Sunday Session: February 14, 2021

Chick Corea

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

* Show's over for British roadies as Brexit blocks European music tours (MSN.com)
* Trane '63: A Classic, A Challenge, A Change (WFIU)
* Mary Wilson, longest-reigning original Supreme, dies at 76 (Associated Press)
* Music wars on Valentine’s Day: when your partner hates your record collection (London Jazz News)
* The Idea of the Blues: It’s Time for Chicago to Capitalize on the Heritage that Changed the Course of Music (NewCity.com)
* Ivo Perelman’s Massive Oeuvre (DownBeat)
* Harvey Brooks: View From The Bottom (Blues.gr)
* Sonny Rollins: “Musicians can live a charmed life” (Uncut.co.uk)
* International Anthem's Celebratory Approach Is Breaking Boundaries (ClashMusic.com)
* New Orleans avant-jazz saxophonist Kidd Jordan improvises his way to $50K fellowship (NOLA.com)
* Composer Anthony Davis Imagines His Freedom (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* The Hidden Legacy Of The Pointer Sisters, Genre-Busting Pioneers Of Message Music (NPR)
* Ancient shell horn can still play a tune after 18,000 years (Associated Press)
* Terri Lyne Carrington is the definition of Black Girl Magic (Associated Press)
* Trumpeter Rob Mazurek May Have Made Marfa’s Great Cosmic Jazz Album (Texas Monthly)
* Arbors Records Puts Art First (DownBeat)
* Black Women Who Shaped Rock & Roll (Rolling Stone)
* Chick Corea, Jazz Fusion Pioneer, Has Died Of Cancer At 79 (NPR)
* Impulse! Records Marks a 60th Anniversary, and a Creative Legacy, with Music Old and New (WBGO)
* Chronology: McCoy Tyner, Sideman (Jazz Times)
* Gretchen Parlato In Bloom (DownBeat)
* Todd Rundgren Reacts to Latest Rock Hall Nomination: 'I Don't Care About It' (Billboard)
* Nubiyan Twist: Real Life Stories (Jazz Times)
* Brexit is destroying music. Why has the government let this happen? (The Guardian)
* Brilliant, broke and wilfully annoying: the sad legacy of Frank Zappa (Sydney Morning Herald)
* Milford Graves: jazz drummer dies aged 79 (The Guardian)
* The Checkout: Steve Gadd Remembers When Chick Corea Gave Him a Lesson On the Drums (WBGO)
* Milford Graves, Pioneering Jazz Drummer and Polymath, Dies at 79 (Pitchfork.com)

Sunday Session: July 19, 2020

Matthew Shipp

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

* Terence Blanchard Addresses The Past Through Work With Spike Lee And Preps For Brighter Future (DownBeat)
* Sun Ra: ‘I’m Everything and Nothing’ (New York Review of Books)
* A Trademark Attorney Explains Why the Former Lady Antebellum Is Suing the Black Singer Lady A (Slate)
* Better late than never: the story of Beverly "Guitar" Watkins (LouderSound.com)
* The Strange World Of... Sun Ra (TheQuietus.com)
* Britain’s choirs are facing oblivion (The Spectator)
* Rick Wakeman on his top 5 synths: “I suddenly had an instrument that could give the guitar a run for its money” (MusicRadar.com)
* Gary Lucas: "The guitar is like an extension of my nervous system - I try to play what I feel and transmit it" (Guitar World)
* Bill Frisell Is a Rambler in Quarantine (Jazz Times)
* Session Legend Harvey Brooks Publishes Memoir, “A View From The Bottom” (NoTreble.com)
* MATTHEW SHIPP with George Grella (BrooklynRail.org)
* Most Births at a Concert?! The Wildest Records Ever Written Into the Music History Books (EOnline.com)
* Eddie Gale 1941–2020 (Jazz Times)
* The Galaxy-Expanding, Peace-Loving Trumpet Of Eddie Gale: Hear The Essentials (NPR)
* Playing Music Together Online Is Not As Simple As It Seems (NPR)
* And all that jazz! Bram Dijkstra’s invaluable record collection to be donated to SDSU (Del Mar Times)
* A New Album Turns The Sound Of Endangered Birds Into Electronic Music (NPR)
* NEA Jazz Masters Ceremony Moves Online To Honor Kirk, McFerrin, Mitchell, Workman (DownBeat)
* How Kendrick Lamar, Marvin Gaye and ‘Black genius’ inspired a jazz/hip-hop supergroup (Los Angeles Times)
* A History of Music Supervision in Advertising (SynchTank.com)
* A Deep Dive into John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' by His Biographer, Lewis Porter (Pt. 1) (WBGO)
* Don’t Expect to See Concerts Before 2022, Top Touring Exec Marc Geiger Says (Variety)
* The future of Tipitina's is uncertain: By fall, 'we're going to be in a really tough spot' (NOLA.com)* Discover the Sacred Afro-Cuban Chants That Are Celia Cruz's First-Known Recordings (Billboard)
* Ambrose Akinmusire – Every Calloused Moment (ZoneOut.com)
* Mike Clark, the Oakland Groove behind Herbie, Chet and Charlie Brown (Jazz Journal)

Notes from the Net: Teo Macero passes away; Elling, King and Botti reviewed; Tom Scott in a tribute to Cannonball Adderley; and more

From all over the Internets right to your screen, here's the latest batch of short news items regarding musicians from St. Louis, recent visitors and coming attractions:

* It's something of a tradition here that, when possible, these compilations start with something about or related to Miles Davis. This time, there's sad news, as Davis' longtime record producer Teo Macero has died at age 82 after a long illness. Macero produced many of Davis' important recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, and his editing skills played a major role in shaping the finished form of albums like Bitches Brew and On The Corner. Here's a brief video in which Macero discusses his work with Davis:



* On a somewhat related note, veteran bassist Harvey Brooks, who has worked with musicians including Bob Dylan, Al Kooper, and the short-lived 1960s rock supergroup the Electric Flag, also was part of Davis' Bitches Brew sessions. In the video window below, you'll find a recent interview with Brooks which he discusses Davis and the making of Bitches Brew.



* A three-day "Miles Davis Jazz Summit" was held at Manhattan School of music, featuring a panel discussion moderated by Marcus Miller; a concert of Davis' small group music from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s; and complete renditions of of the Gil Evans-arranged albums Miles Ahead and Porgy and Bess performed live at Zankel Hall in NYC by the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra with guest artist Dave Liebman on saxophone.

* There's also news about a couple of trumpet players who recently have visited St. Louis. From AllAboutJazz.com, a review of trumpeter Chris Botti's recent two-week residency at Bay Area jazz club Yoshi's. Botti played the Touhill Performing Arts Center in January.

* Meanwhile, trumpeter John Brunious, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band's leader and senior member, has passed away at age 67 after an apparent heart attack. The PHJB played the Argosy Alton Casino just last month. Brunious' musical friends and colleagues planned a traditional New Orleans jazz funeral for the trumpeter.

* Nate Chinen of the New York Times reviews a joint performance at NYC's Allen Room by singers Kurt Elling, who's played Jazz at the Bistro a couple of times in recent years, and Nancy King, who has recorded for the St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ label.

* Saxophonist Tom Scott, who will be in St. Louis in April for the Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, is one of the key players on Cannon Re-Loaded, a new CD paying tribute to the late saxophonist Cannonball Adderley.

* Another group of recent performers at the Bistro, The Bad Plus, just played the Portland Jazz Festival in Oregon. The Festival apparently did well both artistically and financially with a substantive and adventurous lineup that included shows from Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman, lending credence to yr humble editor's perennial contention that such events need not be watered down to be financially viable. Veteran jazz journalist Howard Mandel adds his perspective on the Portland fest in this blog post.

* Lastly, speaking of financial viability, here's some food for thought in an election year. Due to the often uncertain financial and employment prospects for professional musicians, many jazz performers are among the 50 million Americans who lack health insurance; this article from the New York Times looks at the plight of two working NYC musicians who lack coverage and recently have been stricken with serious illnesses, while Secret Society composer/blogger Darcy James Argue offers cogent and sensible commentary on the subject.

(Edited 2/26/08 to fix a typo.)