Sunday Session: October 13, 2019

Art Blakey

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

* Ain’t No Limitations: The Soul Rebels pave the roads and knock down the doors (Offbeat)
* Are Albums Dying? ⁠— 15% of Music Fans Under 25 Have Never Listened to a Full Album (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Harry Nilsson’s Animated Film ‘The Point!’ Gets 50th Anniversary Digital Release (Rolling Stone)
* Remembering Ginger Baker (DownBeat)
* Ginger Baker: A Jazz Drummer With a Rock Reputation (Billboard)
* Bill Frisell Remembers Ginger Baker: ‘Nobody Sounded Like That’ (Rolling Stone)
* Ginger Baker’s Best: A Deep Dive Into the Late Drummer’s Hidden Gems (Listen) (Variety)
* Cold Gettin’ Dub: Rap 12"s and the Forgotten Artform of Bonus Beats (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Sean Jones: A Challenging Life (Jazz Times)
* John Anderson, World's Greatest Soul Record Dealer, Is Dead (The Daily Beast)
* Live Review: 2019 Monterey Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* A new ‘Porgy and Bess’ raises old questions about race and opera (TheUndefeated.com)
* An AJMF Conversation with Jimmy Heath (AtlantaJMF.org)
* Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood: 'Instead of cocaine, hook me up with a recorder group!' (The Guardian)
* Cut Your Own Vinyl Records With This $1,100 Machine (Wired)
* On ‘Fly Or Die II,’ Jaimie Branch Lets the Music Breathe (DownBeat)
* Deutsches Jazzfestival Frankfurt Celebrates 50 Years of Fruitful Collaborations (DownBeat)
* Art Blakey's Legacy: A Rallying Cry And A Gathering Place (NPR)

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)

Music Education Monday: A drum lesson and conversation with Ginger Baker

Ginger Baker established himself as a significant musical force while drumming with the 1960s power trio Cream, and over the ensuing decades has continued to impress rock, jazz and world music fans with his technique and imagination.

On a personal level, one understandably might have some qualms about getting too close to the infamously irascible percussionist - the 2012 film Beware of Mr. Baker offers ample documentary evidence of his difficult personality - but given the safe distance provided via video recording, he's got some interesting things to say about drumming and music in general.

And so for today's installment of "Music Education Monday," here's a drum lesson with Baker (pictured) in three parts totaling almost 80 minutes, plus, as lagniappe, a drummer-to-drummer conversation between Baker and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (who - spoiler alert - Baker does not attempt to punch, at least while the camera was rolling).

You can see the videos after the jump...