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: November 22, 2020

George Lewis

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

* The Enduring Relevance of College Radio (Spin)
* Making a Masterpiece: An Interview with Legendary Composer Valerie Simpson (PopMatters.com)
* What Were the First Mass-Produced Electronic Instruments? (Reverb.com)
* Fantasia & The Birth of Stereo Recording (Reverb.com)
* Mark Ruffin: The Storied Intersection of Jazz, Baseball, and Race (Jazz Times)
* Pioneering Drummer Viola Smith Was ‘An Advocate For The Rights Of All Women Musicians’ (DownBeat)
* Joe Schaffner, Tour Manager For Aretha, Marvin Gaye & The Jacksons, Talks Back In The Day (Pollstar.com)
* Nels Cline Revives The Singers For A Stunning New Album, ‘Share The Wealth’ (American Songwriter)
* Thurston Moore on his new album, the old New York, and always resisting the mainstream (DocumentJournal.com)
* Discover "the power of sound" with music wizard, Kenichi Kanazawa (AV Club)
* New Series “Live From Rudy Van Gelder’s Studio” (first session 14 November) (London Jazz News)
* Creative Urban Momentum: Witnessing the Black Unity Trio (ChimurengaChronic.co.za)
* Andrew White 1942–2020 (Jazz Times)
* 'He'll make your head explode': sax stars on the genius and tragedy of Charlie Parker (The Guardian)
* The chaotic story of cult prog legends Van der Graaf Generator (LouderSound.com)
* A Dive Into George Lewis’s Pioneering Experiment With Artificial Intelligence (San Francisco Classical Voice)
* Camille Thurman Eager To Give Back To The Jazz Community (DownBeat)
* Ellis at the Crossroads (Oxford American)
* How Elektra Records ushered in the alternative music revolution—and then helped kill it (AV Club)
* A Guide to Rob Mazurek’s Imaginative, Experimental Sound (Bandcamp.com)
* Watch the Liberation Music Orchestra Perform a Timely New Medley, Arranged by Carla Bley (WBGO)
* Artemis: A Band For the Times (AllAboutJazz.com)
* 9 Engineers on the Hardest Song They Ever Mixed (Vulture.com)
* "They Did Not Die in Vain": On "Alabama," John Coltrane Carefully Wrought Anguish Into Grace (WBGO)
* Guitar Center Is Officially Filing for Bankruptcy (ConsequenceOfSound.net)
* Terence Blanchard on Netflix's 'Da 5 Bloods', Writing Process & Working with Spike Lee (SpitfireAudio.com)
* The story of Emerson Lake & Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery (LouderSound.com)
* 'A gamechanger for musicians': app offers library of interactive sheet music (The Guardian)
* Gearhead: Harry Partch and the Quadrangularis Reversum (Jazz Times)
* Elvis Presley Meets the Nashville Cats on a New Box Set, With Glorious Results (Rolling Stone)
* Randy Brecker: Fusion Pioneer Still Blazing The Trails (AllAboutJazz.com)

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: August 28, 2016

Wadada Leo Smith

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

* Reimagining Josephine Baker's Music in the Era of Black Lives Matter (New York Times)
* Is Sleep Music a Real Genre? (The Daily Beast)
* How Bad Urban Planning Led To The Birth Of A Billion-Dollar Genre (TheFader.com)
* Harmonica Virtuoso Toots Thielemans Dies at 94 (DownBeat)
* “Champeta is liberation”: The indestructible sound system culture of Afro-Colombia (FactMag.com)
* Zorn & Collaborators Hold Court in Engaging Vanguard Residency (DownBeat)
* Remembering Lou Pearlman: The Ponzi Schemer Who Spawned the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC & More (Billboard)
* A Visual History of Rock and Roll, Room by Empty Room (The New Yorker)
* How Sam Phillips Invented the Sound of Rock and Roll (Popular Mechanics)
* Grandmaster Flash on ‘The Get Down’ and how he used science to pioneer DJ techniques (Washington Post)
* ‘Sunday Night at the Vanguard’ by Fred Hersch Review - Looking at the special bond between a club and a composer (Wall Street Journal)
* Photography Book Documents Young Sinatra in New York (DownBeat)
* Divine disco: the beatific sub-genre that delivered sermons on the dancefloor (The Guardian UK)
* Why Japan has more old-fashioned music stores than anywhere else in the world (QZ.com)
* Sample Clearance Expert Pat “The Detective” Shannahan is The Avalanches’ Secret Weapon - The behind-the-scenes force for records by the Beastie Boys, Janet Jackson, Beck and more on 20 years of tracking down samples (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* See the Photographs That Captured the Icons of Jazz (TIME)
* Wadada Leo Smith Celebrates National Parks with Double Album (DownBeat)
* Legendary Jazz Recording Engineer Rudy Van Gelder Dies at 91 (DownBeat)
* Postscript: Rudy Van Gelder (1924-2016), Modern Jazz’s Listener of Genius (The New Yorker)
* Herb Alpert Foundation to donate $10.1 million to LACC — making studies for music majors tuition-free (Los Angeles Times)
* Watch Dr. John Praise James Booker's Piano Genius (Rolling Stone)
* Angelo Badalamenti Reveals How He and David Lynch Composed the Twin Peaks‘ “Love Theme” (OpenCulture.com)
* Keeping the Blues Alive (Smithsonian)
* The Ballad of Big Freedia: How the New Orleans Bounce Icon Was Betrayed By Her City’s Housing Crisis (Pitchfork.com)