Sunday Session: February 12, 2017

Jon Hendricks

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

* Happy 30th birthday, 'world music' (PRI)
* The Enduring Mystery of Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Surrealistic Pillow’ (Observer.com)
* THE BEAT GOES ON: New Albany jazz master Jamey Aebersold brings music to community (Jeffersonville News and Tribune)
* What if you could touch and feel a score? (CreateDigitalMusic.link)
* “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers” - Classic comedy album a Firesign of the times (Boston Globe)
* 13 Musicians Influenced by Author William S. Burroughs (Paste)
* Michael Chapman: the man who connects Elton, Bowie, Nick Drake and Sonic Youth (The Guardian)
* "This is not a woman's issue' – tackling conducting's gender problem (The Guardian)
* David Axelrod, Influential Musician and Producer, Dies (Billboard)
* The Music Legal Forecast for 2017 (Vice.com)
* Review: 'Celebrate Ornette' Gives Avant-Jazz Legend an All-Star Farewell (Rolling Stone)
* Crate Diggers: Mats Gustafsson -A rare visit to the free jazz giant’s two and a half tonne vinyl cave (The VinylFactory.com)
* The tables have turned, but will vinyl’s record sales last? (TheDrum.com)
* When Discs Die (Tedium.co)
* These Seven Black Composers Made Classical Music History (Nashville Public Radio)
* The Art Ensemble Of Chicago captivate at Cafe OTO (Jazzwise)
* After 50 Years, Hendricks’ “Miles Ahead” Remake Set for NYC Premiere (DownBeat)
* Dear Creepy Men of the Music Industry, Please Stop (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* The cassette revival needs blank tapes – meet the hoarders coming to the rescue (FactMag.com)
* Billboard's 2017 Power 100 List Revealed (Billboard)
* A Sonic Introduction to Avant-Garde Music: Stream 145 Minutes of 20th Century Art Music, Including Modernism, Futurism, Dadaism & Beyond (OpenCulture.com)
* Does College Radio Even Matter Anymore? (Pitchfork)
* How Railroads Influenced Jazz Music (WBUR)
* Al Jarreau: An American Original (Jazz Times)
* ‘Spine-tingling’ lost Bob Marley tapes restored after 40 years in a cellar (The Guardian)
* The Standard Bearers: In Jazz Categories, The Grammys Remain Focused On The Past (NPR)
* Spinal Tap Reunite to Sue Record Label for $400 Million (Guitar World)
* Krall Revisits Songbook on New Album, Announces World Tour (DownBeat)
* “I’ll be there”: Charlie Haden was the Tom Joad of jazz, and his Liberation Music Orchestra lives on (Salon.com)
* How 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' Became The World's First Gold Record (NPR)

Music Education Monday: Aebersold's "Jazz Handbook," plus Latin percussion classes with Dafnis Prieto

This week for "Music Education Monday," we've got a primer for aspiring jazz players that also may be of interest to non-playing fans, plus a master class in Latin percussion techniques:

* Known throughout the jazz world as a leading purveyor of jazz education materials and proprietor of summer jazz camps, saxophonist and educator Jamey Aebersold for years also has given away for free a 56-page tome called simply Jazz Handbook.

While aimed primarily at beginning and intermediate musicians, the collection of exercises, lists, short articles, and more also conceivably may be of interest to more advanced musicians, and even to fans looking for some basic "Jazz 101" type knowledge.

You can download a free copy of the Jazz Handbook in PDF format here.

* In addition to being a busy working musician, Cuban-born percussionist Dafnis Prieto also is a professor at NYU’s Steinhardt School, a frequent clinician at other colleges and universities, and a 2011 winner of a Macarthur Fellowship, aka "the genius grant." (St. Louis jazz fans also may recall Prieto from when his trio played at Jazz at the Bistro back in 2012.)

In the video windows below, you can check out two lessons from Prieto. The first is a playlist of excerpts from a master class he did a few years ago at Loyola University in New Orleans, in which he offers an overview of various Latin percussion styles and how to play them. In the second, Prieto gives a full lesson specifically on "rhythmic independence within Latin drumming" and plays a solo demonstrating some of his concepts.

Sheet Music Plus offering 20% discounts on Aebersold Jazz, Music Minus One book/CD sets

Sheet Music Plus is having its annual Play Along Sale, with 20% discounts on more than 7000 book/CD sets, including all titles from Music Minus One and Jamey Aebersold Jazz. Play Alongs include sheet music and an accompaniment recording, and are available for a variety of instruments in many genres.

The sale ends April 30, 2009. To get the 20% discount (and, in the process, generate a few pennies in commissions to help support St. Louis Jazz Notes), please visit the Sheet Music Plus Play Along Sale page here.

Also this month, Sheet Music Plus is offering 20% off select chamber music and jazz/pop arrangements for small ensembles, including thousands of string quartets, piano trios, woodwind quintets, brass quintets and more, and 20% off the entire ADG Productions catalog, which includes publisher of celtic, jazz, latin and instructional music titles for piano, guitar, flute and jazz instruments.

(Edited 4/10/09 to fix a couple of typos.)