Sunday Session: February 7, 2021

Femi Kuti

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

* The Autobiography of Phil Woods: April in Paris 1968 (Jazz Times)
* Spotify’s latest invention monitors your speech, determines your emotional state… and suggests music based on it (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* YouTube says music artists' income could fall if it must pay more for streams (The Guardian)
* Tony Bennett's Battle With Alzheimer's (AARP.org)
* Mississippi Delta: The root of the blues in photos (Nashville Tennessean)
* Playlist: Haitian Rhythms And The Music Of New Orleans (NPR)
* The Velvet Mafia: the gay men who helped shape music in the 60s (The Guardian)
* Different beat: how Fela Kuti’s son and grandson are modernising the dynasty (The Guardian)
* A Time For The Blues (DownBeat)
* The Greatest and Yacht-iest of the Doobie Brothers, According to Michael McDonald (Vulture.com)
* Got the blues? Listen to these 25 essential Mississippi Delta blues songs (Beauregard Daily News)
* Revisiting the Tender Sounds of Dusty Springfield (The New Yorker)
* Mozart did not consider himself a tortured genius (Christian Science Monitor)
* Ben Sidran: The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma (Nardis) (Jazz Times)
* Here’s Where You Can Donate to Help Struggling Music Industry Workers (Rolling Stone)
* How pianist Jason Moran is exploring art and Black influences to get through the pandemic (NBC News)
* The Last Remaining Juke Joints in America (SPIN)
* Planning for the Future of Van Gelder Studio (Jazz Times)
* Danny Ray, James Brown’s Longtime ‘Cape Man’ and Emcee, Dead at 85 (Rolling Stone)
* STEAL THIS PLAN (AntiGravityMagazine.com)
* Ma Rainey’s Blues Power (Tidal.com)
* Hermosa Beach’s Lighthouse Cafe plans to reopen in March under new ownership (Hermosa Beach Daily Breeze)
* Music Venue Owners And Artists Reflect On How The Pandemic Changed Their Industry (NPR)
* How Black Composers Shaped the Sound of American Classical Music (NPR)
* You might know the Bakersfield Sound, but how well do you know the Lakeview Sound? (KGET)
* Béla Fleck’s Journey To Find Truth In Origins Of The Banjo (WBUR)
* How the US Civil War Influenced Music (History.com)
* While Hollywood Had the Sunset Strip, East L.A. Had the ‘Latin Strip’ (LATaco.com)

Sunday Session: July 12, 2020

Jason Moran

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

* Buddy Guy on Weathering the COVID Storm and the Road Ahead (Rolling Stone)
* Watch Exclusive uDiscover Music Interview With Jazz Saxophonist Azar Lawrence (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* The Story of Louis Armstrong’s Final Tape (LouisArmstrongHouse.org)
* Terri Lyne Carrington Tops 2020 DownBeat Critics Poll (DownBeat)
* Talking Heads Drummer Chris Frantz on His New Memoir and the Last Time He Saw David Byrne (Rolling Stone)
* Ennio Morricone: 10 of his greatest compositions (The Guardian)
* How Ennio Morricone Changed the Way Movies Sound (Pitchfork.com)
* Remembering Ennio Morricone: His 10 most mind-blowing film scores (Los Angeles Times)
* The Great Reformatting (TheAmericanScholar.org)
* The Pedal Steel Guitar Slides Into Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Gearhead: Ralph Towner’s Acoustic Arsenal (Jazz Times)
* Empire at 40 | How Ben Burtt Turned a Bathtub of Raccoons and Industrial Noise into a Star Wars Soundscape (StarWars.com)
* 50 years ago Hendrix, the Allman Brothers and B.B. King played the Byron Pop Festival (Macon Telegraph)
* Krautrock, communism and chaos: the anarchic story of Can (LouderSound.com)
* Joni Mitchell, Isle of Wight 1970: the day the music nearly died (The Guardian)
* The Mid-Atlantic’s Flourishing Jazz, Funk And R&B Scene Spotlit By Black Fire Records (DownBeat)
* Lady A, Formerly Lady Antebellum, Sue Seattle Blues Singer Lady A (Pitchfork.com)
* Anita ‘Lady A’ White Will Not Be Erased (Vulture.com)
* Pop music is getting faster (and happier) (BBC)
* Jason Moran Journeys to the Dawn of Jazz Cinema (Criterion.com)
* France’s Future Jazz Revival Is Built on House and Hip-Hop Grooves (Bandcamp.com)
* Music Maven Steve Stoute’s Pitch for Artists: Keep All the Money (Bloomberg.com)
* Wire Playlist: Musician-Owned Record Labels in Jazz in the 1940s–60s (The Wire)
* ‘I Don’t Think Anybody Alive Can Tell Me What to Do’ Willie Nelson at his most Willie Nelson (Vulture.com)
* The Many Electronic Surprises To Be Found In The Nation's Vast Archive Of Folk Music (NPR)
* Cleve Eaton 1939–2020 (Jazz Times)
* Just for Us (Chamber-Music.org)

Sunday Session: January 19, 2020

Gregory Porter

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

* Beatles' Abbey Road tops US bestselling vinyl LPs of the 2010s (The Guardian)
* Gary Clark Jr.: "Music is my religion" (CBS News)
* Jason Moran is making jazz history. Don’t miss it.  (Washington Post)
* “If You’re in the Song, Keep on Playing”: An Interview With Pharoah Sanders (The New Yorker)
* Jonathan Kreisberg: A Spirit Captured in Constant Motion (AllAboutJazz.com)
* A music artist says Apple Music pays her 4 times what Spotify does per stream, and it shows how wildly royalty payments can vary between services (Business Insider)
* The Sound and Myth of Charlie Parker at 100 (DownBeat)
* Jazz singer Gregory Porter is an ex-lineman with a blues-infused soul (TheUndefeated.com)
* Umbria Goes Pop (DownBeat)
* The Past Year, And Decade, In Music Listening: Video Rules, The Boy's Club Remains (NPR)
* New remastered Charlie Parker box set coming this February (JazzFM.com)
* Spotlight: Capitol Records Architect Louis Naidorf Sets the Record Straight on Myth of Tower's Iconic Design (Billboard)
* How Chicago Label International Anthem Is Rewriting the Rules of Jazz (Pitchfork)
* For Its Fifth Collection, Newvelle Issues Material From Staaf, Douglas (DownBeat)
* Telstar: The Song, And The Future That Never Was (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Alex Winter’s Frank Zappa Doc ‘Zappa’ Premieres at South by Southwest (Rolling Stone)
* Watch a Video For "Revival," the Lead Single From Gregory Porter's Forthcoming Album (WBGO)
* New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Announces 2020 Lineup (Jazz Times)
* Jazz pianist Kris Davis on pushing the boundaries of the piano (CBC Radio)
* Andrew Cyrille Lays His Declaration of Musical Independence on UT (Austin Chronicle)
* Inspired by John Cage, an Italian Collector Commissioned Leading Artists to Transform Pianos Into Weird and Wonderful Sculptures—See Them Here (ArtNet.com)

Sunday Session: September 1, 2019

Johnny Hodges

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

* Before & After: Miguel Zenón (Jazz Times)
* Inside the Jazz Household of Jason Moran and Alicia Hall Moran (Vogue)
* Music Charts Reflect The Changing Pace Of Culture And Society, Scientists Say (Forbes.com)
* Standing Grand gives concert sound while saving space (NewAtlas.com)
* The Survival of Iggy Pop (The New Yorker)
* Artist Spotlight: Theo Croker (Jazz Times)
* Roscoe Mitchell Returns (Chicago)
* Are Opening Acts Becoming A Thing Of The Past? (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Jazzmeia Horn is Steeped Tradition, Yet Fully Planted in the Present (DownBeat)
* 89 year-old piano legend Ahmad Jamal announces first solo album (JazzFM.com)
* Do vintage electric guitars really sound better with age? (Guitar)
* Improviser Evan Parker on the ‘Weight of Tradition’ and Staying in Motion (DownBeat)
* Charlie Parker Fest Captures A Bit of Bird’s Freewheeling Spirit (DownBeat)
* After Katrina, a priceless musical archive was thought lost. It showed up in Torrance (Los Angeles Times)
* Benny Carter vs. Johnny Hodges: Who Was Better? (Jazz Times)
* Moor Mother preaches Afrofuturist techno-gospel on Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes (FactMag.com)
* See Inside Jazz Great Dave Brubeck's Groovy Connecticut Home (Town and Country)
* What Ever Happened To The Pop Song Fade-Out? (WPR)
* Nile Rodgers On Writing Smash Hits And Reworking David Bowie's 'Let's Dance' (NPR)
* Delmark Records Focused on ‘a New Era’ of Creativity (DownBeat)
* Christian Sands & the Legacy of Erroll Garner (Jazz Times)
* 50 years on, soul music legend Don Bryant is getting the success he deserves (TheNational.ae)
* Haynes family: a slice of Roxbury history (Bay State Banner)
* Inside Steinway Piano’s secret underground vault (Fast Company)
* Saxophonist Dave Rempis builds a band with the stamina for deep dives (Chicago Reader)
* A Bird’s Life: How Charlie Parker Changed The Course Of Jazz History (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Why Art Pepper’s Straight Life is still the most harrowing jazz memoir ever (Jazz Times)
* Santana's Debut Album Turns 50 Years Old (NPR)
* Jazz Is a Music of Perseverance Against Racism and Capitalism (TruthOut.org)
* The coming death of just about every rock legend (The Week)

Sunday Session: December 16, 2018

Nancy Wilson

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:

* American Pop Music No Longer The Global King, But Its Christmas Music Can't Be Beat (Forbes.com)
* The Untold Labor That Helped Make Charlie Chaplin’s Film Scores (The Atlantic)
* Michael League: Snarky Puppy's Jazz-Schooled, Grassroots Visionary (AllAboutJazz.com)
* John Scofield: Old and New Inspirations (DownBeat)
* Blood on the Tracks: How Bob Dylan Birthed Bootleg Culture (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Jason Moran offers sublime tribute to WWI hero and ragtime pioneer James Reese Europe (Washington Post)
* Charles Lloyd is not into ‘ageism.’ The musician still loves touring at 80 (Durham Herald-Sun)
* The Wild Story Behind Aretha Franklin’s Long-Delayed Documentary (Vulture.com)
* Dave Douglas Interview (BurningAmbulance.com)
* We Jazz Festival Fosters Surprise and Discovery in Helsinki (DownBeat)
* Rediscovered Duke Ellington Film to Be Reshown After More Than 50 Years (Jazz Times)
* In a world of ‘algorithmic culture,’ music critics fight for relevance (Columbia Journalism Review)
* Wayne Shorter: How the Future Would Be (Stereophile)
* Streambait Pop - The emergence of a total Spotify genre (TheBaffler.com)
* Interview with Billy Cobham – Crosswinds and more! (Jazz in Europe)
* WFMU’s Free Music Archive Is Saved, Moving to New Home (Pitchfork.com)
* Donny McCaslin: In a Different Place (Jazz Times)
* Is It Important To Own Music? (Offbeat)
* The Cure, Janet Jackson, Radiohead Among Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Inductees For 2019 (NPR)
* John Coltrane’s Giant Steps and My Favorite Things Earn Gold Status (Jazz Times)
* Nancy Wilson, Legendary Vocalist And NPR 'Jazz Profiles' Host, Dies At 81 (NPR)
* Placemakers: Why Midsize Cities Are the Next Music Hubs (Hypebot.com)
* Van Morrison Discusses How Music Used to Be More Spontaneous and Communal (The New Yorker)
* Photographer Spends 10 Years Tracking Down The Original Locations Of Vinyl Covers (Demilked.com)
* 15 Saxophone Albums You Should Hear (SFJAZZ.ORG)

Sunday Session: November 4, 2018

Roy Hargrove

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:

* Sonny Fortune, Stalwart Saxophonist Of New York, Dies At 79 (NPR)
* Open Land: Meeting John Abercrombie (ECM) - The late guitarist's gentle spirit is captured in a moving documentary (Jazz Times)
* Nate Wooley: Plays Whole With Others (NationalSawdust.org)
* Big in Japan: A History of Jazz in the Land of the Rising Sun, Part 1 (AllAboutJazz.com)
* This Danish Band Plays Music Underwater. The Results Are Eerily Spectacular (Time)
* REPORT: 35th Conference of the Radio Jazz Research Group, Salzburg. – " Improvisation: New Perspectives (London Jazz News)
* Guitarist Jimmy Page looks back at 50 years of Led Zeppelin (Associated Press)
* Even Classical Music Is Getting Faster These Days (Rolling Stone)
* Did the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame wait too long on Bob Marley? (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
* The Residents’ Co-Founder Hardy Fox Dead at 73 (Rolling Stone)
* Meet The Women Pushing UK Jazz Forward (ClashMusic.com)
* Festival Jazz International Rotterdam 2018 (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Jason Moran: The Harlem Hellfighters review – the soldiers who brought jazz to Europe (The Guardian)
* Is Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram the Future of the Blues? (Rolling Stone)
* The Secret Jewish History Of Queen (The Forward)
* Bluesman Chris Thomas King says he’s been banned by the GRAMMYs (Offbeat)
* Adam O’Farrill Does Not Play Latin Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Resonance Records Marks 10-Year Anniversary at Birdland (DownBeat)
* Tuba in the House (Jazz Times)
* An Indie Music Expert Explains Why Artists Are Turning Away From Record Deals (Rolling Stone)
* Bob James Returns with Acoustic Trio Disc (DownBeat)
* Andrew Cyrille, Lifetime Achievement Honoree at the Vision Fest, Isn't Resting on His Laurels (WBGO)
* These Duck-Billed Dinosaurs Wore Their Instruments on Their Heads (LiveScience.com)
* What is All the Fuss About? Kenny Barron Takes Years of Experience and Plays in the Moment (VoiceOfOC.org)
* Life In Frank Zappa's Pad, 1968 (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Too much Christmas music can mentally harm you (BigThink.com)
* “The tyranny of collecting” – why I gave away my entire record collection (GetIntoThis.co.uk)
* Roy Hargrove, Grammy-Winning Jazz Trumpeter, Dies At 49 (NPR)
* Inside the Secretly Lucrative World of Solo Piano Music (Rolling Stone)

Sunday Session: August 12, 2018

Jason Moran

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:

* Randy Weston: Music is Life Itself (New Music Box)
* Houston celebrates jazz legend Arnette Cobb’s 100th birthday with music (Houston Chronicle)
* The Weirdest Musical Instruments Ever (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Alice Coltrane Concluded Trilogy with ‘Lord Of Lords’ (DownBeat)
* John Cage's ten rules for students and teachers (BoingBoing.net)
* Wisdom from a Master (OpenSkyJazz.com)
* How music has responded to a decade of economic inequality (Vox.com)
* An Interview with Jason Moran (The Believer)
* Four Pro Tips For Touring With Paul Simon (Billboard)
* These tiny, stretchy speakers and microphones let your skin play music (Science)
* These LA Artists Are Keeping Jazz Raw as Hell (Vice.com)
* The Rise and Decline of Guitarist Emily Remler (Jazz Times)
* Musicians Only Get 12 Percent of the Money the Music Industry Makes (Rolling Stone)
* 2018 Newport Jazz Festival: Special Recap (Jazz Times)
* Warner Music Group Sells Its Entire Stake in Spotify (Variety)
* Henry Threadgill’s sonic worlds (Qwest.tv)
* 'Hipster kryptonite': will CDs ever have a resurgence? (The Guardian)
* The Band's Robbie Robertson Looks Back On 50 Years Of 'Music From Big Pink' (NPR)
* This Band Launched a Business Writing Theme Songs for Tech Companies (Time)
* The Strange David and Goliath Saga of Radio Frequencies (Wired)
* Coming of Age in the Loft Jazz Scene (New York Times)
* In Various Constructs: Remembering Cecil Taylor (Viewpoint)
* The 50 most influential dance music albums of all time (MixMag.net)
* Ghost Man at the Player Piano (FYIMusicNews.ca)
* Delayed Trane: John Coltrane’s Lost Album (Jazz Times)
* Jazz em Agosto Spotlights Zorn’s Panoramic Work (DownBeat)
* Q&A with Chris Potter: Crossing Currents with Dave Holland and Zakir Hussain (Jazziz)

Sunday Session: July 22, 2018

Chucho Valdés

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:

* Major Labels Are Upset That They Aren’t Getting More Songs Onto Spotify Playlists, Deutsche Bank Says (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Classical Composers Have Been Inspired For Centuries By Insects (NPR)
* Montreal Jazz Fest Shapes Surrounding City—and Vice Versa (DownBeat)
* The Stone: An Oral History - Musicians and scenesters recount their experiences at John Zorn's storied NYC venue (Jazz Times)
* Guru’s ‘Jazzmatazz’ Uniquely Tied Together Jazz and Hip-Hop (DownBeat)
* In Tandem, the Morans Expand Notions of Art (DownBeat)
* Mary Halvorson: Reinventing the Identity of the Jazz Guitarist (Jazz Times)
* Joey DeFrancesco on Working With Van Morrison (Jazz Times)
* Vijay Iyer: 'We're all improvisers and we're all creative people making choices every step of the way.' (List.co.uk)
* Sound Matters: A History Of Legendary Recording Studios (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* The Perils Of A Cruise Ship Musician (FYIMusicNews.ca)
* Universal Music Group Is Making a Huge Move Into Nigeria (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Billie Holiday: A Complex Woman, A Jazz Legend (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Copenhagen Festival Spans Poetic Swing, Hard-Bop Themes (DownBeat)
* The Charles Lloyd Interview: Life of a Song (Jazz Times)
* George Wein: A Life and Legend in Jazz (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The scam industry: How the hip-hop boom sets hopefuls up for failure (AV Club)
* Asante Drum Language (Afropop.org)
* Chucho Valdés and Irakere: A Musical Revolution (SFJAZZ.org)
* Sun Ra in Sin City The origins of an outer-space empire (Lapham's Quarterly)
* The Music of Fred Rogers’ Neighborhood (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: March 4, 2018

Muhal Richard Abrams

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:

* Why the hottest films are now music documentaries (The Guardian)
* Brenda Navarrete Brings A Spiritual Drumbeat To The Female Vanguard Of Cuba (NPR)
* Guitarist Bill Frisell Shares Memories of Working With Rock Greats: Exclusive Interview (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Where Did 'Jazz,' the Word, Come From? Follow a Trail of Clues, in Deep Dive with Lewis Porter (WBGO)
* Gibson Boss Blames Guitar Stores for Financial Woes (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Jason Moran Remembers Muhal Richard Abrams (Jazz Times)
* Dave Douglas on Monk and Dizzy (GreenleafMusic.com)
* Antonio Sánchez Performs ‘Birdman’ Score at UCLA (DownBeat)
* The Van Gelder Studio: Peek inside the room where classic jazz happened (NorthJersey.com)
* David Bowie's Last Secret Weapon (Forbes)
* Legendary Songwriter Carl Sigman’s Son on the Loss of his Father’s Archives (American Songwriter)
* At the Guthman Competition, innovative instruments just might predict the future of music (Atlanta)
* What Muhal Meant: The Liberating Credo of Muhal Richard Abrams (Village Voice)
* Charlie Watts: it wouldn't bother me if Rolling Stones split (The Guardian)
* Live Review: Dave Douglas Presents “Dizzy Atmosphere” at JALC (Jazz Times)
* The CD Business Isn’t Dying—It’s Just Evolving (Fast Company)
* Pianists Recall Geri Allen’s Legacy at PDX Festival (DownBeat)
* Terence Blanchard talks back (Offbeat)
* The first black-owned record label in the U.S. wanted to “uplift” black people through music (Timeline.com)
* A Guide to Anthony Braxton’s Robust Jazz Discography on Bandcamp (Bandcamp.com)
* Spotify Was a Terrible Business. Then the Record Labels Stepped In (Bloomberg.com)
* Reid Miles, The Guy Who Designed Blue Note (Jazz in Europe)
* Mapping the places that made Central Avenue swing (Curbed.com)
* Jazz's New British Invasion (Rolling Stone)
* Dave Burrell Remembers Sunny Murray (Jazz Times)
* On “Black Times,” Afrobeat Artist Seun Kuti Extends His Father’s Legacy (Bandcamp.com)
* Chasing The American Dream with Cuban Pianist Alfredo Rodríguez (WBGO)

Sunday Session: February 4, 2018

Quincy Jones

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:

* Jazz-Related Grammy Award Winners Announced (Jazz Times)
* Jazz and Blues Artists Make a Slippery Impression at the 2018 Grammy Awards (WBGO)
* We Asked a Top A&R Executive If Rock Is Really Dead (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Burkina Faso Music Honored at Grammys, but Artists Cry Foul (VOANews.com)
* Finding meaning in music again (The Globe and Mail)
* Junk Shop Classical On Stravinsky: Music Stories Told £1 LP By £1 LP (TheQuietus.com)
* Rhythm and Reaction: how jazz made Britain swing before rock ‘n’roll began (INews.co.uk)
* Quincy Jones Has a Story About That (GQ)
* Chuck Berry-Fats Domino tribute at the Grammys misses the boat (Los Angeles Times)
* Blood, Sweat & Tears’ Groundbreaking Debut @50 (BestClassicBands.com)
* Mingus’ “Tijuana Moods” Reborn (Jazz Times)
* After the Grammys, it may be time's up for the music industry (Los Angeles Times)
* How to Be a Responsible Music Fan in the Age of Streaming (Pitchfork.com)
* Jason Moran: Modernistic, Historical and More (Jazz Times)
* A Q&A with jazz heiress Catherine Russell (Arkansas Times)
* DC-Area Record Label Cuneiform Has Gone on Hiatus, and It May Not Come Back (Washingtonian)
* Keeping the Art of Silent Film Music Alive (AtlasObscura.com)
* Piano Madness: Kris Davis and Craig Taborn in Freewheeling Dialogue (Village Voice)
* David Byrne on Trump, Cultural Appropriation and Why He Won't Reunite Talking Heads (Rolling Stone)
* A Tribute to James Jamerson and His Lost Funk Machine (Reverb.com)
* Link Wray, Inventor of the Power Chord, Snubbed Again (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Drummer Mike Reed Reflects on the Racist Encounter That Sparked 'Flesh & Bone' (WBGO)
* Spotify (Finally) Adds Songwriter and Producer Credits (Variety)
* Wherein three national corporations control nearly all of San Francisco's live music (DNALounge.com)
* Best Buy will cease selling CDs later this year (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Temptations' Dennis Edwards dies at 74: 'Helped define Detroit soul (Detroit Free Press)

Sunday Session: November 5, 2017

Muhal Richard Abrams

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have appeared in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* John McLaughlin on His Final U.S. Tour, Revisiting Mahavishnu Orchestra (Rolling Stone)
* Jack DeJohnette is a Deluxe Drummer (Montreal Gazette)
* Donald Fagen: ‘With Steely Dan there was no career plan’ (The Times)
* 'I never envisaged what lay ahead’: the first issue of Rolling Stone (The Guardian)
* Music and space (Varsity.co.uk)
* Steely Dan reviewed, London O2 Arena, October 29, 2017 (Uncut.co.uk)
* Playlist: The Roots, And The Reach, Of Fats Domino (NPR)
* Russian Espionage and Electromagnetic Fields: The Story of the Theremin (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Orrin Keepnews: Thelonious Monk—A Remembrance (Keyboard)
* Want to 'train your brain'? Forget apps, learn a musical instrument (The Guardian)
* When Bob Dylan Saw God (Esquire)
* Introducing: Quincy Jones’ Qwest TV (Jazzwise)
* Breaking: Florida Supreme Court Rules That Oldies Recordings are Public Domain (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Thelonious Monk: Tributes from Colleagues (Keyboard)
* Jazz Community Unites To Support Puerto Rico Relief Efforts (NPR)
* I can go for that: how soft rock finally got cool (The Guardian)
* Muhal Richard Abrams Dies at 87 - Hugely influential pianist-composer co-founded the AACM (Jazz Times)
* Muhal Richard Abrams, A Sweepingly Influential Jazz Artist, Has Died At Age 87 (NPR)
* Muhal Richard Abrams, jazz champion and innovator, dies at 87 (Chicago Tribune)
* Muhal Richard Abrams, An Artist Always Looking Forward, Leaves Us Behind (WBGO)
* The Musical Revolution of Muhal Richard Abrams (The New Yorker)
* Billie Holiday to perform live in Los Angeles 58 years after her death (The Independent)
* Chuck D of Public Enemy and Prophets of Rage opens up about the history of rap and hip-hop (Orange County Register)
* This Kennedy Center director is making performance art out of jazz. Can he bring fans along? (Washington Post)
* Sonny Rollins Spent A Mythical 'Night at the Village Vanguard' 60 Years Ago Today (NPR)
* Bad Plus thrills fans at SFJazz Center on last tour of original lineup (SFGate.com)
* Will Spotify Kill the Local Music Scene? (ElectricLiterature.com)
* How Advertisers Get Away With Using Fake Versions of Your Favorite Songs (Pitchfork)

Sunday Session: August 6, 2017

Jason Moran

Here's the roundup of various music-related items of interest that have appeared in StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Concert Review: Umbria Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* SZA: ‘The record company took my hard drive from me’ (The Guardian)
* Did Meek Mill and TIDAL Just Scam the Billboard 200? (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Is Schlager Music The Most Embarrassing Thing Germany Has Ever Produced?
Deutschland über us. (TheAwl.com)
* Sax Greats Remember Coltrane on 50 Year Anniversary of His Death (Observer.com)
* July '67 altered the sound, sensibilities of Detroit musicians — and those yet to be born (Detroit Free Press)
* The Inside Story Of SoundCloud's Collapse (Buzzfeed)
* Kamasi Washington: An Opinion of Difference (Jazz Times)
* The Best Band Nobody Can Sign (TheFader.com)
* An Archive of Iconic Photos from the Golden Age of Jazz: William Gottlieb’s Portraits of Dizzy, Thelonious, Billie, Satchmo & More (OpenCulture.com)
* Concert Security's New Frontier (Rolling Stone)
* Seeing Aretha Franklin Sing For The Last Time (NPR)
* Meet The Kenyan Collective Bridging The Gap Between Traditional And Electronic Music (TheFader.com)
* Kamasi Washington Announces New Tour, Reveals 'Harmony of Difference' EP Release Date (OkayPlayer.com)
* BANFF | Q&A: 29 Questions For Vijay Iyer (MusicalToronto.org)
* Sad Songs, Artificial Intelligence and Gracenote’s Quest to Unlock the World’s Music (Variety)
* Who Was Bix? Beiderbecke Museum Has Answers (DownBeat)
* Why Are So Many Heritage Artists on the Road Again? This Explains Everything. (AJournalOfMusicalThings.com)
* Brian Wilson review – frail Beach Boy isn't made for these times (The Guardian)
* This music production tool is the reason why all new music sounds the same (Qz.com)
* Review: Warsaw Summer Jazz (Jazz Journal)
* The Problem with NPR's '150 Greatest Albums Made by Women' List (The Stranger)
* Satellites Are Spinning: Notes on a Sun Ra Poem (The Paris Review)
* Metheny Goes Nordic at Molde Fest (DownBeat)
* Time Machines: The Life and Music of Conlon Nancarrow (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Jazz Pianist Jason Moran on Artistic Self-Determination (Bandcamp.com)
* Inside the Music Publishing World's Epic Struggle to Build a Single Song Database (Billboard)
* The Swampers return to their sweet home thanks to Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine (AlabamaNewsCenter.com)
* The Brief Career and Self-Imposed Exile of Jutta Hipp, Jazz Pianist (Longreads.com)
* This Map Shows The Top-Selling Musician Born In Each State (CraveOnline.com)

Sunday Session: November 29, 2015

Mary Halvorson

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have turned up recently in StlJN's inbox:

* The Langston Hughes Project, Barbican, review: Ice-T reinvents himself (The Telegraph UK)
* Why rap should share a stage with poetry and jazz (TheConversation.com)
* The Inside Story of David Bowie's Stunning New Album, 'Blackstar' (Rolling Stone)
* What do you get the collector who has everything? How about Ringo Starr’s ‘White Album’ No.0000001? (Dangerous Minds)
* Guitar Trailblazer Mary Halvorson Turns Jazz on Its Head (Rolling Stone)
* Maceo Parker: 98% Funky Stuff (SFJazz.org)
* INTERVIEW: David Amram (CD Box Set David Amram’s Classic American Film Scores 1956-2016 and UK appearances Nov 29 to Dec 3) (LondonJazzNews.com)
* How a Kid Running an Obscure Music Forum Became the Target Of the UK's Biggest Ever Piracy Case (Vice.com)
* What I Learned About The Record Industry By Carsharing With A Millenial (MusicThinkTank.com)
* Watch as Allen Toussaint gets the jazz funeral treatment he richly deserved (AV Club)
* Jazz Guitar Great Bucky Pizzarelli Recovering From Stroke (Jazz Times)
* Moran, Threadgill Lead Tribute to Cecil Taylor in Harlem (DownBeat)
* Interstellar Overdrive: A Heavy Music Fan’s Guide to Forgotten Synth Icons (Vice.com)
* How Kickstarter Helped a 60s Legend Preserve a Piece of Rock History (Vanity Fair)
* Manfred Eicher: the man who made ECM on working with Keith Jarrett, Steve Reich and Arvo Part (Irish Times)
* Train Songs, Freedom, The Blues and Country Music (UDiscoverMusic.com)

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)

Music Education Monday: A master class with Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer

In addition to being two of the top pianists in contemporary jazz, both Jason Moran and Vijay Iyer (pictured) are past winners of much-coveted MacArthur Fellowships (aka "the genius grant"), and both have developed accompanying reputations as deep thinkers.

For this week's "Music Education Monday," here's a small window into the minds of both men, via a video of a joint masterclass they did in September 2014 at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Moran is a member of the NEC faculty, while Iyer is now a professor at Harvard in nearby Cambridge, MA.

Sunday Session: April 5, 2015

Gil Scott-Heron

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

* Review: Various Artists The Complete Dial Modern Jazz Sessions Mosaic Records (Jazz Times)
* Six seconds that shaped 1,500 songs (BBC)
* The day the music ... spied? (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Investors think streaming could take music back to its glory days (QZ.com)
* Jason Moran takes liberties with his homage to Thelonious Monk (Washington Post)
* Cease, Desist and Rock Out with a Different Band Name (Paste)
* A Conversation With 'Alarm Will Sound' Artistic Director Alan Pierson (Cleveland Scene)
* Bill Laswell: No Boundaries (AllAboutJazz.com)
* What's Not to Love About the Trombone? (Popmatters)
* How performers conquer ‘unplayable’ works (BBC)
* Langston Hughes Presents the History of Jazz in an Illustrated Children’s Book (Open Culture)
* Gil Scott-Heron Documentary "Who Is Gil Scott-Heron?", Album "Nothing New" Out Digitally (Pitchfork.com)
* Six Jazz Artists Receive Doris Duke Artists Awards (Jazz Times)
* Remembering Billie Holiday at 100 (Baltimore Sun)
* In the year jazz went avant-garde, Ramsey Lewis went pop with a bang (Washington Post)
* The Art of Billie Holiday’s Life (The New Yorker)

Sunday Session: March 15, 2015

Jason Moran

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

* 'I have never been a success, never had a hit movie': Frank Sinatra Jr on living in the shadow of Ol' Blue Eyes (Daily Mail UK)
* It’s Music Because I Can Hear It: 1960s Experimental Music Festivals (New Music Box)
* Biting Breaks: Sampling and Ownership (New Music Box)
* How Music Hijacks Our Perception of Time (Nautilus)
* Jazz Has Become The Least Popular Genre In The U.S. (The JazzLine)
* Independent music labels project promising industry future (Los Angeles Times)
* Lew Soloff, Trumpeter for Blood, Sweat and Tears, Dies at 71 (New York Times)
* The "Harvard Sentences" Secretly Shaped the Development of Audio Tech (Gizmodo)
* Wilson Adds New Complexity to Holiday’s Music (DownBeat)
* ‘Blurred Lines’ Infringed on Marvin Gaye Copyright, Jury Rules (New York Times)
* "Blurred Lines" verdict a blow to creative expression (Los Angeles Times)
* Butman, Moscow Jazz Orchestra Impress at Russia’s Triumph of Jazz Festival (DownBeat)
* Jason Moran discusses the legacy and lore of the Village Vanguard (Time Out New York)
* Partch Advocates’ Sensibility Makes Sense Of Bizarre (Classical Voice America)
* Anton Fig: Behind the Band Stand (AllAboutJazz.com)
* How Verve Records Got Gutted (The Daily Beast)
* How a Star Trumpeter Makes Money Even When Jazz Can't (Bloomberg Business)

Sunday Session: December 28, 2014

Sun Ra

For your Sunday reading enjoyment and edification, some noteworthy news stories from the past week about jazz, creative music, and more:

* 7 Visionary Women Who Paved The Way For Electronic Music (Champion Up North)
* Interview with Jason Moran (Film Music)
* Thailand’s ‘Gong Highway’ (New York Times)
* Café Society: Swing Historical music diluted by a history lesson (Jazz Times)
* Threadgill, with Zooid Quintet, Finds New Voice at Brooklyn Performance (Down Beat)
* Whiplash: Two Thumbs Down (George Colligan)
* 'Birdman' Score Drummed Out Of Oscars As Academy Rejects Filmmaker's Appeal (Deadline.com)
* Market for vinyl albums grows in Columbia and nationwide (Columbia Daily Tribune)
* Key Change: American Jazz Musicians Witness History in Cuba (NBC)
* Why 2015 will be the end of an era in music (Quartz.com)
* Our Times: The Louis Armstrong childhood arrest that no one knew about (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
* Sun Ra Memories by John Sinclair (Iron Man Records)
* This orchestra is made from lamps and electricity (Wired UK)
* Iyer Caps Banner Year with Dynamic Concert at Brooklyn Academy of Music (Down Beat)
* Buddy DeFranco: The Clarinetist Who Swung To Bebop (NPR.org)
* The Night Before Christmas (The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong)
* A Sun Ra Christmas: Hear His 1976 Radio Broadcast of Poetry and Music (OpenCulture.com)

Notes from the Net: Oliver Lake reviewed, Peter Erskine interviewed, John Zorn goes west, and more

A day late but otherwise none the worse for the wear, here's our weekly compilation of news and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:

* Miles Davis' landmark album Kind of Blue officially turned 50 years old this past week, and the jazz blogs Straight No Chaser and Rifftides both had noteworthy commemorative posts. Also, here's a review of Scottish trumpeter Colin Steele's Kind of Blue tribute show, mentioned a couple of weeks ago in this space.

* Speaking of reviews, via Jazz.com, here's a report on saxophonist Oliver Lake's recent organ trio concert at Twins in Washington D.C., and, via AllAboutJazz.com, a review of Berne Concert, a new CD on Intakt Records for which Trio 3, which includes the former St. Louisan Lake (pictured), Andrew Cyrille on drums and bassist Reggie Workman, joined forces with pianist Irene Schweizer.

* And speaking of alto saxophonists with a St. Louis connection, SF Weekly had a nice feature on John Zorn's recent West Coast stand at Yoshi's. (Zorn studied here at Webster University before moving to NYC.)

* Following up on some items about recent visitors to St. Louis, here are a couple of reviews of the recent Thelonious Monk Town Hall tribute concert last week in NYC from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The concert featured ensembles led by Jason Moran (who was here last fall at the History Museum) and Charles Tolliver offering distinctly different takes on Monk's music.

* Here's a review of the Blue Note 7's album Mosaic. The group performed selections from the CD last month at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

* The Smithsonian magazine has an interesting interview with another recent visitor to the Sheldon, New Orleans singer and pianist Dr. John

* Here's the New York Times review of Bela Fleck's new Africa Project CD; the related tour comes to the Sheldon on April 1.

* There's also news of a couple of the guest artists scheduled to appear at the upcoming Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival in April. Drummer Peter Erskine recently appeared with DJ and blogger Leroy "The JazzCat" Downs on his radio program "Live With The JazzCat," and an MP3 of their conversation is archived online here. Meanwhile, trumpeter Jon Faddis will lead the the Chicago Jazz Ensemble in "The Art of the Composer: Music by William Russo and Frank Foster" featuring special guest Von Freeman on Friday, March 20 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago.

* Last but not least, jazz journalist Howard Mandel laments that the economic stimulus money going to the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the bill that recently passed by Congress and signed by President Obama will be distributed only to previous recipients of NEA grants. Mandel notes that while this will help preserve existing arts institutions at a time when income from other funding sources is down - a worthy goal, to be sure - it won't necessarily help stimulate much new activity.

(Edited 3/11/09 to add more tags.)