* Silver Swing - 10 must-watch jazz movies (Jazz Times)
* Jazz great Sonny Rollins still not finished at 85 (The Telegraph UK)
* Paul Simon Announces New Album ‘Stranger to Stranger’ (Wall Street Journal)
* The Man Who Recorded, Tamed and Then Sold Nature Sounds to America (Atlas Obscura)
* A Record Shopkeeper Writes: Why Record Store Day Must End (The Quietus)
* These Rarely Seen Images Show Jazz Greats Pouring Out Their Hearts (Smithsonian)

Sunday Session: March 6, 2016

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have turned up recently in StLJN's inbox:

* Ginger Baker Cancels Tour Due to 'Serious Heart Problems' (Rolling Stone)
* Mavis Staples’ HBO doc hits relevant Civil Rights notes (Arts Journal)
* Resonance Records Presents LARRY YOUNG - IN PARIS: THE ORTF RECORDINGS With Never-Before-Released Tracks by The Jazz Organist And Pianist (JazzCorner.com)
* Content ID and the Rise of the Machines (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
* Is Jazz The Brand (Offbeat)
* Kamasi Washington Presents Jazz-Rock Spectacle in New York (DownBeat)
* Today’s best country music songwriter is a Twitter bot (Dangerous Minds)
* Sun Ra's Voice On Earth (WELD)
* Is the Album Review Dead? (Vice.com)
* Swing Vote: What Would the Presidential Election Sound Like as Jazz? (The Atlantic)
* Jazz Legend Archie Shepp Reflects On John Coltrane’s Quest For Musical Freedom (Consequence of Sound)
* Ron Carter Named Artist-in-Residence at Detroit Jazz Fest (Jazz Times)
* Why is China’s music market still so small? (Quartz.com)
* Jean-Paul Sartre on How American Jazz Lets You Experience Existentialist Freedom & Transcendence (OpenCulture.com)
* Sarah Vaughan forever stamp to be unveiled in Newark (New York Amsterdam News)
* How One Museum Is Fighting To Preserve The History Of Recorded Sound (Fast Company)
* Music is getting worse, unless of course it isn’t (CreateDigitalMusic.com)
* How Ahmad Jamal’s The Awakening became a hip hop sample goldmine (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Blanchard’s Incisive Jazz Opera Packs Powerful Punch (DownBeat)
* Nina Simone Estate Slams Biopic Star Zoe Saldana (Rolling Stone)
* How Steely Dan Returned to Form by Remaining 'Two Against Nature' (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Shuggie Otis plays guitar (Financial Times)
* Gary Clark Jr: Blues Brother (Wax Poetics)