Sunday Session: October 16, 2016

Charlie Parker

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

* Music of the Presses: How an L.A. Printer Kept the Art of the Album Cover Alive (Collector's Weekly)
* Dual Identities: A Conversation With Jazz Soulmates Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa (Pitchfork)
* Computer Scientist Publishes Manifesto for Expressive Algorithmic Music (Vice.com)
* Norah Jones: "2016 Is a Weird Place to Be" (Paste)
* Is the Album a Dead Format for Music? (Inc)
* Friday essay: the sound of fear (TheConversation.com)
* Music of the mind: a stunning string quartet created through brainwaves (Aeon.co)
* Surviving Oldchella: Scenes From the Ultimate Classic Rock Rager (Pitchfork)
* The Making of The Last Waltz, the Band’s Concert-Film Masterpiece (Vanity Fair)
* How Rock and Roll Became White (Slate.com)
* Mind-blowing psychedelic 60s posters of Hendrix, Dylan, Pink Floyd, Yoko Ono & The Who (DangerousMinds.net)
* Bob Dylan, the Musician: America’s Great One-Man Songbook (New York Times)
* After Dylan's Nobel, how about Springsteen, Mitchell, Cohen? (CNN)
* How the Most Important Promoter in NY Ensures the Music Never Stops (Observer.com)
* The Night When Charlie Parker Played for Igor Stravinsky (1951) (OpenCulture.com)
* Jazz great Steve Coleman putting down roots in Detroit (Detroit Free Press)
* Is New Orleans A Music City? (Offbeat)
* Avishai Cohen: A Beautiful Melancholy (Jazz Times)
* How improving US-Cuba relations has helped this jazz musician (PRI)

Sunday Session: September 4, 2016

Ron Carter

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

* Corea Extends 75th Birthday World Tour, Announces New Dates (DownBeat)
* Hancock, Shorter, Santana Bring Mega Mash-Up to Hollywood Bowl (DownBeat)
* Apple Threatens Legal Action Against Digital Music News for Frank Ocean Coverage (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Famed jazz bassist Ron Carter picks 10 faves from his 2,200 recordings (Detroit Free Press)
* Ron Carter: Changing lives of bassists one song at a time (Detroit Free Press)
* Why Dropping Music on Friday Is Pivotal (Hint: It’s Not Sales) (Wired)
* Don't believe the hype about human music curators (BusinessInsider.com)
* After 30 Albums and 3 Recent Prizes, a Jazzman Flirts With the Mainstream (New York Times)
* Jewish Guitar God Mike Bloomfield’s Blues (TabletMag.com)
* New Research Reveals National, State, and Regional Facts about Arts Participation (Arts.gov)
* Guitarist Sharp & Actor Buscemi Team Up for Burroughs Tribute (DownBeat)
* Forgotten Heroes: Sonny Sharrock’ s Footprints on the Moon (Premier Guitar)
* Seven unlikely stars who scored big with Stax songs (BBC)
* Juan Gabriel was a songwriter who knew how to channel the struggles of modern life and the hurt of the wounded (Los Angeles Times)
* Upcoming John Coltrane Doc To Be Narrated By Denzel Washington (OkayPlayer.com)
* Interview: Pulitzer Prize Winner Henry Threadgill (WBGO)
* Musicians’ Union Publish New Airline Cabin Policy Rating System (TheViolinChannel.com)
* DJ Shadow Will Be Selling Off His Record Collection in L.A. Next Weekend (LA Weekly)
* The Evolution Of Afropunk (Forbes)
* Moments in Music: the Lost Art of Music Manifestos (Landr.com)

Sunday Session: May 8, 2016

Alice Coltrane

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

* Despite recognition, jazz sax player Steve Coleman finds respite in Allentown (Allentown Morning Call)
* Founding Fathers, A Documentary Narrated By Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Presents the True History of Hip Hop (OpenCulture.com)
* Architecture and explosion: Cecil Taylor, the composer (Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches)
* A conversation with Wayne Shorter, jazz’s patron bodhisattva (CapitalBop.com)
* How to Sound Check the World’s Most Powerful Rocket (Vice.com)
* 2016 Ertegun Hall of Fame Voting Ballot (Jazz at Lincoln Center)
* Jazz Fest Day 7: Dancing Across the Water (Offbeat)
* New York Is Killing Me: Albert Ayler’s Life and Death in the Jazz Capital (Pitchfork.com)
* Why Jazz Musicians Can Be The Biggest Jerks (LearnJazzStandards.com)
* Field Notes: Jazz at the White House - The Obamas host jazz greats to celebrate International Jazz Day (Jazz Times)
* Prince versus the internet: The love-hate relationship that predicted the future (FactMag.com)
* Kamasi Washington on the Pressures of Being Called Jazz's Savior (Esquire)
* The 30 best jazz films (The Telegraph UK)
* Why the Death of Greatest Hits Albums and Reissues Is Worth Mourning (Pitchfork.com)
* Radiohead erases internet presence – is it a cryptic message? (The Guardian UK)
* At 83, Bob Koester opens his newest record store (and how it compares to Jazz Record Mart) (Chicago Tribune)
* More Photos from the 2016 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest (DownBeat)
* Little Richard Denies Near-Death Rumors: 'I'm Still Singing' (Rolling Stone)
* Soul Survivor - The revival and hidden treasure of Aretha Franklin (The New Yorker)
* We should celebrate greats like Sly Stone while they're still with us (The Guardian UK)
* Spirits Loom Large at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest (DownBeat)
* Gorillas make up ‘little food songs’ while they eat: Listen to them here (DangerousMinds.net)
* Universal Consciousness: The Spiritual Awakening of Alice Coltrane (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* Red’s Bells (Do The Math)
* Apple Stole My Music. No, Seriously. (VellumAtlanta.com)
* Cuneiform Records – Thirty-plus Years of Essential Listening (Goldmine)
* Why Jazz Will Always Be Relevant (TheFader.com)
* Memes, MP3s and the explosion of album art (The Guardian UK)
* Wadada Leo Smith and Don Cheadle to Receive Honorary Degrees From CalArts - Awards to be given out May 13 (Jazz Times)
* Anthony Braxton: Ghost Trance Music - Mapping the Systems of the Jazz Musician’s Sound (RedBullMusicAcademy.com)
* How to Pick Music for People on LSD, From a Scientist Whose Job That Is (Vice.com)

Music Education Monday: Workshops with saxophonist Steve Coleman

Though he doesn't categorize his music as "jazz," Steve Coleman has been a significant player on the contemporary improvised music scene since the 1980s as a saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator.

A 2014 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (aka "the genius grant"), Coleman (pictured) is a 59-year-old Chicago native who's been called "one of the most rigorously conceptual thinkers in improvised music" by the New York Times.

He's noted particularly as one of the originators and chief promulgator of M-BASE, an acronym for "Macro–Basic Array of Structured Extemporizations." As explained by Coleman, it's not a musical style, but rather a conceptual approach - "a way of thinking about creating music."

Without getting too much more into the specifics, suffice it to say that Coleman has a lot of interesting ideas, and today for Music Education Monday, you can get a sampling of some of them by checking out videos from a series of workshops that he conducted from May through October of 2013 at Seeds, a performance space and gallery in the NYC borough of Brooklyn.

There are five videos in total, each including a combination of performance, lecture, and discussion, adding up to nearly fifteen hours worth of content.

You can see the videos after the jump...

Sunday Session: December 6, 2015

Amina Claudine Myers

 For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have turned up recently in StlJN's inbox:

* An Unexpected Reason for the Cassette Revival (NightFlight.com)
* Are these the last days of British bands touring America? (LouderThanWar.com)
* 100 Years Of Billy Strayhorn, Emotional Architect Of Song (NPR)
* Dweezil Zappa: Roots and Branches (Premier Guitar)
* Photos: Celebrating Billy Strayhorn on the A Train (Wall Street Journal)
* Obituary: Allen Toussaint (Offbeat)
* Download 30-gigs of lost cassettes from the 80s underground (FactMag.com)
* This Saxophonist Spends His MacArthur "Genius Grant" on Mentoring Young Jazz Musicians (LA Weekly)
* After 300 Years Of Evolution, Has The Piano Reached Acoustic Perfection? (Gizmodo.com)
* Thom Yorke Compares YouTube and Google to Nazis (FlavorWire.com)
* Stream a Free 65-Hour Playlist of John Cage Music and Discover the Full Scope of His Avant-Garde Compositions (OpenCulture.com)
* Interview: Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste (Offbeat)
* From NPR Music, Two Jazz Performances That Wrestle With Race And Policing (NPR)
* Making one album a year is no longer enough (unless you're Adele) (The Guardian UK)
* Wayne Horvitz: The Pianist And The Poet (NPR)
* Amina Claudine Myers, Evolving Song (Clocktower.org)
* Ennio Morricone: 'The Hateful Eight is like no western you have ever seen before' (The Telegraph UK)
* Maria Schneider on The Thompson Fields (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Indie Classical Music? It Exists, And One Nashville Tech Startup Is Trying To Save It (Nashville Public Radio)
* Are Artist Collaborations Making Genres Obsolete? (Medium.com)
* World's first computer-generated musical to debut in London (The Guardian UK)
* Bob Dylan's Setlists Aren't A-Changin' (LiveNationTV)
* Billboard Women in Music 'Legend' Loretta Lynn: 'Call Me Your No. 1 You-Know-What-Kind-Of Stirrer" (Billboard)
* Review: Josef Woodard’s Charles Lloyd: A Wild, Blatant Truth (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: August 9, 2015

Brian Blade

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Robert Glasper Will Make You Listen to More Jazz (Vice)
* NYC’s famous Music Row is about to be a ghost town (New York Post)
* At 78 and with myriad health issues, surf-rock legend Dick Dale plays through the pain (Pittsburgh City Paper)
* Open the Music Industry’s Black Box (New York Times)
* Buddy Guy: 'I Worry About The Future Of Blues Music' (NPR)
* With His "65-92" Concert, Kamasi Washington Looked Back on the Music of the Watts and Rodney King Riots (LA Weekly)
* Live Review: Kamasi Washington at Seattle’s Neumos (7/30) (Consequence of Sound)
* These mics capture sounds from the edge of human hearing – and beyond (CreateDigitalMusic.com)
* Newport Jazz Festival 2015 Day 1 Highlights: Snarky Puppy, Chris Potter, Ambrose Akinmusire & More (Billboard)
* Newport Jazz Festival 2015 Day 2 Highlights: Jonathan Batiste, Jose James, Jack DeJohnette & More (Billboard)
* Have We Reached Peak Vinyl? (Stereogum)
* DARPA hired a jazz musician to jam with their artificially intelligent software (Tech Insider)
* Newport Jazz lineup left no gaps unbridged (Boston Globe)
* Review: The 2015 Newport Jazz Festival (Jazz Times)
* Hemingway Showcases Amazing Versatility During Stone Residency (DownBeat)
* Jazz iconoclast Steve Coleman on the ancient bedrock of human creativity (Chicago Reader)
* An Interview With the Most in Demand Drummer - Brian Blade (Cash Box Canada)
* Is streaming a threat to music? Not if musicians have anything to do with it (Los Angeles Times)
* The Band, The Capitol Albums 1968-1977 - album review: Pioneering rockers who changed the course of popular music (The Independent UK)
* Strong Bookings Illustrate Why Newport Retains Vaunted Stature (DownBeat)
* Blind Willie Johnson: The Soul of a Man (Arts & Labor)

Sunday Session: June 21, 2015

Steve Coleman

For your Sunday reading, here are some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* Music is free now – and the industry only has itself to blame (New Statesman)
* Dude Builds Flamethrowing Organ: Blows Minds (Vice.com)
* What the Hell Is Happening at Gibson Guitar? (Gawker)
* Bill Evans’ “Complete Fantasy Recordings” to Be Reissued July 17 (Jazz Times)
* Jazz musician Erroll Garner's materials donated to Pitt library (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
* Have We Turned the Last Page in America’s Songbook? (Zocalo Public Square)
* Interview: NYC percussion legend Milford Graves (Red Bull Music Academy)
* Esperanza Spalding Turns Apprehension Into Admiration at D.C. Jazz Festival (Washington City Paper)
* An insider explains how songs get into TV shows and movies (AV Club)
* When Words Sold Music - The strange, conversational language of early Rolling Stone ads (The Atlantic)
* Chicago Blues Fest Pays Tribute to Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon (DownBeat)
* Book Review: The Sound Book (Pro Sound News)
* My Friend, Ornette Coleman (NPR)
* Steve Coleman's Analogies in Various Places (PopMatters)
* Photos: ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame Ceremony in NYC (Jazz Times)
* John Luther Adams: Leaving Alaska (The New Yorker)
* Harold Battiste, New Orleans saxophonist, composer and educator, dies at 83 (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
* Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Dismisses At Least 16 Nominating Members (Billboard)
* Terry Riley’s Maximal Minimalist Music (The Daily Beast)
* Torrential, Gut-Bucket Jazz (New York Review of Books)

Sunday Session: May 3, 2015

Esperanza Spalding

For your Sunday reading, some interesting music-related items that have hit StLJN's inbox over the past week:

* The World Music Education of Philip Glass (NPR)
* Can Club Owners Make Musicians Play for Free? (The Daily Beast)
* How did Eddie Bo die? Six years later, the piano legend's son still wonders (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
* Selling the Blues - To draw tourists, the Mississippi Delta plays on its musical heritage (Al Jazeera)
* Spalding Combines Music, Theater, Poetry, Dance for New Production (DownBeat)
* Musicians Guild Sues Warner Bros, MGM, Paramount Over Film Scores (Hollywood Reporter)
* Why We Should Teach Music History Backwards (Smithsonian)
* Wadada Leo Smith Celebrates 50 Years of AACM with New York Residency (DownBeat)
* Steve Coleman, a Jazz Outlier, Rides a Wave of Acclaim (New York Times)
* How (not) to behave: Manners and the classical music audience (Washington Post)
* 2015 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony & Concert (Arts.gov)
* 50-plus recipes from New Orleans Jazz Fest vendors, musicians and chefs (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
* Herb Alpert talks music, Tijuana, more (San Diego Union Tribune)
* Louis Armstrong, the Real Ambassador (New York Times)
* How the Rich Stole Jazz Music (The Daily Beast)
* Concord to Reissue 15-CD Thelonious Monk Riverside Box Set (Jazz Times)