Sunday Session: December 27, 2020

George Coleman

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

* Three Reissues That Illuminate South African Jazz During Apartheid (Discogs.com)
* How Branford Marsalis Found Ma Rainey’s Sound (Vanity Fair)
* Har Mar Superstar's Latest Gig: Mail Carrier (MSPMag.com)
* Tenor Sax George Coleman Shines On Newly Released Live Record, 'In Baltimore' (NPR)
* New Releases from Sonny Rollins and Charles Mingus Reveal Crucial Conceptions of Political Art (The New Yorker)
* The Best Shot We Have To Play Live Music Again: News From The COVID Frontline (Offbeat)
* ‘The New Thing’: The Subversive Bridge From Bop To Free Jazz (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Congress Passes Covid-19 Relief Bill With Funding for Live Music Venues (Rolling Stone)
* Kids Became A&R's 'Secret Weapon' In a Work From Home Year (Billboard)
* Listening to the Joy in James Baldwin’s Record Collection (Hyperallergic.com)
* The Importance Of Mary Halvorson’s Recordings During The Pandemic Year (DownBeat)
* The Royal Bopsters Keep Their Group Identity Alive (Jazz Times)
* When Will Live Music Return? (Rolling Stone)
* Thelonious Monk: An Alternative Top Ten Albums Of Deep And Staggering Genius (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Can a trippy VR film bring classical music to a new generation? (The Guardian)
* Dayna Stephens Fulfills Long-Held Dreams (DownBeat)
* 'Jazz is just a reflection of life': The musical genius of Jerry Granelli (CBC)
* Sonny Rollins: Bright Moments (Jazz Times)
* Ma Rainey’s Moment: The Mother Of The Blues Gets Her Due (Slate.com)
* R.I.P. Leslie West, Legendary Mountain Frontman Dies at 75 (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* “Music is my way of being in the world”: remembering “Blue” Gene Tyranny (The Wire)
* Frank Zappa’s 10 greatest albums of all time (FarOutMagazine.co.uk)
* Holiday Shopping Sends Vinyl Album Sales Soaring to Another Record Week (Billboard)
* Modern Hollywood Discovers Its Jazz ‘Soul’ (The Nation)
* When Sonny Rollins Went Dutch (DownBeat)
* A Bessie Smith Christmas (Jazz Times)
* Paul McCartney: read the exclusive track-by-track story of ‘McCartney III’ (NME.com)
* Music made 2020 better, but we failed to make 2020 better for musicians (TechCrunch.com)

Sunday Session: November 3, 2019

Matana Roberts

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

* Andy Bey At 80: A Love Letter To A Jazz Legend (NPR)
* Exploring St Petersburg’s cosy jazz dens (Jazz Journal)
* The Grammys organizer is giving artists a metadata gold mine to credit unrecognized music workers (TheVerge.com)
* Tighter and looser with Mary Halvorson (ToneMadison.com)
* The average guitarist will spend $10,000 on gear over their lifetime (Guitar)
* Three British Labels are Deep in Dialogue with the American Jazz Tradition (DownBeat)
* David Sánchez and the African Tinge (Jazz Times)
* Bill Bruford on His Ups and Downs With Yes and King Crimson, Life After Retirement (Rolling Stone)
* Fred Taylor, Boston’s Beloved Jazz Impresario, Dies at 90 (Jazz Times)
* Chicago Trumpeter Jaimie Branch Delivers A Political Message On 'FLY or DIE II' (NPR)
* One of New York City’s Oldest Jazz Clubs Re-Opens (Forbes.com)
* Pi Recordings: A Home For Musicians Pushing Jazz Forward (Bandcamp.com)
* A Brief History of Witchcraft in Music (FloodMagazine.com)
* Crosscurrents Trio Brings Together Singular Musical Personalities (DownBeat)
* Marquis Hill Celebrates the Enduring Rhythms of Love (DownBeat)
* James Taylor: Artist in Residence (American Songwriter)
* A duel with Van Morrison: 'Is this a psychiatric examination? It sounds like one' (The Guardian)
* Manfred Eicher: "You Can't Record Everybody" (Stereophile)
* Myra Melford: Freedom and Form (New Music Box)
* The First Angel of the Future: Sun Ra's Heliocentric Poetics for After the End of the World (PoetryFoundation.org)
* Marvin Gaye: Live in Amsterdam 1976 (Oxford American)
* Matana Roberts’ ‘Coin Coin’ Project is a Sonic Patchwork of American History (DownBeat)
* Gearbox Records to release final Buddy Rich recording (Jazz in Europe)
* John Scofield and Bobo Stenson Engage Big Bands at Umeå Fest (DownBeat)
* Always Creating: Pianist Vijay Iyer Reflects on a Key Directive From His Elders, on The Checkout (WBGO)
* Change Comes to Pitt with Nicole Mitchell as New Jazz Chair (Jazz Times)
* Ronnie Scott’s 60th Anniversary Gala at the Royal Albert Hall (London Jazz News)
* Your Brain Can Recognize a Song in Just 100 Milliseconds (Newsweek)

Sunday Session: October 27, 2019

Billy Cobham

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

* The strange revival of vinyl records (The Economist)
* A stroke of genius: Guitarist and Brookline native wins MacArthur fellowship (WickedLocal.com)
* Q&A: Herb Alpert (TheaterJones.com)
* Mingus’s Lost String Quartet (London Review of Books)
* In Reversal, WNYC Says New Sounds Will Stay On The Airwaves (Gothamist.com)
* Kinks 1969 epic chimes with Britain’s mood today, says singer Ray Davies (The Guardian)
* The Renaissance of Marilyn Crispell (DownBeat)
* The 2010s: Classical Music's Decade Of Reckoning (NPR)
* Adam Rudolph: The Matrix Reloaded (Jazz Times)
* When the Beatles Walked Offstage: Fifty Years of “Abbey Road” (The New Yorker)
* 'Fresh Air' Marks The Centenary Of The Birth Of Jazz Singer Anita O'Day (NPR)
* Shorter, Salvant and Benson Among DownBeat Readers Poll Winners (DownBeat)
* Come blow your horn: the glory days of Ronnie Scott's jazz club – in pictures (The Guardian)
* How Untitled Goose Game adapted Debussy for its dynamic soundtrack (TheVerge.com)
* The dorky recorder you had in school just got a futuristic remake (CDM.link)
* Billy Cobham: Blowin’ in the Crosswinds (Jazz Times)
* How ‘Moonlight Serenade’ Defined a Generation (Smithsonian)
* Uri Caine Pays Tribute to Octavius Catto (DownBeat)
* Summoning the ghosts of Record Row (Chicago Reader)
* Joe Lovano’s New Septet Echoes the Past, Looks to the Future (DownBeat)
* Jazz Foundation of America Honors Roy Haynes, Raises $475K at Annual Loft Party (DownBeat)
* The Long Journey of Charlie Parker’s Saxophone (Smithsonian)
* The Hissing of Vintage Tapes (Tedium.co)
* What Makes Music Enjoyable? It’s Complex, But Measurable (Forbes.com)
* Nubya Garcia in Full ‘Blume’ (DownBeat)
* How the Internet Archive is Digitizing LPs to Preserve Generations of Audio (Archive.org)
* The “cost of living” in Spotify streams (Alex.Leonard.ie)
* The Necessity of Musical Hallucinations (Nautil.us)
* The Rise and Fall of Hip-Hop's First Godmother: Sugar Hill Records' Sylvia Robinson (Billboard)

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)

Sunday Session: July 21, 2019

Shabaka Hutchings

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

* Nile Rodgers: ‘I’d always talk about strange jazz with David Bowie’ (The Guardian)
* Bromberg violin collection to be broken up after Library of Congress deal falls through (Wilmington News Journal)
* Talking More Music with George Benson (Jazz Times)
* Paul McCartney Brings Ringo Starr to the Stage for End-of-Tour Surprise (Variety)
* Space Is Still the Place for Marshall Allen and the Sun Ra Arkestra (PopMatters.com)
* Capturing The Undersung Blues People Of The Rural South (NPR)
* John Patitucci’s Soulful Bass (Jazz Times)
* Steve Turre joins the stellar Armstrong Summer Camp faculty to celebrate its 25th Anniversary (Louisiana Weekly)
* What every songwriter and publisher needs to know about the Music Modernization Act (TheFader.com)
* Chick Corea Looks Back on His Long History With Latin Jazz (Billboard)
* Damon Locks: In the Style of Mavericks (DownBeat)
* From Concert Halls to the Streets at The Copenhagen Jazz Festival (DownBeat)
* Ornette Coleman and the Emancipation of the Individual (Sound American)
* Jazz, Zen, and Hip-Hop: The 2019 Montreal Jazz Festival (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Billy Lester, an Insightful Jazz Pianist Hiding in Plain Sight, Finally Has His Moment to Shine (WBGO)
* Pianist Bobo Stenson Discusses Solo Work and Freedom in European Jazz (DownBeat)
* For Julian Lage, Love Hurts and Music Heals (Jazz Times)
* Thirty Years Ago, Ronald Langestraat Took Jazz to Outer Space (Bandcamp.com)
* The Murky Ethics of Posthumous Music (The Atlantic)
* As Exclusivity Takes Charge, How Will Music Streaming Change? (Hypebot.com)
* 'An Endless Fiasco': Indie Retailers Describe Worsening Breakdown in Getting CDs, Vinyl Delivered to Record Stores (Billboard)
* David Crosby Celebrates His Ornery Self in the Documentary “Remember My Name” (The New Yorker)
* Get To Know Shabaka Hutchings, The Nipsey Hussle-Inspired British Jazz Maestro (Complex.com)
* Paul McCartney Has Been Secretly Writing an ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Musical (Variety)
* Faith Winthrop, jazz singer who founded Glide community choir, dies at 87 (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Five Things You Should Know About Mary Halvorson (SFJAZZ.org)
* An Essential Guide to Brian Eno: "Ignorable as It Is Interesting" (Exclaim.ca)
* In First For Berklee, Students Join The Circus (Sort Of) To Make Music Fit For Clowns (WBUR)
* Ron Carter, Beatniks and Corrective History (DownBeat)
* Roger and Brian Eno, and Daniel Lanois Expand ‘Apollo’ Soundtrack for Moon-Landing Anniversary (DownBeat)
* Jazz Generated by a Neural Network Is Absolutely Terrifying (Futurism.com)
* On And On And On: A Guide to Generative Electronic Music (Bandcamp.com)
* Alan Lomax and the Search for the Origins of Music (TabletMag.com)
* Do You Know Randy Weston? (MusicAficionado.com)

Sunday Session: June 30, 2019

Dave Bartholomew

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

* In Memoriam: Dave Bartholomew (WWOZ)
* Dave Bartholomew, A Father Of Rock And Roll, Dead At 100 (NPR)
* Paul McCartney opens up about Abbey Road, the Beatles' breakup in wide-ranging interview (CBS News)
* Spotify: We ‘overpaid’ songwriters and their publishers in 2018, and we would like our money back (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* The hologram concert revolution is here, whether you like it or not: Meet the company touring Whitney Houston and Buddy Holly (Fast Company)
* Tacuma and The Last Poets Move Beyond the Nation’s Combative Moment (DownBeat)
* Pro Audio Weighs the Troubles with Tariffs (Pro Sound News)
* The music industry is tackling streaming fraud with a pointless ‘Code’. It won’t work… but these ideas might (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* 'Frank Zappa Coloring Book' to Be Released in November (Hollywood Reporter)
* Scenes From The Life Of A Young Jazz Musician (AllAboutJazz.com)
* This Drum Company Has Hardly Changed Since Lincoln Was President. Now It Serves the World's Best Musicians (Inc)
* Tony Bennett Boldly Delivers Imaginative Set at Ravinia (DownBeat)
* Riding high with Stanley Clarke (Jerusalem Post)
* No Cliches Allowed: Guitar Innovator Mary Halvorson Forges a New Way Ahead (SFJAZZ.org)
* Universal Music Group Archivist: Vault Fire Damage 'Surprisingly Overstated,' But Any Loss Is 'Painful for Us' (Billboard)
* A Beginner’s Guide to the epic music of King Crimson (TrebleZine.com)
* Took You By Surprise: John and Paul’s Lost Reunion (Longreads.com)
* Sadao Watanabe, Japan's godfather of jazz, passes on his wisdom (Japan Times)
* Searching for Scrapper Blackwell, the Most Popular Bluesman You've Never Heard (GuitarWorld.com)
* College music department resurrects long-lost funk music (Associated Press)
* Jenny Scheinman on Risk, Adventure and Starting a New Band with Allison Miller (DownBeat)
* Terence Blanchard on How Dr. John Captured the Sound of New Orleans (Time)
* Sound Hounds: How One Research Team Is Helping Preserve the Acoustics of Historic Places (SavingPlaces.org)
* Saying goodbye to Dr. John: Mac Rebennack’s memorial (Offbeat)
* The Accidental Beatle (Slate)
* British jazz gets a chance to shine at Glastonbury (The Guardian)

Sunday Session: September 16, 2018

Billy Cobham

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:

* For Chelsea native Chick Corea, one passion, many paths (Boston Globe)
* Pianist Matthew Shipp can make magic with the perfect partner (Chicago Reader)
* Bassist Eric Revis works at the conflux of the mainstream and its far-out tributaries (Chicago Reader)
* Conversation with Billy Cobham, Part 1: The Art of Creation (SomethingElseReviews.com)
* Conversation with Billy Cobham, Part 2: Brian Gruber and Ronnie Scott’s (SomethingElseReviews.com)
* Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates 40 years in Japan – and China could be the next stop (South China Morning Post)
* Hank Mobley, the greatest sax player you never heard (The Spectator)
* Channeling the cosmic imperfections of Sun Ra’s record sleeves (TheVinylFactory.com)
* Israeli music scene jolted by international boycott movement (Associated Press)
* Documentary Offers Intimate Portrait of a Demur Abercrombie (DownBeat)
* Barre Phillips announces his farewell record End To End (The Wire)
* Guantánamo Mixtape: This Would Be the Soundtrack to Hell (LitHub.com)
* Quincy review – portrait of a musical legend fails to sing (The Guardian)
* Musicians, Labels and Festival Programmers Anxious Over Brexit (DownBeat)
* Live Review: 2018 Detroit Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* The Untold Stories of Paul McCartney (GQ)
* No Boundaries: The Many Sides of Steven Bernstein (SFJAZZ.org)
* Fifteen Questions Interview with Olivia Block (15questions.net)
* The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s (Pitchfork.com)
* 'I didn’t just fade off the planet.’ Reconnecting with ’70s funk queen Betty Davis (Washington Post)
* No more heroes: how music stopped meaning everything (Irish Times)
* Count Basie Orchestra Knows Pop Music (DownBeat)
* Jazz in the Display Case (Jazz Times)
* With 'Emanon,' legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter finds a way to marry comic books and jazz (Los Angeles Times)
* In Memoriam: Randy Weston (DownBeat)
* Cuong Vu Keeps it Close to Home for ‘Change In The Air’ (DownBeat)
* Former Bad Plus pianist still 'loves playing in the Midwest' despite rocketing career (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
* Wilco Guitarist Nels Cline Reclaims Mood Music In The City Of Brotherly Love (NPR)
* Berkeley's Legendary Fantasy Studios to Close Its Doors (KQED)
* Trumpet Colossus Kenny Dorham Towers Alongside the Jazz Gods (Austin Chronicle)
* The World On Six Strings (ArtForum.com)

Sunday Session: August 26, 2018

Mary Halvorson

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:

* He read the news all day, oh boy: how Beatles ‘froze out’ George Martin on White Album (The Guardian)
* How a Jewish kid from the burbs helped launch Springsteen and make music history (Times of Israel)
* Nicole Johänntgen Channels the Vitality of New Orleans (DownBeat)
* The Sounds of Music in the Twenty-first Century (The New Yorker)
* When a Music Legend Dies, How Does Today’s Mostly Automated Radio React? (Variety)
* Joe Lovano Toasts Ben Webster, and Vocalist Emma Frank Visits 'Ocean Av,' on The Checkout (WBGO)
* Why does bass make you want to dance? (MedicalNewsToday.com)
* Lifetime Achievement: Joe McPhee’s Vast and Brilliant Improvisational Discography (Bandcamp.com)
* Unlocking the Secrets of Jazz Genius Bill Evans (Playbill.com)
* Regional, International Talent Meet at San Jose Jazz Summer Fest (DownBeat)
* Napster Proves That Streaming Music Can Be Profitable (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* "Just the Essential Thing": Bill Frisell and Mary Halvorson Honor Johnny Smith's Jazz Legacy (Reverb.com)
* My Journey with Jazz (The New Yorker)
* Eddie Willis, Original Motown Funk Brother, Dies At 82 (Billboard)
* Live Review: 2018 San Jose Jazz Summer Fest (Jazz Times)
* Will Ramsey Lewis retire after Jazz Fest? He’s having second thoughts (Chicago Tribune)
* Wynton Marsalis on Aretha Franklin's All-Caps Emails and 'Healing' Voice: She Was a 'Triumph Over the Blues' (Billboard)
* Vijay Iyer: A Moral Imperative to Speak for the Musical Margins (LitHub.com)
* Sony Confesses To Releasing Fake Michael Jackson Music (Vibe.com)
* For Chick Corea, Music is an Antidote to Life’s Dark Side (ShepherdExpress.com)
* The Dearth Of Musical Performances On Late Night TV Speaks To A Larger Cultural Shift (Uproxx.com)
* From Bowie's Blackstar to Restoring Lou Reed: The Death and Re-Birth of The Magic Shop Studio (Reverb.com)
* Beyond Genre: Taylor McFerrin Creates His Own Musical World (SFJAZZ.org)
* Meet the Company Preparing to Be the Last CD Distributor Standing (Billboard)
* Wayne Shorter to Release 3-Disc Set with Graphic Novel (Jazz Times)
* Can data reveal the saddest number one song ever? (BBC)
* Music is ‘fast becoming the birthright of the elite’, say leading conductors, performers and educators (ClassicFM.com)

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: May 13, 2018

Professor Longhair

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:

* How Avant-Garde Legend Cecil Taylor Inspired Idris Ackamoor’s Psychedelic Jazz (Bandcamp.com)
* Q&A: Former Times critic Robert Hilburn on writing about Paul Simon and the struggle to protect artistry (Los Angeles Times)
* The art of writing the perfect lullaby (QZ.com)
* 1920s to Now: Comparing Tonal Balance in Popular Music (Izotope.com)
* Healdsburg Fest ‘Spiritually’ Important for California  (DownBeat)
* Benny Golson, Matt Wilson, Maria Schneider Are Among the Winners of the JJA Awards (WBGO)
* 'It is a significant moment in the history of the music industry': Air Studios up for sale (Music Week)
* Jazz Giants Take The Stage At The NEA Jazz Masters Listening Party (NPR)
* Pipa Virtuoso Wu Man Brings Ancient Chinese Music To The Present (NPR)
* Johnny Cash's 'At Folsom Prison' at 50: An Oral History (Rolling Stone)
* Why Spotify Will Never Make Money (Fortune)
* TIDAL accused of deliberately faking Kanye West and Beyoncé streaming numbers (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Jazz Conversations — Azar Lawrence (WGBH)
* Do the major labels know something about Spotify that Wall Street doesn’t? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Outsiders Festival a Showcase for Tacuma (DownBeat)
* Blue Note Documentary Screens at Tribeca Film Fest (DownBeat)
* Digital Jukeboxes Are Eroding the Dive-Bar Experience (The Atlantic)
* The Bad Plus: The Band That Never Stops (NPR)
* Bright Moments with Bassist Ron Carter (Jazz Times)
* Kinetic Improvisation - The guitarist Mary Halvorson’s music is exhilarating, unapologetically smart, and unspoiled by phoniness or pretense (The Nation)
* The Still-Burning Piano Genius of Professor Longhair (The New Yorker)
* Whole lotta debt: can Gibson guitars strike a chord again? (The Guardian)
* In Buffalo, hip-hop and jazz have formed a beautiful union (Buffalo News)
* Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival Builds on the City’s History (DownBeat)
* [Photo Essay] Jazz Fest 2018: Late Night Ventures (Offbeat)
* Marcus Miller Hosts ASCAP Panel at ‘I Create Music’ Expo (DownBeat)
* iHeartMedia Still Owes Artists $16.4 Million. Now, It Wants to Pay Itself $108 Million in Bonuses (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* R+R=NOW to Release Debut Album in June - All-star sextet led by Robert Glasper blends multiple genres on "Collagically Speaking" (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: July 30, 2017

Mal Waldron

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

* Jimmy Heath: A Little Bird Told Me (Jazz Times)
* Such Sweet Thunder: inside Duke Ellington's literary world (Jazzwise)
* REVIEW: Mary Halvorson Octet at the Village Vanguard in New York (London Jazz News)
* Mary Halvorson Makes Village Vanguard Debut (DownBeat)
* Scott Hanley signs on as jazz station GM (Current.org)
* The night I drove George Melly home from the Cricklewood Tavern (The Guardian)
* Why Vinyl’s Boom Is Over (Wall Street Journal)
* The Ultimate Playlist Of Banned Wedding Songs (FiveThirtyEight.com)
* New Orleans music legend Dr. John reflects on a lifetime of song and adversity (San Diego Union Tribune)
* The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women (NPR)
* Fascinating Algorithm: Dan Tepfer's Player Piano Is His Composing Partner (NPR)
* Q&A with David Lynch’s Music Collaborator Dean Hurley – Part 1: Working On and “Protecting the Experience” of Twin Peaks: The Return (SynchBlog.com)
* Q&A with David Lynch’s Music Collaborator Dean Hurley – Part 2: Being “Open Creatively” and “Knowing When to Walk Away” (SynchBlog.com)
* After Surviving Lightning Strike, Vocalist Evans Prepares for Comeback (DownBeat)
* How SoundCloud's broken business model drove artists away (TheVerge.com)
* A New Job At Wesleyan, A New Album And A New Direction For Drummer Tyshawn Sorey (Hartford Courant)
* Keith Richards says the Rolling Stones will record new, original music 'very shortly' (New York Daily News)
* How Southern-Soul Survivor Don Bryant Finally Got His Second Chance (Rolling Stone)
* Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen Tours With Young ‘Nightflyers’ (Wall Street Journal)
* Free at Last: Mal Waldron’s ecstatic minimalism. (The Nation)
* Hippies, Guns, and LSD: The San Francisco Rock Band That Was Too Wild For the Sixties (CollectorsWeekly.com)
* Changing the face of American orchestras, one player at a time (Cincinnati.com)
* Alan Lomax’s Timeless American Recordings Find a New Audience (Bandcamp.com)
* The Top Ten Most Overrated Drummers Of All Time (TheZReview.com)
* A Fearless and Kind Leader—Remembering Geri Allen (1957-2017) (New Music Box)
* UK Music chief warns of 'perfect storm' facing music industry (MusicWeek.com)
* Roscoe Mitchell Captures the Eternal Now on Remarkable New Album (Village Voice)
* 45 45s That Changed The World (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* What is Jack DeJohnette's Native American Spirit Name? (WBGO)
* Orrin Evans on Joining the Bad Plus (Jazz Times)
* Angels and Demons at Play: Jim Knipfel on Reclaiming Sun Ra’s Legacy (BelieverMag.com)
* The Jazz & Blues Art Box — instant collection, rare data trove (Jazz Beyond Jazz)
* The sound illusion that makes Dunkirk so intense (Vox.com)
* How I Taught My Computer to Write Its Own Music (Nautil.us)
* The reissue racket: how many more ‘classic’ albums will be repackaged? (The Guardian)
* Whatever Happened to Indie Rock? (Popmatters.com)
* Watch the Making of a Hand-Crafted Violin, from Start to Finish, in a Beautifully-Shot Documentary (OpenCulture.com)

Sunday Session: July 16, 2017

Tony Allen

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

* Stream-ripping is 'fastest growing' music piracy (BBC)
* Record Rendezvous: Cleveland cradle of rock 'n' roll sits empty, awaits new life (photos) (Cleveland.com)
* Mulatu Astatke’s “Ethiopia” Is A Love Letter To His Homeland (Bandcamp.com)
* Here’s what happened the last time audio producers got better data (NiemanLab.org)
* Ornette Coleman Takes Flight Again, in Music and Film, This Week at Lincoln Center (WBGO)
* Esperanza Spalding: Jazz Musician, Grammy Award Winner and Now Museum Curator (Smithsonian)
* Kansas City's American Jazz Museum Should Belong To The Entire City, Officials Say (KCUR)
* Lady Gaga's Trumpet Player on 'Insane' Gig With Stevie Wonder, Rose Bar Residency & 'Making It' in NYC (Billboard)
* No Heroes: Lester Bangs on Stage (NoSuchThingAsWas.com)
* Producers Rejoice: Legal Sampling Is Now As Easy As Online Shopping (Video) (AmbrosiaForHeads.com)
* Newark Sings a New Tune on Road To Revival (Wall Street Journal)
* Original Dixie Dregs Announce Reunion (NoTreble.com)
* 6 Nina Simone Songs Brilliantly Sampled by Rappers (Pitchfork.com)
* Spotify denies it’s playlisting fake artists. So why are all these fake artists on its playlists? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* So… who’s actually behind Spotify’s fake artists? (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Why Spotify’s fake artists problem is an Epidemic. Literally. (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* A Lot of Noise on Spotify (IllusionOfMore.com)
* Women of Jazz: Stream a Playlist of 91 Recordings by Great Female Jazz Musicians (OpenCulture.com)
* This Woman Has Engineered Pop’s Biggest Recent Hits, from ‘Melodrama’ to ‘1989’ (Vice.com)
* For Chamber Music in Silicon Valley, Hoodies and Haydn Don’t Mix (KQED)
* The Crate Crisis: How the Used Vinyl Market is Changing (GetItOnVinyl.com)
* Is the threat of a copyright lawsuit stifling music? (BBC)
* NEW AGE: jazz in 2017 (M-Magazine.com)
* Diminuendo: Is Classical Music Journalism Fading to Silence? (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Afrobeat Drummer Allen’s Quartet Pays Tribute to Blakey at Poisson Rouge (DownBeat)
* What Can Listening to Nature Teach Us? (EarthEasy.com)
* Mary Halvorson Pushes Jazz Guitar Into New Territory (Village Voice)
* SoundCloud sinks as leaks say layoffs buy little time (TechCrunch.com)
* The avant-garde jazz of Griot Galaxy (Detroit Metro Times)
* Rochester Jazz Fest Emphasizes Jazz at the Fascinating Fringes (DownBeat)
* Bria Skonberg: 5 songs that changed my life (CBCMusic.ca)
* 'A Pocketful Of Blues': Charles Lloyd On 'Passin' Thru' (NPR)
* Photos: 2017 North Sea Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* Q&A with Ethan Iverson: Addition through Subtraction (DownBeat)
* Power of the Mind: You Can Play This Instrument Using Just Your Thoughts (Newsweek)
* Van Morrison will salute his blues heroes on new album, 'Roll With the Punches' (Los Angeles Times)
* Robert Mugge’s 1986 film Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus to be rereleased (The Wire)
* The Emergence of A New Black Avant-Garde: Experimental Music and Text (BrooklynRail.org)
* Vijay Iyer: Taking Stock of the Ojai Music Festival Experience (TheLogJournal.com)
* The Story Behind the Surge in Vinyl Film Soundtracks (Paste)

Sunday Session: December 4, 2016

Charles Lloyd

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

* Why Mary Halvorson Sounds Like No Other Guitarist (NPR)
* Jazz great Anthony Ortega maintains his sax appeal at 88 (San Diego Union-Tribune)
* Sun Ra: Singles review – a cosmic ride (The Guardian UK)
* The Top 25 Music Schools 2016 (Hollywood Reporter)
* Andrew Norman Wins The Grawemeyer Award For Music (NPR)
* Cuba: Music of a 'New Era' (Billboard)
* Recycling My Back Pages: A Music Writer/Collector Reflects on Disposing of His Magazine Archive (The Stranger)
* Forgotten audio formats: Wire recording - From espionage to home recording, the colorful life of the longest-used audio medium. (Ars Technica)
* Corea Elektric Band, Béla & Flecktones To Join Forces for 2017 Summer Tour (DownBeat)
* In Defense of Jazz (New Music Box)
* James Booker Was Hands Down the Greatest New Orleans Piano Player Ever (The Daily Beast)
* Darryl Jones: The unknown Stone (BBC)
* The weird and true story of Moondog (Macleans)
* God Is on the Loose! How the Tropicália Movement Provided Hope During Brazil’s Darkest Years (Pitchfork)
* What makes Bach sound like Bach? New dataset teaches algorithms classical music (Washington.edu)
* The Sex Pistols’ ‘Anarchy in the UK’ Is More Relevant Now Than Ever (Observer.com)
* The Re-Flowering: Charles Lloyd's Second Golden Age (The Atlantic)
* At 85, Jazz Guitarist and Educator Kenny Burrell Is Still Going Strong (LA Weekly)
* Chicago's new generation of bluesmen (The Guardian UK)
* Fidel Castro: A First-Person Account of the Day the Music Stopped in Cuba (Billboard)
* The Band Before They Were The Band: A Listening Guide (Pitchfork)
* Cécile McLorin Salvant On Past, Present, Future (RevueWM.com)

New Music Circle announces 2016-17 season schedule

New Music Circle has announced their 2016-17 season schedule.

The organization's 58th season will include nine events at a half-dozen venues around town, starting with a duo performance from pianists Craig Taborn and Kris Davis (pictured) on Saturday, October 1 at the 560 Music Center.

Taborn and Davis, who are doing a series of concert dates together in the fall, will perform on two grand pianos on the stage at the venue's E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall. The concert will be recorded for possible release on a CD documenting their joint tour.

In addition to Taborn and Davis, both of whom have performed in St. Louis under NMC's auspices in recent years, the lineup also will include return visits from musicians such as percussionist Hamid Drake, electronic musician Ikue Mori, and percussionist Tomas Fujiwara, whose group The Hookup includes his collaborators from the band Thumbscrew, guitarist Mary Halvorson and bassist Michael Formanek, plus saxophonist Brian Settles and trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson.

Performers making their St. Louis debuts will include Chicago-based cellist Tomeka Reid, who will play in a trio with two other buzzworthy Chicago musicians, flute player Nicole Mitchell and drummer Mike Reed; trumpeter Nate Wooley, who will work in a duo with Mori; and French flute player and composer Sylvaine Hélary, who will play with her Spring Roll Quartet.

The complete season schedule (pending confirmation of details for a couple of shows later in the season) is:

Saturday, October 1 at 560 Music Center: Craig Taborn and Kris Davis

Saturday, October 22 at The Stage at KDHX: Sylvaine Hélary's Spring Roll Quartet

Friday, November 11 at the Kranzberg Arts Center: Jen Shyu

Saturday, December 3 at Joe's Cafe: Tomeka Reid Trio

Saturday, January 21 at Joe's Cafe: Iva Bittová and Hamid Drake

Saturday, February 18 at The Luminary: Ikue Mori and Nate Wooley

Thursday, March 16 at The Stage at KDHX: Erik Friedlander's Black Phoebe Trio

Friday, April 28 or Saturday, April 29 at The Stage at KDHX: Tomas Fujiwara's The Hook Up

May 2017, date and location TBA: New Music Circle Showcase

Most of the performers also will do some sort of free public workshop, master class or other event during their visits to St. Louis, with details on those TBA.

Tickets for NMC shows are $20 for regular admission, $10 for "students or struggling music supporters," and can be purchased in advance online or at the door. In the past, they've also offered a subscription package that includes "flex" tickets that can be used for any show(s) in any combination, plus other benefits. For details on that, or to purchase single tickets, see NMC's website.

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: January 4, 2015

Herbie Hancock

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

* Five Awkward Conversations With Paul Motian (VinnieSperazza.org)
* John McNeil, A Trumpeter Robbed Of His Breath, Blows Again (WRVO.org)
* Saucy Newcomers, Graying Punk Rockers - Even With 54 Below and Joe’s Pub, Cabaret’s Future Is Unclear (New York Times)
* Mwandishi & More - A dream team supports the Jazz Foundation of America at the Apollo (Jazz Times)
* Repetitive pop songs 'more likely to be hits' (Telegraph UK)
* Ornette Coleman and New Vocabulary: Old friend; fresh context (Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches)
* East St. Louis Station Broke Out 'Rapper’s Delight' 35 Years Ago (StLouisPublicRadio.org)
* Steinway Bids Farewell To Its Historic Hall (NPR.org)
* Preserving American Roots Music Begins With Keeping The Lights On (NPR.org)
* An All-Year Season of Discontent in Jazz - Jazz’s Year of Complaint, Citing ‘Whiplash’ and The New Yorker (New York Times)
* Ken Burns Curates Jazz-Inspired Tour Through New Orleans (Down Beat)
* Standing Out From Their Crowds - Ensemble work highlights the burgeoning skills of saxophonist Jon Irabagon and guitarist Mary Halvorson (Wall Street Journal)
* D’Angelo Returns with Timeless Music, Topical Commentary (Down Beat)
* Herbie Hancock: A Life Of Possibilities (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Guitarist Jeff Golub Dies at 59 (Jazz Times)
* Uptown Records uncovers essential early work by pianist Lennie Tristano (Chicago Reader)
* U.S. Department of Transportation Issues Final Rule Regarding Air Travel with Musical Instruments (DOT.gov)
* Piano stores closing as fewer children taking up instrument (NBC Philadelphia)