Sunday Session: November 15, 2020

Herbie Hancock

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

* Lakecia Benjamin: The future of jazz is now (Bay State Banner)
* What’s in a Name? (Jazz Times)
* Forgotten protest icon Odetta Holmes lives on in modern Black Americana (ScalawagMagazine.org)
* Live Nation expects that “shows at scale” will return next summer (NME.com)
* Review of Jazzfest Berlin 2020 (London Jazz News)
* Sun Ra's Cosmic Keys (Reverb.com)
* Tomeka Reid Looks For Challenging Situations (DownBeat)
* Sleeping Giants: The Brief Reign and Brilliant Legacy of Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi Band (WBGO)
* Alone Together: A Q&A with Tabla Master Zakir Hussain (SFJAZZ.org)
* Mayfield and Markham Plead Guilty in a Plea Deal (Offbeat)
* 50 Years Later: The Surprising Memphis Roots of “Led Zeppelin III.” (MemphisMagazine.com)
* Israeli researchers create AI capable of writing personalized jazz solos (Jerusalem Post)
* Alfredo Rodríguez Deploys Abundant Technique (DownBeat)
* 'It's the screams of the damned!' The eerie AI world of deepfake music (The Guardian)
* Shabaka Hutchings - The Future of Afrofuturism (SFJAZZ.org)
* For The Rolling Stones’ 60th Anniversary, Keith Richards Says “The Plans Are to Still Actually All Be Alive” (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Guitarist Steve Hunter on His Journey From ‘Berlin’ to ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ (Rolling Stone)
* Emerging Opera Singers Now Pay for Online Auditions. Are Companies Watching Them? (MiddleClassArtist.com)
* Joel Ross Doesn’t ‘Do The Obvious Thing’ (DownBeat)
* Meet the guardians of the world’s earliest musical recordings (Los Angeles Times)
* Volcanic drummer and MacArthur ‘genius grant’ winner Tyshawn Sorey premieres new work with Seattle Symphony (Seattle Times)
* Sonny Rollins on Jazz as a Music of Freedom (LitHub.com)
* A Brief Guide to the Shape of “Jazz Rap” Today (Bandcamp.com)
* Bassist Eric Revis Revels In Curiosity, Versatility (DownBeat)
* The Experimental Edge of the “New Weird South” (Bandcamp.com)
* Christian Sands Relies On Adaptability (DownBeat)
* State of Play: the rise of in-game concerts (DJMag.com)
* Ronnie Scott understood that for some people music is the only outlet – so he opened a club (New Statesman)
* Seated gigs, no moshing and 'brutally exhausting' sets: the strange new world of live music (The Guardian)
* How Ticketmaster Plans to Check Your Vaccine Status for Concerts: Exclusive (Billboard)
* Inside Sun Ra’s 1971 trip to Egypt (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Big Breaks - What’s Behind Orpheus Classical? (Atavist.com)
* Andrew White, Prolific Multi-Instrumentalist, Scholar and Washington, D.C. Legend, Dies at 78 (WBGO)
* Electrophone: the Victorian-era gadget that was a precursor to live-streaming (TheConversation.com)

Sunday Session: November 8, 2020

Marshall Allen

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

* Rahsaan Roland Kirk: An Alternative Top Ten Albums Guaranteed To Bend Your Head (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Peter Jones (‘This is Bop: Jon Hendricks and the Art of Vocal Jazz’ to be published November 2020) (London Jazz News)
* Nica's Tempo: More Hipsters, Flipsters, And On-The-Scenesters (WFIU)
* Houston’s Ku-umba Frank Lacy still a messenger for jazz (Houston Chronicle)
* On 'Swirling,' Marshall Allen Keeps The The Sun Ra Arkestra Soaring Through Space (NPR)
* Cindy Blackman Santana: This Drummer Got Some (Jazz Times)
* The film exploring the avant-garde female pioneers of electronic music (DazedDigital.com)
* Benson, McBride and Metheny Among Readers Poll Winners (DownBeat)
* John Hollenbeck: Time to Rearrange (Jazz Times)
* Live from Rudy Van Gelder’s Studio Premieres Nov. 14 (Jazz Times)
* Lakecia Benjamin on a Heavy Year, the Healing Power of Music, and Breaking In Jazzfest Berlin (WBGO)
* Brian Blade: A 1970 Artist’s Choice (Jazz Times)
* Adam O’Farrill Is Only Scratching The Surface (DownBeat)
* Irvin Mayfield and Business Partner Ronald Markhamn set to be rearraigned next week (Offbeat)
* Marshall Allen Steers The Sun Ra Arkestra Into The Future (DownBeat)
* Singer, activist, sex machine, addict: the troubled brilliance of Billie Holiday (The Guardian)
* Studio whiz Don Hahn captured magic on the Band’s debut record (Toronto Globe and Mail)
* Elegy for A Side Man: Remembering Cornetist Peter Ecklund (Jazziz)
* Make ‘Y.M.C.A.’ Great Again (Rolling Stone)
* Cándido Camero, A Father Of Latin Jazz, Dies At 99 (NPR)

Sunday Session: October 11, 2020

Cécile McLorin Salvant

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

* Javon Jackson: Finding Uplift in the Guiding Tradition of Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane (AllAboutJazz.com)
* The Etymology of "Jazz": A Cautionary Word About Digital Sources (HNN.us)
* Lost In The Vaults: The Joys Of Collecting Jazz Records (TheLondonEconomic.com)
* Jazz Musician Lettering (ReaganRay.com)
* Azar Lawrence Has Paid His Dues...Two Times (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Hank Mobley's 'Soul Station' At 60: How The Tenor Saxophonist's Mellow Masterpiece Inspires Jazz Musicians In 2020 (Grammy.com)
* 19 things I’d tell people contemplating starting a record label (after running one for 19 years) (TheCreativeIndependent.com)
* Ambrose Akinmusire: Blues for 2020 (Jazz Times)
* Pay-for-Play Was Banned From Radio - But Texts Reveal It May Still Be Thriving (Rolling Stone)
* Cecile McLorin Salvant Earns a Prestigious New Accolade: the 2020 MacArthur "Genius Grant" (WBGO)
* ‘How Does It Feel To Be Free?’ (DownBeat)
* Chaos, cash and Caligulan excess: How Emerson, Lake & Palmer made Brain Salad Surgery (LouderSound.com)
* The Keystone Connections Of Fabian Almazan (DownBeat)
* Cindy Blackman Santana, a drum dynamo in jazz and rock, riffs on music, her all-star new album and famous husband (Columbus Dispatch)
* 'You're left to rot if you speak up': the abuse faced by female roadies (The Guardian)
* Melissa Aldana’s Expansive Playing Leads Trio Through Central Park Gig (DownBeat)
* A Guide to Sun Ra on Film (Pitchfork.com)
* Joe Satriani Talks How Guitar Teacher Treated Him When He Was a Kid: 'He Was Completely Blind & He Wore Only Leotards' (Ultimate Guitar)
* Lakecia Benjamin’s Boundless Sensibility On Display (DownBeat)
* Willie Nelson, Interpreter of the Great American Songbook (Texas Monthly)
* 100 Reasons We Love Yusef Lateef for His 100th Birthday (Discogs.com)
* From Bandstand to Social Justice: How Jazz Remains 'America's Classical Music' (KCET)
* A Multicultural Tribute to Yusef Lateef on His Centennial (VIDEO) (Jazz Times)
* Ella Fitzgerald, Come Harvest Time: Jazz United Fondly Reappraises the First Lady of Song (WBGO)
* Denver’s Ron Miles debuts on Blue Note label with “Rainbow Sign” (Denver Post)
* Sun Ra Arkestra's Knoel Scott On New Album 'Swirling,' Sun Ra's Legacy & Music As A Healing Force (Grammy.com)

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)