Sunday Session: February 5, 2017

Maria Schneider

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

* How Chic’s ‘Good Times’ Launched Rap (Wall Street Journal)
* What would it take to make audio 'cool' again? (CNet.com)
* The story of Ash Koosha, now banned from the USA (DazedDigital.com)
* Volnovod is a robot sculpture that uses wire to make sound visually (CreateDigitalMusic.link)
* David Byrne's New Doc 'Contemporary Color' Shows Off 'Art Sport' And Indie Stars (NPR)
* From The Critic's Desk: A Preview Of 2017 In Jazz (NPR)
* Newport Jazz Festival Announces First Wave of Artists for 2017 (Jazz Times)
* Bob Dylan's New Triple Album Reimagines The Classics (NPR)
* ‘Dog Breath in the Year of the Plague’: A fanboy’s appreciation of Frank Zappa’s ‘Uncle Meat’ (DangerousMinds.net)
* Unreleased Bill Evans Trio Album To Be Released March 24 (DownBeat)
* How a pair of former Detroit Lions helped inspire one of Marvin Gaye’s most defining records (TheUndefeated.com)
* First Listen: Miguel Zenón, 'Típico' (NPR)
* Trombone Shorty Signs with Blue Note, To Release Label Debut in April (DownBeat)
* Colleagues, Collaborators Remember Michael Brecker in NYC Concert (DownBeat)
* How Embattled LA DIY Venue The Smell Is Using VR to Preserve Its Legacy (Vice.com)
* For The Last Time: Rock Is Not Dead, You’re Just Not Paying Attention (Uproxx.com)
* Is the era of weird instruments over? (Perfect Sound Forever)
* From Joni Mitchell to Laura Marling: how female troubadours changed music (The Guardian)
* Maria Schneider ‘Attacking the Data Lords’ (DownBeat)
* Is Spotify Going Bankrupt In 2017? Wall Street Delivers Another Red Flag (DigitalMusicNews.com)

Music Education Monday: A master class with Michael Brecker, and more

Saxophonist Michael Brecker was a prolific and influential jazz, rock, pop, and session player for the better part of four decades, starting at the turn of the 1970s and continuing until his untimely death from complications of leukemia in 2007, when he was just 57 years old.

Brecker's distinctive sound and approach, drawing on the innovations of John Coltrane but also incorporating other influences, personal interpretation, and technical refinements, inspired many young musicians during his lifetime, and he continues to be listened to and studied today.

In 1984, Brecker (pictured) presented a master class for students at the University of North Texas, and fortunately, someone had both the good sense then to videotape the class, and the generosity now to upload it to YouTube. You can see that master class in the first embedded video at the end of the post.

While you're at it, it's also worth checking out saxophonist Bob Reynolds' annotation of Brecker's workshop. (It's the same video, just broken into multiple parts due to YouTube's old restrictions on the length of clips.)

Twelve years later, Brecker sat down with Bret "Jazz Video Guy" Primack for an interview about his 1996 album Tales From The Hudson that produced a couple more brief segments of particular interest to aspiring musicians. You can see those two clips, in which Brecker talks about his practice routine and how to develop a personal sound, below the master class video.

Brecker also has served as the subject of a number of academic papers and studies, and some of these can be read for free online. And so, while yr. humble StLJN editor, not being a professor of music, admittedly isn't fully qualified to judge, those interested in some really in-depth discussion may want to read the PDF files of "Brecker and Patterns: An Analysis of Michael Brecker's Melodic and Instrumental Devices," a master's thesis from 1999 by Ari Poutiainen of Sibelius Academy in Finland; and "Brecker's Blues: Transcription and Theoretical Analysis of Six Selected Improvised Blues Solos by Jazz Saxophonist Michael Brecker," written in 2003 by David Rawlings Freedy as part of his work toward a doctor of musical arts at The Ohio State University.

You can see the Michael Brecker master class and the other two clips after the jump...

Sunday Session: January 18, 2015

Robert Glasper

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

* New Record Service VNYL Distributes LPs Like Netflix (Rolling Stone)
* New NEA Reports Crunch the Numbers on Culture (New Music Box)
* Winter Jazzfest 2015 In Photos (NPR's A Blog Supreme)
* Study says we prefer singers who look like big babies during good times (AV Club)
* Why Do All Records Sound the Same? (Medium.com)
*  Newport Jazz Festival Announces 2015 Lineup - Cassandra Wilson, Dr. John, Chris Botti, Jamie Cullum among 40+ artists scheduled (Jazz Times)
* The Addition nightclub in San Francisco to close Jan. 14 (San Jose Mercury-News)
* Simon, Coltrane, McFerrin to Honor Michael Brecker at Fundraiser Concert (Down Beat)
* LA Studio Musicians Income Fell 68% (Hypebot.com)
* Robert Glasper: 'I get sick of touring run-of-the-mill jazz clubs' (The Guardian UK)
* Filming Sonic Emotion - Robert Herridge’s TV programs changed the way people viewed jazz (Wall Street Journal)
* Musicians Union Threatens To Expel Composer If He Doesn't Pay Fine For Unapproved Videogame Work (TechDirt.com)
* Rodriguez, Terrasson, MMW with Scofield Explore Melody and Groove at Barcelona Jazz Festival (Down Beat)
* Photo Gallery: Jazz Education Network Conference in San Diego (Jazz Times)
* Jazz At Lincoln Center Domain Change Sparks Outrage (TheJazzline.com)
* The War on Billie Holiday - The Bureau of Narcotics’ strange obsession (In These Times)
* Live From New York: The State of Jazz in 2015 (The Atlantic)