Sunday Session: August 22, 2021

John Coltrane

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

* Former Police Guitarist Andy Summers Reminisces On Montserrat Sessions In ‘Under The Volcano’ (Forbes.com)
* Angry concert-goer files complaint with Ohio Attorney General after missing James Taylor-Jackson Browne show at Blossom (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
* Highest Trane: John Coltrane’s World-Building Ascension (Jazz Times)
* Under The Volcano Review: Inside George Martin’s Musical Paradise (DenOfGeek.com)
* The Bad Plus Reformulates Again, Now as a Quartet with Ben Monder and Chris Speed (WBGO)
* A Guide to Free Jazz Drumming on Bandcamp (Bandcamp.com)
* At an Old Juke Joint in Mississippi, the Blues Are Alive (Smithsonian)
* If you take all the world’s emotions and put them into one sound, it’s Sérgio Mendes (San Diego Union Tribune)
* The Most Influential Pop-Rock Band Ever? The Monkees! (Vanity Fair)
* The history of electronic music is inside a warehouse in Harleysville, Pa. (WHYY)
* The Light At The End of The Tunnel is Fading (Offbeat)
* Meet the archivist who saved the historic footage that became ‘Summer of Soul’ (Los Angeles Times)
* How Respect Uses Design to Illuminate the Story of Aretha Franklin (Architechtural Digest)
* Marc Ribot Makes the Case for Loud Music (LitHub.com)
* Larry Harlow, Iconic Salsa Musician And Producer, Has Died At 82 (NPR)
* First Live Steely Dan Album in 25 Years Just Days Away (Guitar Player)
* Frank Zappa: ”I think my playing is probably more derived from folk music – Middle Eastern music, Indian music, stuff like that” (Guitar World)
* My musician friends in Afghanistan are hiding their musical instruments in fear of the Taliban: Young Afghan composer Arson Fahim (IndiaTimes.com)
* Country singer Tom T. Hall dies; wrote ‘Harper Valley PTA’ (Associated Press)
* ‘They deserve a place in history’: music teacher makes map of female composers (The Guardian)
* White out! Tony Herrington calls time on the monoculture that is the experimental sound and music industry (The Wire)
* The World's Most Famous Violins Were Treated With a Secret Chemical Mix, Study Shows (ScienceAlert.com)
* Philip Glass on Artificial Intelligence and Art (Auderdy.com)

Sunday Session: July 25, 2021

Terri Lyne Carrington

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

* The Strange Magic Of YouTube's '80s Remix Culture (NPR)
* Meet Terri Lyne Carrington (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Summer of Soul review – the best concert film ever made? (The Guardian)
* What Will Happen to My Music Library When Spotify Dies? (The Atlantic)
* The Sounds of Healing (ReasonsToBeCheerful.world)
* Pressing issues: vinyl revival held back by production capacity, Brexit and more (The Guardian)
* NEA Names Its 2022 Jazz Masters: Hart, Clarke, Wilson And Harrison (NPR)
* Billy Gibbons: storyteller, hot sauce merchant, lover of public transport (LouderSound.com)
* A Guide to the Early Music of John Coltrane on Prestige Records (Bandcamp.com)
* Are You Relivin’ the Years?: How Steely Dan Became a Cult Favorite for Millennials (TheRinger.com)
* The Essential Herbie Hancock (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Thelonious Monk Estate Says Biopic Starring Yasiin Bey Is Unauthorized (Pitchfork.com)
* Yasiin Bey says he won’t play jazz legend Thelonious Monk in biopic since family disapproves (NME.com)
* Jazz Night's Favorite Grooves Of 2021, So Far (NPR)
* Funkadelic's 'Maggot Brain' At 50: R&B, Psychedelic Rock And A Black Guitarist's Cry (NPR)
* ‘My strength isn’t looking at a computer screen. I wouldn’t join the music business today, because I don’t want to be a typist.’ (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* From Soldier to Jazz Giant: The Life of Billy Bang (Bandcamp.com)
* Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram Reflects On Leaving – And Sharing – '622' (NPR)
* The greatest keyboard players of all time, revealed (MusicRadar.com)
* Monterey Jazz Festival Quickly Sells Out Despite No Vaccination Requirements (DigitalMusicNews.com)

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: December 13, 2020

Branford Marsalis

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

* Revisit a Vibrant San Francisco Music Scene in Harlem of the West (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* The Treasure in Frank Zappa’s Secret Subterranean Vault (The New Yorker)
* Bob Dylan sells his entire catalog of songs to Universal (CNN)
* Paul McCartney opens up about friendship with John Lennon in new interview (NME.com)
* Matthew Shipp at 60 (CliffordAllen.me)
* How John Coltrane Introduced the World to His Radical Sound in the Groundbreaking Recording of “My Favorite Things” (OpenCulture.com)
* Knocking Down Barriers: An Interview with Abdul Wadud, 1980 (PointOfDeparture.org)
* 'Sittin' In: Jazz Clubs of the 1940s and 1950s' Opens a Portal to the Past, and a Dialogue (WBGO)
* Wait, Bob Dylan Owned ‘The Weight’? An Explainer (Rolling Stone)
* There Goes the Neighborhood: What really caused the decline of 18th & Vine (ScalawagMagazine.org)
* Meet säje, the vocal supergroup thriving on female empowerment (Jazz.fm)
* ‘Mostly Hard Times’: How the City’s Few Jazz Clubs Are Hanging On, Barely (Curbed.com)
* Whit Dickey on the Path to Wisdom (Jazz Times)
* Jazz City: The Once — and Future — Sound of Memphis (Memphis Flyer)
* Ukulele Ike, a.k.a. Cliff Edwards, Sings Again (Jazz Times)
* Tough Times for Jazz Promotion (Interview No. 5 with Wendy Kirkland of Chesterfield Jazz Club) (London Jazz News)
* 82% of Musicians Earn Less Than $270 a Year From Spotify and Other Music Streaming Music Platforms, Study Finds (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* The New Vocabulary of Funkadelic (1970) (AquariumDrunkard.com)
* 'I'm a song catcher': 60 years of Arhoolie Records, the label for a lost America (The Guardian)
* Mary Lou Williams, Writ Large (DownBeat)
* Branford Marsalis on the Music of ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,’ and Chadwick Boseman’s Performance (Variety)
* George Benson Innovates, Crafts Pop Hits (DownBeat)
* Concert Industry Lost $30 Billion in 2020 (Variety)
* Our Revels Now Are Ended (The American Scholar)
* Joni Mitchell: “I know what I want and I’m not afraid to stand up for it” (New Statesman)
* He's the Leader: An Interview with Aretha's "Main Man" Fonzi Thornton (PopMatters.com)
* “Then there was the time I was buried in a hole”: Phil Minton at 80 (The Wire)
* Berkeley jazz clarinetist marks the days of pandemic in ‘Plague Diary’ (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Charley Pride, Pioneering Black Country Singer, Dead at 86 (Rolling Stone)

Sunday Session: December 6, 2020

Wes Montgomery

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

* Adrift in Cosmic Quarantine: Randy Newman Turns 77 (Los Angeles Review of Books)
* Don't go breaking my art: it's time to axe the mood-ruining, bar-scrambling interval (The Guardian)
* Joni Mitchell’s Youthful Artistry (The New Yorker)
* Nadine Shah Says She Can’t Pay Rent Despite Having More Than 100,000 Spotify Monthly Listeners (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Kassa Overall: A Different Kind of Fusion (Jazz Times)
* JT 50: The History of JazzTimes (Jazz Times)
* Peter Guralnick Is 'Looking To Get Lost' In The Stories Of American Music Icons (NPR)
* John Coltrane's favorite composition was the love song he wrote for his first wife, Naima (Daily Kos)
* Halsey Accuses the Recording Academy of Demanding Bribes for Grammy Nominations and Awards (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Holiday Gift Guide 2020: Sparkling Sounds and Bright Ideas For the Jazz Lover in Your Life (WBGO)
* New York’s Jazz Standard Announces Permanent Closure (DownBeat)
* The Cultural Impact of the Technics SL-1200 Turntable, Then and Now (Discogs.com)
* How Prince Built a Madhouse (Jazz Times)
* New Documentary 'Billie' Explores Mysteries Of Billie Holiday And Her Biographer (WBGO)
* I Remember the Jazz Standard (Medium.com)
* Spotify could be working on an AI ‘plagiarism detector’ that tells you if your songs are original (MusicRadar.com)
* ‘The music business isn’t really a place for truth-tellers’ (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Strictly dropped us after we asked to be paid, say musicians (The Guardian)
* Musicians reimagine Ray Charles’ “Georgia On My Mind” to Encourage Voters (Offbeat)
* Wes Montgomery documentary will include the guitarist's unearthed home movies (Indianapolis Star)
* Musicians from every country form Earth Orchestra to record unique song (Reuters)
* When Sun Ra Went to Egypt in 1971: See Film & Hear Recordings from the Legendary Afrofuturist’s First Visit to Cairo (OpenCulture.com)
* Pat Metheny’s Cinematic Vision (DownBeat)
* Billie Holiday Documentary Chronicles Two Lives (DownBeat)
* What Do We Overlook About Dave Brubeck on His 100th Birthday? Authors, Musicians, and Family Members Reflect (Discogs.com)
* Gary Lucas and Nona Hendryx on the World of Captain Beefheart (PopMatters.com)
* And in the End (Rolling Stone)
* Behind the Overdog: Jazz United Takes a Closer Look at the 2021 Grammy Nominations (WBGO)
* #Wrapped and Sold (TheBaffler.com)

Sunday Session: October 4, 2020

Dorothy Ashby

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

* The Stanley Crouch I Knew (New York Review of Books)
* Cecil Taylor and his Mendota Players – Snapshots. By Paul Ruppa (The Wire)
* Captain Beefheart’s ’10 commandments of guitar playing’ (FarOutMagazine.co.uk)
* Deep algebra for deep beats: The beautiful sounds of musical programming (Ars Technica)
* Wire Playlist: Musician-Owned Record Labels In Jazz In The 1970s (The Wire)
* Dorothy Ashby: Pioneering Jazz Harpist (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* The Death and Rebirth of the Rock Saxophone (TrebleZine.com)
* In Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Company, An Overlooked Institution of Moog Music (Bandcamp.com)
* John Hollenbeck Takes Back Recordings And Forges Ahead (DownBeat)
* What It’s Like to Be Black in Indie Music (Pitchfork.com)
* New Dave Brubeck Releases in Fall Pipeline (Jazz Times)
* ‘The Story I’m Telling’: An Interview with Archie Shepp (New York Review of Books)
* Sharel Cassity Is ‘Fearless’ Amid Recovery (DownBeat)
* North Philly activist, poet, and musician Moor Mother on her free jazz musical, Afrofuturism, and Patti LaBelle (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Antidote to Isolation - Vijay Iyer On How Music Reconnects Us In A Socially Distant World (Steinway.com)
* “This is more than an annoying blip.” Aaron Liddard’s perspective on the future of the music industry (London Jazz News)
* Arlo Guthrie on His Dad, Protesting, and “Alice’s Restaurant” (UnderTheRadarMag.com)
* Wire Playlist: Tashi Dorji (The Wire)
* The Futility of Rolling Stone’s Best-Albums List (The New Yorker)
* A Deep Dive into John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' by His Biographer, Lewis Porter (Pt. 3) (WBGO)
* Harlem of the West: San Francisco's Fillmore District (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Maria Schneider: A Tale Of Two Worlds (Jazz Times)
* The Canterbury Scene: How A Bunch of Bookish Bohemians Became The Monty Pythons of Prog (UDiscoverMusic.com) * JT Video Premiere: The Love Letter Sessions by Jimmy Heath (Jazz Times)
* The True Poet of Jazz (City-Journal.org)

Sunday Session: August 9, 2020

Bobby Watson

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

* Give & Take with Musician Sonny Rollins (Tricycle.org)
* Kevin Whitehead: Play the Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film (Oxford University Press) (Jazz Times)
* All Hail King Shabaka! A Preternaturally Talented Artist Shifts Gears (Pollstar)
* Sheila Jordan: A Visit With the Jazz Child (Syncopated Times)
* Georgia Anne Muldrow Makes an Eddie Harris Playlist (Jazz Times)
* Looking for Jazz Uplift Under Lockdown (ZocaloPublicSquare.org)
* Steve Swallow, A little outside the ordinary (Jazz in Europe)
* The Changing Nature of Protest in Jazz (Jazz Times)
* 2020 NEA Jazz Masters: A Q&A with Reggie Workman (SFJAZZ.org)
* Sun Ra Shines Over Cafe Nine (New Haven Independent)
* An Unexpected Casualty of COVID-19? The Quality of Sound in Livestream Performances (Variety)
* Newport Jazz Festival Makes a Four-Pronged Pivot (Jazz Times)
* How Hawkwind's First Voyage Helped Spearhead Space Rock 50 Years Ago (PopMatters.com)
* Dame Shirley Bassey to release first new album in five years (BBC)
* Have sax, will travel: Joshua Redman talks jazz, pandemic, Boston then and now (Bay State Banner)
* Our Views: Congress shouldn't let the music die (New Orleans Advocate)
* John Coltrane’s Giant Steps Gets 60th Anniversary Reissue (Pitchfork)
* COVID-19 hit major labels much harder than it did Spotify (Music Industry Blog)
* The Modern All-Stars: A Newport Jazz Festival Special (NPR)
* Writer Don Marquis' jazz-loving life in New Orleans comes to a close, with one last dance (NOLA.com)
* A Majority of House Lawmakers Say Musicians Shouldn’t Get Paid for Radio Plays (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Bobby Watson Pins Down The Blues (DownBeat)
* Chops: Mark Dresser and Michael Dessen Play Telematic Music (Jazz Times)
* Elvis Presley’s Sessions With Nashville Cats Compiled on New ‘From Elvis in Nashville’ Set (Rolling Stone)
* Forgotten Heroes: Clarence White (Premier Guitar)
* Interview with William Hooker (The Free Jazz Collective)
* Midcentury Time Capsule: Inside Louis Armstrong’s Former Residence (Architizer.com)

Sunday Session: July 26, 2020

Charles Tolliver

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

* After The All-Stars: Live At The Lighthouse 1960-1972 (WFIU)
* Of “St. James Infirmary” and COVID-19 (Jazz Times)
* Wynton Marsalis On The Future Of New York City (Gothamist.com)
* Emitt Rhodes, RIP (BrooklynVegan.com)
* Soft Machine today (TheBlueMoment.com)
* Charles Tolliver: Blowing Down The Walls Of Trump’s Jericho (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Electric Sitars of the Psychedelic Era (Reverb.com)
* Setbacks Are Not Defeats For James Carter, Regina Carter (DownBeat)
* The Force Is Still Strong with John Williams (The New Yorker)
* The Man They Called ‘Trane’, Remembering A Jazz Giant (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Muddy Waters’ Former Chicago Home to Be Converted Into Museum (Rolling Stone)
* Q magazine's demise signals the end of the old music press (The Guardian)
* The Shifting Technique Of Kurt Rosenwinkel (DownBeat)
* Vocalist Annie Ross Dies At 89 (DownBeat)
* Sing into the funnel please: inside the Covid-19 lab hoping to declare singing safe (The Guardian)
* A Genre of Myths: A Jazz Reading List (Longreads.com)
* Annie Ross 1930–2020 (Jazz Times)
* Back To Square One, Uh, Phase Two (Offbeat)
* Lift Every Voice And Sing: Twenty Rousing #BlackLivesMatter Albums (AllAboutJazz.com)
* From a funk band to The Rex to Downbeat magazine. Jazz pianist Kris Davis won’t be pigeonholed (Toronto Star)
* Trane of No-Thought: How Meditation Inspired Jazz Great John Coltrane (LionsRoar.com)
* Gregory Porter To Perform For Launch Of NASA’S Mars 2020 Mission (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Annie Ross, Mid-Century Jazz Icon, Dead At 89 (NPR)
* The Newport Rebels and Jazz as Protest (JStor.org)
* The Golden Age: A Newport Jazz Festival Special (NPR)
* Composer Maria Schneider Returns, With A Reckoning, On 'Data Lords' (WBGO)
* Self-Determined, Then and Now: A Focus on Charles Tolliver (WBGO)
* In Conversation: Kamasi Washington, Robert Glasper, 9th Wonder, and Terrace Martin Invite You to Their Dinner Party (FloodMagazine.com)
* We Bet You Miss Weddings. America's Greatest Wedding Band Does Too (GQ)
* ‘Sex Machine’ at 50: Bootsy Collins Recalls ‘Twilight Zone’ Origins of Funky James Brown Hit (Rolling Stone)
* How Long Can New Orleans Survive Without Live Music? (Slate.com)

Items re-ordered 8/1/20 to fix a display issue.

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)

Sunday Session: June 21, 2020

Pee Wee Ellis

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

* British Jazz Pianist Keith Tippett Dies at 72 (DownBeat)
* Keith Tippett (1947 -2020) (FreeJazzBlog.org)
* Saved from Irrelevance: Sinatra’s Comeback Led to the Pop LP and the Concept Album (MagellanTV.com)
* Pandemic-Era Insights From Chick Corea, Christian McBride, Brandee Younger And More (DownBeat)
* NAMM Announces Plans To Hold 2021 Trade Show (DownBeat)
* ‘Live From Here With Chris Thile’ Canceled Because of COVID-19 Pandemic (Rolling Stone)
* Pee Wee Ellis: ‘America was built on slavery and exploitation – but change is coming’ (The Independent)
* UK government criticised for “unworkable” advice on reopening music venues (NME.com)
* Could Music Companies Help Black Artists By Adjusting Old Record Deals? (Rolling Stone)
* The Ascent of JLCO’s Marcus Printup (DownBeat)
* Criss Cross Jazz Is Back to Business (Jazz Times)
* On John Coltrane’s “Alabama” (The Paris Review)
* Matthew Shipp’s Steady Diet Of Improv And Hard News (DownBeat)
* Samora Pinderhughes is Hopeful About Our 'Black Spring,' But Wary About the Road Ahead (WBGO)
* For Vijay Iyer, A Livestream From The Village Vanguard is Another Opportunity to Speak Out (WBGO)
* Carmine Street Guitars: tuning up with New York’s finest plank-spankers (The Guardian)
* Now, About The Bad Name I Gave My Band (NPR)
* Experiment without Inhibition: A Celebration of Anthony Braxton (River Cities Reader)
* How The Jazzworld Is Indelibly Tied To The Travel Industry (DownBeat)
* The roots album that never got made (AfricasACountry.com)
* ‘Da 5 Bloods’ Composer Terence Blanchard on That Opening Scene and His Relationship with Spike Lee (Collider.com)
* Aaron Parks Brings Talk Talk, Brian Eno, and More to His Free-Roaming Jazz Songs (Bandcamp.com)
* Play It Forward: Lakecia Benjamin Sings Through Her Saxophone (NPR)
* Opinion: Black Protest Is Music. Learning The Melody Isn't Enough (NPR)
* Suites, shoots and leaves: Spanish opera house reopens with concert for plants (The Guardian)
* Live Nation Wants Artists to Take Pay Cuts and Cancelation Burdens for Shows in 2021 (Rolling Stone)
* Mr. Elegant: Jimmy Cobb Reconsidered (Jazz Times)
* The Fate of James Brown's Fortune Turns Thanks to a Most Unusual Court Decision (Hollywood Reporter)
* A Guide to Soul Jazz, Which Used Black Music History to Speak to the Present and to Build the Future (Bandcamp.com)
* The Subtlety Of Norah Jones (DownBeat)
* Thelonious Monk’s unlikely Palo Alto High show becomes thrilling live album (San Francisco Chronicle)
* The Juneteenth Jazz Jamboree (WFIU)
* A Look Back at TV’s Stars of Jazz (Jazz Times)
* High Culture Brought Low (Vulture.com)
* 10 Books Highlighting the History of Racial Injustice and Resistance in Jazz (WBGO)
* Quincy Jones Launches Initiative to Bring Jazz, Blues and Gospel Awareness Into Schools (Variety)

Sunday Session: June 7, 2020

Idris Ackamoor

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

* Buddy Bolden’s Blues (64Parishes.org)
* Killing Of George Floyd Prompts Response From Music Industry, Performers (DownBeat)
* Remembering “Uganda” Roberts (Offbeat)
* Robert Northern, who, as ‘Brother Ah,’ became a synthesizer of sounds, dies at 86 (Washington Post)
* Thundercat Looks For Connection During A Bewildering Moment (DownBeat)
* The Chance Music Of New Orleans’ Kidd Jordan (DownBeat)
* Lennie Niehaus, Jazz Player and Composer for Clint Eastwood Films, Dies at 90 (Variety)
* Idris Ackamoor: An Afro-Futurist Odyssey (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Sandy Jordan Research on Clifford Jordan (AtticToys.com)
* The Law Police Used To Discriminate Against Musicians Of Color (NPR)
* On Taking Lip [Service] (WQXR)
* Of George Floyd and John Coltrane (Jazz Times)
* Add some township jive! How London's jazz scene set itself apart (The Guardian)
* Pandemic Entrepreneurship for Jazz Musicians (Jazz Times)
* What Socially Distanced Live Performance Might Look Like (Vulture.com)
* Venues, Festivals Search For Hope Amid A Slowly Opening Economy (DownBeat)
* A TCM Series and a New Book Celebrate the Expansive Pleasures of Jazz in the Movies (WBGO)
* Jim Snidero Explores South Korea (Jazz Times)
* Lennie Niehaus 1929–2020 (Jazz Times)
* This Is How Much More Money Artists Earn From Bandcamp Compared to Streaming Services (Pitchfork.com)
* How Jazz Helped Fuel the 1960s Civil Rights Movement (OpenCulture.com)
* Think You've Been Productive in Quarantine? Try Checking in with Tim Berne and David Torn (WBGO)
* Arturo O’Farrill’s ‘Four Questions’ Brings Together Art, Activism (DownBeat)
* Swing Time: Ahmed Abdullah (Relix.com)
* How Can Artists Respond to Injustice? Thoughts from Seven Musicians (New Music Box)
* The Radically Inclusive Music of Ornette Coleman (The New Republic)
* The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The New Sounds Of Protest And Hope (NPR)

Sunday Session: February 16, 2020

Roberta Flack

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

* Philadelphia jazz great John Coltrane’s house ‘at risk,’ preservationists say (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Johnny Cash’s Gospel (The New Yorker)
* Photos: Winter Jazzfest 2020 (Jazz Times)
* Jeff Parker’s Shifting Mentality (DownBeat)
* Revisiting the ‘Stank Groove’ of Jimi Hendrix (DownBeat)
* The Virtuoso: Roberta Flack's career demands a new way of thinking about the word 'genius.' (NPR)
* How Will the Fire At Apollo Masters Affect the Local Music Industry? (Portland Mercury)
* New music label says it can use AI to find the next big artist (Engadget.com)
* 1,000 True Fans? Try 100 (A16Z.com)
* Vinyl Record Industry Fears 'Vinylgeddon' After Fire Burns Down Apollo Masters Plant (Billboard)
* Eddie Kendricks’ ‘People’ Was No Accident (DownBeat)
* Joanne Brackeen: Still Proudly Unorthodox (Jazz Times)
* Lyle Mays 1953 – 2020 (Jazz Times)
* Keyboard Remembers Lyle Mays (Keyboard)
* What Makes A Hit Pop Song (NPR)
* Oscar Peterson's Africa Suite has never been performed in its entirety — until now (CBC)
* Are Musicians Better Than They Were 30 Years Ago? (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Steve Feigenbaum Talks About Cuneiform Records, His Four-Plus Decades Selling Fringe Music, 
And Why He Thinks The Vinyl Revival Is Mostly Hype (Substack.com)
* Brain Wave Binaural beats and the poetics of brainhacking (RealLifeMag.com)
* Meet the Baltimore Jazz Collective and more faces of Charm City’s swing renaissance (Baltimore Sun)
* The story of Moondog: blind poet, Viking vagabond, genius composer (HappyMag.TV)
* ‘The Whole System Collapsed’: Inside the Music Industry’s Ongoing Distribution Crisis (Rolling Stone)
* Time Is on Dave Grusin’s Side (Jazz Times)
* Dopolarians: Free-Jazz Collaborators With a Southern Sound (Memphis Flyer)
* Carol Kaye: The Boss of the Bass Guitar (PleaseKillMe.com)
* In Memoriam: Claudio Roditi (1946–2020) (DownBeat)
* The Continuing Impact of the Detroit Jazz Collective Tribe (Bandcamp.com)
* On 'Standards Vol. 1,' Rafiq Bhatia Questions The Act Of Reinterpretation (NPR)

Sunday Session: January 5, 2020

John Coltrane

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

* Prospecting for Musical Ghosts Along Lost Highways and Byways (Texas Highways)
* Five music-tech forecasts that misfired in 2019 (Patreon.com)
* Why Philip Glass was still driving a cab in his 30s (PRI.org)
* ‘The Hot Rats Sessions’ offers a window into how Frank Zappa used a recording studio (DangerousMinds.net)
* Sacred Blue: Jazz Goes To Church In the 1960s (Indiana Public Media)
* Jeremy Pelt Digs into the Canon (DownBeat)
* John Coltrane Talks About the Sacred Meaning of Music in the Human Experience: Listen to One of His Final Interviews (1966) (OpenCulture.com)
* In Memoriam: Jazz Artists We Lost in 2019 (JAZZIZ)
* Neil Innes: Monty Python songwriter dies aged 75 (BBC)
* With state Polka Hall of Fame in its death throes, can polka music itself be far behind? (Green Bay Press Gazette)
* Dee Alexander Interprets Billie Holiday on Delmark Outing (DownBeat)
* Linda Shaver-Gleason: Exit Interview with a Public Musicologist (NationalSawdust.org)
* The History of the Fisheye Photo Album Cover (OpenCulture.com)
* The Decade in Rock That Rock Fans Hated (Jezebel)
* Storied North Carolina Festival Offers Vibrant Jazz Jams (DownBeat)
* Bass legend Carol Kaye blasts ‘Mrs. Maisel’ homage as ‘slander’ (New York Post)
* Beijing unveils plans to become ‘international music capital’ in 5 years (InkstoneNews.com)
* Why We Keep Sending Music to Extraterrestrials (Slate)
* Saxophonist Melissa Aldana on Her First Grammy Nod, and Her Album 'Visions' (WBGO)
* Jack Sheldon 1931-2019 (Jazz Times)
* The Curved Air of Tomeka Reid (JazzDaGama.com)
* Geometry sings the blues in Indian-American mathematician's radical new music system (FirstPost.com)
* Lost in muzak: how ambient became cool (The Guardian)

Sunday Session: December 29, 2019

Red Garland

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

* Blue Note’s Tone Poet Vinyl Reissue Series Will Continue in 2020 (Jazz Times)
* Free jazz veteran Yosuke Yamashita marks 50 years of his trio's 'reckless' playing (Japan Times)
* Frank Sinatra: A Son of Immigrants Sings America's Heart (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Vince Gill: "I reached the point where I said, ‘I’m just going to play what’s necessary’" (Guitar World)
* Artistry, Inc.: Jazzmeia Horn’s Personal Creativity Corporation (Jazz Times)
* The Jazz Magi of Carnegie Hall (The-American-Interest.com)
* Fifty Years of Worship at the Church of John Coltrane (The New Yorker)
* Local Drummer ‘Stateside Mouthpiece’ for New Buddy Rich Bio (Jewish Exponent)
* 'Jazz Night In America' Remembers Artists We Lost In 2019 (NPR)
* Arturo O’Farrill – Family, Jazz and the Music of Cuba, Revisited (JazzWithAnAccent.com)
* The Banjo: An unusual voice in the story of New Orleans music (Offbeat)
* James Carter, Dave Liebman and The Westerlies on Uncommon Ensembles (DownBeat)
* 'An Einstein among Neanderthals': the tragic prince of LA counterculture (The Guardian)
* Red Garland: Graceful and Bluesy (Jazz Profiles)
* To everything there is a season (8tracks.com)
* What Makes a Junius Paul-ism? (Chicago)
* Music City DC- Remembering ‘Jazz Samba’: The birth of the Brazilian cool (Fairfax County Times)

Sunday Session: December 8, 2019

Roscoe Mitchell

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

* 'A Tribute To Mose Allison' Celebrates The Music Of An Exciting Jazz Master (NPR)
* Why Don’t We Appreciate Local Music, And Why We Should (Offbeat)
* Crossing the Streams (Revisited) (The Big City)
* Musicians Reach Tentative Deal with Film and TV Studios - But No Streaming Residuals (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Bass clarinetist Jason Stein’s Hearts and Minds (BerkeleySide.com)
* John and Alice Coltrane’s jazz perennial philosophy (Medium.com)
* Dr. John Mined Spiritual Connections (DownBeat)
* Historic Meeting: Valdés & Corea Collaborate in NYC (DownBeat)
* Iconic Southern rock recording studio is revived in Georgia (Associated Press)
* The Nat King Cole Harvest Is In (Jazz Times)
* Annie Clark: Down the Rabbit Hole with St. Vincent (Tape Op)
* This Rhodes College professor became the expert voice in Lil Nas X, 'Old Town Road' debate (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Capricorn Records: Dickey Betts, Alan Walden & More on the Iconic Southern Label's 50th (Billboard)
* 2019 Parliamentary Jazz Award winners (London Jazz News)
* Philadelphia Jazz Project launches first graphic novel (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* Garland Jeffreys: The King of In Between (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Evgeny Pobozhiy Tops Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Guitar Competition (DownBeat)
* Shabaka Hutchings In Conversation With Art Ensemble Of Chicago's Roscoe Mitchell (ClashMusic.com)
* Darlene Love Calls out ‘Christmas in Rockefeller Center’ Snub (Rolling Stone)
* The World’s Weirdest Guitar Mods and Builds (Premier Guitar)
* Art Ensemble of Chicago: “We were young and foolish. Now we’re old and foolish, but we’re still happy and still trying” (Jazzwise)
* Jane Bunnett & Maqueque Fosters Connection Between Cuban Music, Jazz (DownBeat)
* I Heard God in a Grain of Sound (The Stranger)

Sunday Session: November 10, 2019

Sonny Rollins

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

* How streaming killed underground micro-labels (NowToronto.com)
* Rock legends The Bonzo Dog Band win legal ding-dong to put the Doo Dah back into their name (Daily Mail)
* The 2010s: A Jazz Revival In Black Music (NPR)
* Selling Your Record Collection To Move On In Life The Focus Of New Documentary Based At Dusty Groove (BlockClubChicago.org)
* The Range, Breadth and Development of Keb’ Mo’ (DownBeat)
* Sonny Rollins in the ’70s: Part 1 (Burning Ambulance)
* Sonny Rollins in the ’70s: Part 2 (Burning Ambulance)
* Manfred Eicher: "You Can't Record Everybody" (Stereophile)
* A New World for Coltrane’s ‘Blue World' (DownBeat)
* Jazzrausch Bigband Moves Beyond Tradition (DownBeat)
* Spinal Tap Creators and Universal Music Settle Copyright Dispute (Variety)
* Reissue Captures Nat King Cole Before He Broke Through To Mainstream (NPR)
* Gerry Teekens, Founder of Criss Cross Jazz Label, Dies at 83 (DownBeat)
* On 'Mellotron Variations,' A 1960s-Era Instrument Makes A Comeback (NPR)
* Major Swing: Django Reinhardt, His Disciples, and Their Hot Brand of Acoustic Jazz Guitar (Acoustic Guitar)
* A Detroit homecoming for the illustrious drummer Doug Hammond (Detroit Metro Times)
* 400 Years of slavery and inequality, set to music: Bassist Avery Sharpe’s African American Musical Portrait (Valley Advocate)
* Terri Lyne Carrington Shores Up Her Legacy In New Album Centered On Social Justice (WBUR)
* Photos: 2019 BRIC JazzFest (Jazz Times)
* The Focused Energy of Saxophonist David S. Ware (DownBeat)
* Angel City Festival Strings Together Sets of Innovative Jazz (DownBeat)
* The Curious Case of Keiko Yamada (New Music Box)
* 'Hittin' The Ramp' Traces Nat King Cole's Early Artistic Development (NPR)
* David Byrne Teases New Immersive, Sensory-Based Production ‘Theater of the Mind’ (Rolling Stone)
* ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’: The Ongoing Saga of Pop’s Most Contentious Song (Rolling Stone)
* The Secret Jewish History of Joni Mitchell (The Forward)
* Landmark ECM Anniversary Celebrated at Jazz at Lincoln Center (DownBeat)
* In Lead Up to Disney Plus Launch, Musicians Rally For Fair Pay (AFM.org)
* Ken Vandermark convenes a fresh group of old and new collaborators (Chicago Reader)

Sunday Session: September 29, 2019

Kenny Barron

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

* Paul Simon Has 50 Ways to Charm an Audience (Smithsonian)
* Celebrating John Coltrane with Cultural Documentarian Steve Rowland (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Fred Anderson (BurningAmbulance.com)
* Robert Glasper previews his two-week residency at the Kennedy Center (CapitalBop.com)
* Kenny Barron on Compatibility, Writing and Mulgrew Miller (DownBeat)
* Deep Dive: The Presence of the Past in John Coltrane's Expressive and Searching Music (WBGO)
* Standard Deviation (Art Forum)
* 1 of B.B. King’s ‘Lucille’ guitars sold for $280K at auction (Associated Press)
* Berry Gordy announces retirement; Motown founder bows out after 6 decades in showbiz (Detroit Free Press)
* To Understand The Company Of The Future, Head To A Jazz Club (Forbes.com)
* Lydia Pense & Cold Blood: The Endless Summer of Love (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Got any Horrific Child? Discover the list of the world's 291 weirdest bands (The Guardian)
* A Renewed Spotlight on Anthony Braxton (DownBeat)
* Harry Connick Jr. Performs Cole Porter Tribute Ahead of Show’s Broadway Debut (DownBeat)
* How Composer John Cage Transformed the Piano—With the Help of Some Household Objects (Smithsonian)
* The Music Business Wants to Blow Up Copyright—and the Trump Administration Is On Board (Bloomberg.com)
* Hitting the right note: Jazz legend Roland Wiggins reflects on a lifetime of musical expression (C-ville.com)
* Benny Golson: in the maternity ward (Jazz Journal)
* The Unsolved Case of the Most Mysterious Song on the Internet (Rolling Stone)
* Artist’s Choice: David Amram and the French Horn in Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Carl Stone: Plugging into the sounds of the changing city (Japan Times)
* A Thing Of Beauty, A Crime Scene: Matana Roberts Interviewed (TheQuietus.com)
* Mary Halvorson Wins MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Grant (Jazz Times)
* An L.A. jazz legend pays homage to Jackie Robinson, with a pitch from a library assistant (Los Angeles Times)
* The Day After #MeToo at Monterey Jazz (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* How One Of Music's Biggest Stars Almost Disappeared, And How Her Legacy Was Saved (NPR)
* Exclusive premiere: Sun Ra Arkestra "Children of the Sun" Live in Kalisz 1986 (MusicIsMySanctuary.com)
* Jane Bunnett: Cuban Music's Canadian Connection (NPR)
* How a Newspaper Article Saved Thousands of Black Gospel Records From Obscurity (AtlasObscura.com)
* The Record Industry Gave Everything Away to Spotify. Could It Change Its Mind? (Rolling Stone)