Sunday Session: October 18, 2020

Charles McPherson

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

* The Many Instruments of Stanley Crouch, Who Transformed the Entirety of Jazz and Cultural Criticism (Mother Jones)
* Wynton Marsalis Says Cultural Con Jobs Began Long Before Trump (The Daily Beast)
* Late night TV musicians push for parity in pay, health care and residuals (KCRW)
* Alone Together: A Q&A with Pianist Benny Green (SFJAZZ.org)
* Philly’s jazz community improvising to deal with COVID-19 (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Visionary who turned down a gig with Miles Davis and pivoted to cardiology (among other pursuits) is subject of Philly ICA show (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* The company that has a monopoly on ice cream truck music (TheHustle.co)
* Charles McPherson Straddles The Artistic Fence (DownBeat)
* Stevie Wonder Releases First New Music in 15 Years (Rolling Stone)
* He Helps Folk Musicians Stay Alive (Ozy.com)
* Sheet music sales soar 25% as UK turns to piano practice during Covid lockdown (INews.co.uk)
* Theo Croker Exemplifies This Moment In Jazz (DownBeat)
* Mary Halvorson: New York City and the Pull of the Moon (BarryCleveland.com)
* The Spiritual Power of Pharoah Sanders (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Diana Krall Reflects on Her Creative Process, Her Late Producer, and an Emotive New Album (WBGO)
* 50 Years Ago B.B. King's 'Indianola Mississippi Seeds' Retooled R&B (PopMatters.com)
* An Oral History Of Tom Petty’s Landmark 1994 Album, ‘Wildflowers’ (Uproxx.com)
* Billy Childs Engages The Vastness Of Music (DownBeat)
* A Love Supreme: Carlos Santana and Cindy Blackman Santana on Coltrane, Miles and Making Music Together (Jazziz)
* Gearhead: Memories of the Guitorgan (Jazz Times)
* Field Studies: Manfred Eicher, Founder of ECM Records, Picks His Top Five Blue Note Albums (WBGO)
* Field Studies: Don Was, President of Blue Note Records, Picks His Top Five ECM Albums (WBGO)
* Are We Reaching Peak Streaming Subscriptions? (Billboard)
* Michael Cuscuna: In The Vault Playing God (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The Tragedy of Stanley Crouch (Counterpunch.org)
* Randy Brecker: Overdue Ovation (Jazz Times)
* “AngelHeaded Hipster”: Hal Willner Does T. Rex (The New Yorker)

Sunday Session: March 22, 2020

John McLaughlin

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

* The Secret History of Motown’s Greatest Hits (Rolling Stone)
* Kurt Elling on Working with Danilo Pérez, Politics and Recording with an Indie Label (DownBeat)
* Charles Lloyd, a tireless jazz sax legend at 82, talks music and hanging with Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead (San Diego Union Tribune)
* The Jazz Label: Marc Free of Posi-Tone (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The Inner Critic of Irving Berlin (DownBeat)
* Beating Her Own Drum, Terri Lyne Carrington Continues To Push Jazz Forward (WBUR)
* “Every musician I know is now facing bankruptcy” – the impact of coronavirus cancellations on classical artists (ClassicFM.com)
* How Mapping Relationships Between Jazz Musicians Elevates Unsung Histories (Pratt.edu)
* Jeff Parker Is "Just Trying to Make Weird Shit" (Premier Guitar)
* Duchess Looks for Joy Amid Perilous Times (DownBeat)
* With Clubs Gone Dark and Festivals Postponed, the Musical Action Migrates to the Livestream (WBGO)
* Gerald Veasley: Everybody Has Something to Say (Jazz Times)
* John McLaughlin offers fans free download of new album (LouderSound.com)
* Ornette Coleman Biography Explores The Free Jazz Saxophonist’s Genius (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* The lost art of deep listening: Choose an album. Lose the phone. Close your eyes. (Los Angeles Times)
* Recording Academy and MusiCares Commit $2M For Coronavirus Relief Fund (Billboard)
* Music streaming may actually be falling because of coronavirus (QZ.com)
* How The Coronavirus Fallout Could Be Devastating To The Practice Of Jazz (NPR)
* Carlos and Cindy Santana on the Power of ‘Playing from Your Heart’ (Q&A) (RockCellarMagazine.com)
* The Intakt Label is Providing a Supportive Home for the Avant-Garde (Bandcamp.com)
* Electronic Intimacy: The Surreal Experience of Playing in a Quarantined Hall (Atavist.com)
* A Shelved Album By Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers Will Finally See the Light of Day (WBGO)
* Origin Records Puts Superlative Musicianship on Display (DownBeat)
* 'Solace' Amidst The 'Deeply Odd': Pianist Aaron Parks On Releasing A Record Right Now (NPR)

Sunday Session: August 18, 2019

Brian Blade

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

* Bob Wilber 1928 – 2019 (Jazz Times)
* 7 Questions With Catherine Russell (VailJazz.org)
* Live Review: 46th Umbria Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* San Antonio jazz great Jim Cullum Jr. dies (MySanAntonio.com)
* 5 minutes alone - George Benson: “A guy said, ‘I could get you a job with Fats Domino’. I said, ‘I am not ready for that’” (MusicRadar.com)
* Chuck Berry’s Family, Famous Fans Remember Guitarist in New Documentary Trailer (Rolling Stone)
* Santana Returns to Woodstock and Revisits “Smooth” (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Concrete Science Fiction Riot: Why Do We Ignore The 70s French Underground? (TheQuietus.com)
* In ’61, Stan Getz at His ‘Most Aggressive’ (DownBeat)
* Imagine Documentaries Trumpets Partnership With Louis Armstrong Foundation On Definitive Icon Movie (Deadline)
* You Don’t Have to Be Rich (To Commission New Music) (Limelight)
* Leave No Good Idea Behind: Millennial Composers Embrace a Cosmopolitan Style (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Ted Dunbar: Teacher Man to Nile Rodgers, Kevin Eubanks, and Many Others (Jazz Times)
* Fine Tuning: The Art Of Guitar Making (KALW)
* Britain’s jazz scene is in full swing (The Spectator)
* Hackers Can Turn Everyday Speakers Into Acoustic Cyberweapons (Wired)
* Brian Blade Leads ‘Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration’ (DownBeat)
* Rhythmo’s BeatBox is a cardboard drum machine (MusicTech.net)
* A Lost Album From John Coltrane Is Found, With Thanks To A French-Canadian Director (NPR)
* Inside the home of a queen: Aretha Franklin's mansion hits market for $1.2 million (MLive.com)
* Thousands of Unseen Blue Note Photos Online Now (Jazz Times)
* The Do's & Don'ts of Sample Clearances (Spotify.com)
* Herbie Hancock gears up for his newest music and joins Kamasi Washington at Northerly Island (Chicago Tribune)

Sunday Session: June 9, 2019

Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest, drawn from StLJN's inboxes, newsfeeds, and assorted other sources:

* Joey DeFrancesco: From Musical Prodigy to Jazz Icon (AllAboutJazz.com)
* John Coltrane Wanted To Be A Saint. The Coltrane Church Honors His Religious Legacy (OkayPlayer.com)
* John Coltrane at the Age of 32 (DownBeat)
* For jazz man, nine years of practice led to one electric, life-changing moment (Newport News Daily Press)
* Weasel Walter on Getting The Flying Luttenbachers Together Again (DownBeat)
* Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes Coming to U.S. Theaters (Jazz Times)
* Sheet Happens: One of Music's Oldest Businesses Is Growing in the Digital Age (Billboard)
* Carlos Santana Reflects On 50 Years Of Making Music And His New Africa Speaks (Stereogum.com)
* The Enduring Passion of Leo Feigin, Leo Records Founder (DownBeat)
* Branford Marsalis: Listening with Sonic Ears (Stereophile)
* Effort underway to restore iconic Detroit club that once hosted jazz legends like Miles Davis (MichiganRadio.org)
* Singer Sheila Jordan going strong at 90 (Chicago Tribune)
* Branford Marsalis’ Secret (Jazz Times)
* ‘Creativity is a muscle. It must be worked out. It must be pushed.’ (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Lawrence “Lo” Leathers 1981-2019 (Jazz Times)
* Planned demolition of Cab Calloway's former Baltimore home stirs conservation critiques (Baltimore Sun)
* Searching For Disco's Cro-Magnon (NPR)
* Brian Wilson Postpones Tour, Citing “Mental Insecurity” (Pitchfork.com)
* Several Directions at Once: Listening With Myra Melford, Before a Residency at The Stone (WBGO)
* CD Baby Guest Post: The 5 Most Important Things to Know about Music Distribution in the Streaming Era (Berklee.edu)
* Exclusive: Chick Corea Revisits His Own Past with His Spanish Heart Band on “My Spanish Heart” (Paste)
* Dr. John, iconic New Orleans musician, has died at age 77 (New Orleans Advocate)
* Remembering Dr. John (Keyboard)
* Singer-songwriter Todd Rundgren shares his journey Sunday in Great Barrington (Berkshire Eagle)
* 'We fell like cosmic rain': how the Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices became global stars (The Guardian)
* The Man Who Made His Computer Sing: Max Mathews & the Invention of Digital Music (5Mag.net)
* Joshua Redman Finds ‘Founts of Inspiration’ (DownBeat)
* Videos: Those times Dr. John lit it up (Offbeat)
* How the Moers Festival became a celebration of avant-garde change (DW.com)

Sunday Session: June 2, 2019

Dr. Lonnie Smith

Here's this week's roundup of various music-related items of interest, drawn from StLJN's inboxes, newsfeeds, and assorted other sources:

* The Dreamers and John Daversa: Message, Intention, Purpose (DownBeat)
* CBS Sued Over 'Andy Griffith Show' Theme Song (Hollywood Reporter)
* Lisa Coleman: “Prince would just use a preset and then brighten the f**k out of it!” (MusicRadar.com)
* Lee Ranaldo Discusses His Return to Improv Music with New Album 'Lee Ranaldo / Jim Jarmusch / Marc Urselli / Balázs Pándi' (Exclaim.ca)
* Kendrick Scott at the ‘Height of Optimism’ (DownBeat)
* Antonio Salieri’s Revenge (The New Yorker)
* Why Do Employers Lowball Creatives? A New Study Has Answers (KQED)
* King Weir (GQ)
* Jazz Currents Surge Along the Rhine (DownBeat)
* After a Scandal, the New Orleans Jazz Market Rises Again (New York Times)
* Carlos Santana on Celebrating 'Supernatural' and Returning to Woodstock: 'We're Better Than the First Time' (Billboard)
* The Lives of John Coltrane & Billie Holiday Are Now Told in Two Graphic Novels (OpenCulture.com)
* Steinway & Sons Has a Secret ‘Vault’ for Its Most Exclusive Pianos. Here’s What’s Inside (RobbReport.com)
* The Egging of Frank Sinatra (Medium.com)
* Tower of Power at 50: What Is Hip? (Jazz Journal)
* 'Two Wings: The Music Of Black America In Migration' Celebrates Journey Millions Took (WBGO)
* Bright Moments: Ron Carter – Looking Back with the Bass Icon (Jazz Times)
* DC's go-go sound becomes anti-gentrification battle cry (Associated Press)
* Metadata is the biggest little problem plaguing the music industry (TheVerge.com)
* Minnesota blues hero Tony Glover, an influence on Dylan and the Stones, dies at 79 (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
* This Is Where I Live: A Q&A With William Bell (SFJAZZ.org)
* Singer Leon Redbone Dies at 69 (Variety)
* "Dead Sound": The Grateful Dead and the evolution of modern concert sound (CBS News)
* Linda May Han Oh Reaches Across the Musical Spectrum (DownBeat)
* The Record Industry Expects a Windfall. Where Will the Money Go? (Pitchfork.com)
* Chops: David Binney on Why Musicians May Not Need a Bite of the Big Apple (Jazz Times)
* The Baltimore Symphony in the Twilight Zone (SongOfTheLarkBlog.com)
* How Bossa Nova Is Infiltrating Rap and R&B (Rolling Stone)
* Dr. Lonnie Smith Meets the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw at Birdland (DownBeat)
* Apple Is Finally Killing iTunes (Rolling Stone)

Sunday Session: January 6, 2019

Ron Carter

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:

* A Jazz Conversation with Ted Gioia (Jazz Profiles)
* Ron Carter: Still Searching for the Right Notes (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Paul McCartney opens up about Abbey Road, the Beatles' breakup in wide-ranging interview (CBS News)
* The West Coast Jazz Revival (City Journal)
* Jeff Goldblum: Not a Hollywood Square (Jazz Times)
* Helen Sung: Words and Music (Jazz Times)
* These early Louis Armstrong recordings are among the flood of works now in the public domain (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
* New Orleans Is Not Coachella: Guest Editorial (Offbeat)
* Herbie Nichols’ Third World (WFIU)
* Jazz Musician Plays Acoustic Guitar While Undergoing Brain Surgery, Helping Doctors Monitor Their Progress (OpenCulture.com)
* The Price, Cost and Value of Digital Music (DownBeat)
* Is this the end of owning music? (BBC)
* Bill Charlap: Life, Love, Songs, and Pianos (Stereophile)
* DJ Art Laboe, 93, spins oldies to link inmates and family (Associated Press)
* Dickey Betts returns to performing following brain surgery (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
* Album Sales Are Dying as Fast as Streaming Services Are Rising (Rolling Stone)
* How Soul Train became the most radical show on American television (DazedDigital.com)
* Blue Note “As Important As The Beatles Or Dylan” Says Don Was (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Bootsy Collins Announces Retirement from Live Bass Playing (NoTreble.com)
* Carlos Santana Announces New EP, Signs to Concord Records (Jambands.com)
* 12 New Jazz Artists to Watch in 2019 (Paste)
* The Jazz Glories of 1959, One Day at a Time: A Conversation with Critic Natalie Weiner (WBGO)
* Green Book Director Peter Farrelly Defends Film Amid Criticism by Don Shirley’s Family (Vanity Fair)
* Spike Lee’s Secret Weapon For 30 Years: ‘BlacKkKlansman’ Composer Terence Blanchard (IndieWire.com)

Sunday Session: September 4, 2016

Ron Carter

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

* Corea Extends 75th Birthday World Tour, Announces New Dates (DownBeat)
* Hancock, Shorter, Santana Bring Mega Mash-Up to Hollywood Bowl (DownBeat)
* Apple Threatens Legal Action Against Digital Music News for Frank Ocean Coverage (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Famed jazz bassist Ron Carter picks 10 faves from his 2,200 recordings (Detroit Free Press)
* Ron Carter: Changing lives of bassists one song at a time (Detroit Free Press)
* Why Dropping Music on Friday Is Pivotal (Hint: It’s Not Sales) (Wired)
* Don't believe the hype about human music curators (BusinessInsider.com)
* After 30 Albums and 3 Recent Prizes, a Jazzman Flirts With the Mainstream (New York Times)
* Jewish Guitar God Mike Bloomfield’s Blues (TabletMag.com)
* New Research Reveals National, State, and Regional Facts about Arts Participation (Arts.gov)
* Guitarist Sharp & Actor Buscemi Team Up for Burroughs Tribute (DownBeat)
* Forgotten Heroes: Sonny Sharrock’ s Footprints on the Moon (Premier Guitar)
* Seven unlikely stars who scored big with Stax songs (BBC)
* Juan Gabriel was a songwriter who knew how to channel the struggles of modern life and the hurt of the wounded (Los Angeles Times)
* Upcoming John Coltrane Doc To Be Narrated By Denzel Washington (OkayPlayer.com)
* Interview: Pulitzer Prize Winner Henry Threadgill (WBGO)
* Musicians’ Union Publish New Airline Cabin Policy Rating System (TheViolinChannel.com)
* DJ Shadow Will Be Selling Off His Record Collection in L.A. Next Weekend (LA Weekly)
* The Evolution Of Afropunk (Forbes)
* Moments in Music: the Lost Art of Music Manifestos (Landr.com)

Sunday Session: August 21, 2016

Bobby Hutcherson

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

* British Airways stops musician from flying with cello as 'it didn't have a visa' (The Independent UK)
* Hancock & Martin Explore Fusion Frontier in Brooklyn (DownBeat)
* Archivists Grapple With Problems Of Preserving Recent Culture Held On Tape Cassettes And Floppy Drives (TechDirt.com)
* Mashup Weaves Together 57 Famous Classical Pieces by 33 Composers: From Bach to Wagner (OpenCulture.com)
* Bobby Hutcherson: 1941-2016 (SFJAZZ.org)
* Bay Area jazz legend Bobby Hutcherson dies at 75 (San Jose Mercury News)
* Appreciation: Bobby Hutcherson connected some of the highest points in jazz (Los Angeles Times)
* A not so mixed music - What kind of culture allows composers to flourish and what kind of composers do flourish? (NuminousMusic.com)
* Henry Kaiser - Clouds of colored light (Innerviews.org)
* Algorithm and blues: Putting a Google-written song to the test (Toronto Star)
* Inside Carlos Santana's New Jazz-Rock Supergroup (Rolling Stone)
* First Listen: The Bad Plus, 'It's Hard' (NPR)
* The new wave of new age: How music’s most maligned genre finally became cool (FactMag.com)
* OP-ED: (not just) White Boy Music — the very punk rock history of Bad Brains, Fishbone and Living Colour (Afropunk.com)
* Life With Bird, By Charlie Parker’s Stepdaughter (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Tomorrow's Musical Instruments Look Like Lightsabers and Metal Detectors (Vice.com)
* Is Bandcamp the Holy Grail of Online Record Stores? (New York Times)
* How Bad Urban Planning Led To The Birth Of A Billion-Dollar Genre (TheFader.com)
* I Am The Blues Documents America’s Last Generation of Blues Legends (DownBeat)

Sunday Session: August 30, 2015

Michael White

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* The Soulful Genius of Stevie Wonder: How ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ Changed Music Forever (The Daily Beast)
* “It’s not just a party, it’s our life”: Jazz musicians led the way back to the city after Katrina — but what is this “new” New Orleans? (Salon.com)
* Dr. Michael White lost everything in Hurricane Katrina except what mattered most: New Orleans jazz (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
* It Was New Orleans’ Musicians—Not Its Politicians—Who Saved The City Post-Katrina (The Daily Beast)
* Review: Jason Moran in Edinburgh (Jazz Journal UK)
* The invisible instrument: the theremin (The Guardian UK)
* Electronic Sturm und Atonal Drang in Berlin (Counterpunch)
* Music, paid fairly (Medium.com)
* The One Real Problem With Rolling Stone's 'Greatest Songwriters Of All Time' (NPR)
* How Can Frank Zappa's Colorful Life Possibly Fit in a Documentary? (Rolling Stone)
* ‘For Those Who Are, Still’ Review: Jazz Bassist William Parker Expands His Vision (Wall Street Journal)
* Hackers Are Sabotaging My Spotify Playlists With Awful Ambient Music (Vice.com)
* Inaugural Rhodes Fest Celebrates Great American Keyboard (DownBeat)
* Carlos Santana Talks Reuniting Santana IV, New Band With Wayne Shorter & Herbie Hancock (Billboard)
* The Birthplace of American Music Has Been Handed Over to Real-Estate Speculators (Alternet)
* Kamasi Washington Talks Jazz in the 21st Century (The Talk House)
* Complete edition of John Cage's Diary to be published (The Wire UK)
* How Flying Lotus Built Brainfeeder, His Spiritual Little Empire (TheFader.com)
* How The 'Kung Fu Fighting' Melody Came To Represent Asia (NPR)
* A memorial for Paul Jeffrey, Duke's late jazz champion (Indy Week)
* George Walker: the great American composer you've never heard of (The Guardian UK)

Miles on Monday: Memorial project nears completion; Miles Davis & boxing; and more

For this week's installment of "Miles on Monday," here are some links to the latest news:

* "The Miles Davis Memorial Project is nearing completion," according to a story published last week in the Alton Telegraph.

Site preparation will begin when the weather breaks this spring, and Preston Jackson, who is sculpting the staute of Davis that will be placed in downtown Alton, is finishing up his work. Members of the project committee will visit Jackson's studio next month for "final approval of the clay piece prior to sending it to the foundry for casting in bronze."

The project still is seeking financial support through the sale of inscribed bricks and granite blocks that will be part of the memorial site. To purchase a brick or block, or to donate to the Miles Davis Memorial Project, call Pride, Incorporated at 618-467-2375 or visit their website at http://www.prideincorporated.org/index.cfm?page=2573.

* This past week also saw publication of interviews with two former Davis sidemen and another musical associate and friend. Bassist/guitarist Joseph "Foley" McCreary, who played with Davis in the late 1980s and early 90s and now is living in Dallas, was interviewed by the Dallas Observer; guitarist John McLaughlin talked with Relix about a variety of topics including his time with the trumpeter; and, in an excerpt from his new autobiography published on The Daily Beast, guitarist Carlos Santana talked about his first meeting and subsequent interactions with Davis.

* Lastly, Vice.com has posted a very interesting article about Davis' interest in boxing, in which you can read about how he "grew up loving boxing and came of age during a pivotal point in the sport"; his admiration of Sugar Ray Robinson; how he used boxing workouts to help him kick heroin in the mid-1950s; and how Davis once challenged Brazilian multi-instumentalist Hermeto Pascoal only to get popped right in the face.