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: November 29, 2020

Maria Schneider

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

* 'The Last Shall Be First': A Lost Chapter Of Gospel, Saved From Extinction (NPR)
* Ntozake Shange on Sun Ra and How She Came to Have Her Name (LitHub.com)
* Jazz Composer Maria Schneider Takes on the "Data Lords" in Song (PopMatters.com)
* Nile Rodgers on ‘A Love Supreme’: ‘It Felt Like I Was Getting a Look Into Coltrane’s Soul’ (Rolling Stone)
* Excluded, Penalized, Indebted, Harassed: A Study of Systemic Discrimination Against Women in Opera (MiddleClassArtist.com)
* JT Video Premiere: Sonny Rollins in Holland Mini-Documentary (Jazz Times)
* Calming monkeys with piano music is harder than you think (CNN)
* Veronica Swift’s Unconventional Turns (DownBeat)
* A Tense New Classical Work Bottles The Feeling Of A Police Stop (NPR)
* Chops: Drummers Go Off the Grid (Jazz Times)
* 'I thought ours was better': Keith Richards on recording a Beatles song, solo work and new Rolling Stones (USA Today)
* I'm a sound technician. Losing my hearing was devastating (CBC)
* Jeff Gold – ‘Sittin’ In – Jazz Clubs of the 1940s and 1950s’ (London Jazz News)
* 'Frank didn't adhere to any movements': behind the Zappa documentary (The Guardian)
* Buddy Bolden, Known As ‘The Father Of Jazz’ Honored In New Opera (WABE)
* Chick Corea: Accomplishing the goal of art (BBC)
* Warner is signing double the number of artists via AI-driven A&R tool Sodatone than it did last year. Now, it’s hired a global head of Data Science. (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* The legend of Yahya Abdul-Majid (CapitalBop.com)
* The Checkout: Meet Laura Perrudin, A French Harpist with a Jagged Edge (WBGO)
* All doom and boom: what’s the heaviest music ever made? (The Guardian)
* Zev Feldman of Resonance Records (‘Bill Evans Live at Ronnie Scott’s’) (London Jazz News)
* 'People in their 40s were crying': the sad final days of New York's coolest record store (The Guardian)
* How old, ambient Japanese music became a smash hit on YouTube (ArsTechnica.com)
* Charles McPherson Turns to Ballet (Jazz Times)
* Branford and Wynton Marsalis Are Keeping New York's Jazz Scene Alive (Town and Country)
* 'I will remember this for the rest of my life': John Fogerty on rerecording classic songs with his kids (USA Today)

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: July 29, 2018

Art Ensemble of Chicago

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:

* Art Ensemble of Chicago Reunites in Norway (DownBeat)
* In Conversation: Billy Joel (Vulture.com)
* The right place at the right time: The jazz education of Charles McPherson (Santa Fe New Mexican)
* Terence Blanchard & the E-Collective: Fusion for Humanity (Jazz Times)
* Making Music For A Living is Harder Than Ever (Offbeat)
* Remembering Frank Sinatra’s Time-Stopping Performance At The Sands (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* A new youth movement is energizing the high-end audio market (CNet.com)
* The Rise Of The Sampling Pad In The Modern Drummer’s Setup (MusicThinkTank.com)
* Kongsberg Festival Teams Up Improvisors (DownBeat)
* 10 All-Time Great Jazz Quartets (Jazz Times)
* Streaming services are seeing a jazz renaissance amongst younger fans (BBC)
* Kamasi Washington Wants To Free Your Mind (HighSnobiety.com)
* Jazz Legend Wayne Shorter Announces 'Emanon,' A Multiverse-Inspired Triple Album (WBGO)
* New Book Chronicles the Saga of Jazz in Washington D.C. (DownBeat)
* Michael Franks Is Happy to Be “Some Old Jazz Guy” (Jazz Times)
* Steven Van Zandt Creates a Free School of Rock: 100+ Free Lesson Plans That Educate Kids Through Music (OpenCulture.com)
* Nellie McKay’s Affability Refracted by Humorous Worldview (DownBeat)
* You Don’t Need to Be a Musician to Get a Record Deal in 2018 (Rolling Stone)
* Django Festival Allstars: Strong Picking Hands and Big Hearts (Jazz Times)
* Spotify Hits 180 Million Users — and Loses Even More Money (Rolling Stone)
* Don Was, Dave McMurray Continue Telling Detroit’s Story (DownBeat)
* The state of jazz: Talking with A.B. Spellman (Santa Fe New Mexican)
* Historic home of blues artist W.C. Handy returned to family (Times of Northwest Indiana)
* Catalog of Fania Records, the Motown of Latin Music, Is Sold (New York Times)

Sunday Session: March 18, 2018

Charles McPherson

Here's the 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:

* Syrian refugees using music therapy to soothe the trauma of war (ABC.net.au)
* Meet the Electric Guitarist Who Gave Benny Goodman a Jolt (OZY.com)
* Inside the Gramercy: The Grit and Glamour of New York's Rock & Roll Hotel (Rolling Stone)
* The long, slow death of print music journalism (GlobalNews.ca)
* Dark and Deep Flows the River: An Interview with Wadada Leo Smith (PopMatters.com)
* The Treasured Preservation Hall Sousaphone Has Been Returned (Offbeat)
* Saudi Arabia's bootleg music shops (BBC)
* Why Labels Are Looking to Africa to Find the Next Global Pop Star (Billboard)
* Kurt Elling Remembers Jon Hendricks (Jazz Times)
* Blue Note Label Boss Don Was Is Not Ready to Give Up on Jazz (Forbes.com)
* The end of live music? (CompleteMusicUpdate.com)
* Kamasi Washington at Sydney Opera House: a defiant cry from a jazz star in his prime (The Guardian)
* Will Corporations Ruin Live Music in the Bay Area? (East Bay Express)
* Expert Introductions: The Quietus' Top 40 Genre Compilation Albums (TheQuietus.com)
* iHeartMedia Files for Bankruptcy (Variety)
* Charles McPherson: The Man and His Muse (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis builds an intentional community in jazz (Chicago Reader)
* Q&A with Paal Nilssen-Love: In a Natural Way (DownBeat)
* The Residents pay tribute to Sun Ra (and Barry White) (DangerousMinds.net)
* Here's a Playlist of Songs You Know But You Can’t Name (Lifehacker.com)
* Reconsidering Gene Krupa, A Great Jazz Drummer Hiding in Plain Sight (WBGO)
* Bobby Previte: the Art of Travelling Trustingly (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Quincy Jones: 20 Great Productions (Rolling Stone)
* Which Cities Get the Most (and Least) Concerts? (Priceonomics.com)
* The Man Who Made Violins Out of New York City Buildings (AtlasObscura.com)
* Celebrating the Free Jazz Revolution, in Black and White (Village Voice)

Sunday Session: November 1, 2015

Trombone Shorty

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

* YouTube's pay TV service makes video-creators a deal they literally can't refuse (Boing Boing)
* Why Record Labels Are Making Rappers Dance For Dollars (The Daily Beast)
* Trombone Shorty Did the Adult Voices for the Peanuts Movie (Offbeat)
* Watch Tim Burton and Danny Elfman Talk 'Batman' Score (Rolling Stone)
* CBS Radio Says That It Doesn't Play Pre-1972 Music, Because All Its Old Songs Are Remastered (TechDirt.com)
* The Greatest Week in the History of Avant-Garde Jazz (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Bennett, Corea Among Winners in 2015 DownBeat Readers Poll (DownBeat)
* The oldest written song ever discovered — The Hurrian Hymn (c. 1400BC)(Disinfo.com)
* Why pop-turned-jazz stars just ain't got that swing (The Guardian UK)
* Soundtrack of a Movement (Berlin Jazz Festival)
* Vijay Iyer - Degrees of choice (Innerviews)
* How Losing My Record Deal Helped Me Feed My Family (Idobi.com)
* Meet Alan Howarth, the Composer Who Invented What Halloween Sounds Like (Vice.com)
* Shirley Scott, 'Queen Of The Organ' (NPR)
* McPherson Revisits Bebop Roots in New York (DownBeat)
* The Brief and Bizarre Life of the Fake Amazon Bandcamp Page (Consequence Of Sound)
* SONGS Music CEO Matt Pincus: Why Music Publishing's Two-Class System Could Spell the End for New Indie Firms (Billboard)
* A New day for jazz vinyl & delivery (OpenSkyJazz.com)
* We Are Still Rattling Chains and Crunching Leaves To Signal It's Halloween (Atlas Obscura)
* The Feeling Of Space: How Sun Ra Integrated Sci-Fi in Music (Paste)
* Ellen Fullman and the avant garde drone of ‘The Long String Instrument’ (Dangerous Minds)
* The entire musical world is in crisis: John McLaughlin (Times of India)
* Brian Eno’s Music For Airports Adds Sweetness To Din (Classical Voice America)