Sunday Session: August 22, 2021

John Coltrane

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

* Former Police Guitarist Andy Summers Reminisces On Montserrat Sessions In ‘Under The Volcano’ (Forbes.com)
* Angry concert-goer files complaint with Ohio Attorney General after missing James Taylor-Jackson Browne show at Blossom (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
* Highest Trane: John Coltrane’s World-Building Ascension (Jazz Times)
* Under The Volcano Review: Inside George Martin’s Musical Paradise (DenOfGeek.com)
* The Bad Plus Reformulates Again, Now as a Quartet with Ben Monder and Chris Speed (WBGO)
* A Guide to Free Jazz Drumming on Bandcamp (Bandcamp.com)
* At an Old Juke Joint in Mississippi, the Blues Are Alive (Smithsonian)
* If you take all the world’s emotions and put them into one sound, it’s Sérgio Mendes (San Diego Union Tribune)
* The Most Influential Pop-Rock Band Ever? The Monkees! (Vanity Fair)
* The history of electronic music is inside a warehouse in Harleysville, Pa. (WHYY)
* The Light At The End of The Tunnel is Fading (Offbeat)
* Meet the archivist who saved the historic footage that became ‘Summer of Soul’ (Los Angeles Times)
* How Respect Uses Design to Illuminate the Story of Aretha Franklin (Architechtural Digest)
* Marc Ribot Makes the Case for Loud Music (LitHub.com)
* Larry Harlow, Iconic Salsa Musician And Producer, Has Died At 82 (NPR)
* First Live Steely Dan Album in 25 Years Just Days Away (Guitar Player)
* Frank Zappa: ”I think my playing is probably more derived from folk music – Middle Eastern music, Indian music, stuff like that” (Guitar World)
* My musician friends in Afghanistan are hiding their musical instruments in fear of the Taliban: Young Afghan composer Arson Fahim (IndiaTimes.com)
* Country singer Tom T. Hall dies; wrote ‘Harper Valley PTA’ (Associated Press)
* ‘They deserve a place in history’: music teacher makes map of female composers (The Guardian)
* White out! Tony Herrington calls time on the monoculture that is the experimental sound and music industry (The Wire)
* The World's Most Famous Violins Were Treated With a Secret Chemical Mix, Study Shows (ScienceAlert.com)
* Philip Glass on Artificial Intelligence and Art (Auderdy.com)

Sunday Session: August 15, 2021

Gerald Cleaver

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

* Gerald Cleaver about Griots, Ghost Orbits and Modular Synthesis (15Questions.net)
* De La Soul Have Finally Acquired Their Masters, According to Talib Kweli (Consequence.net)
* Inside look: How Sun Studio's music and magic have carried on for almost 70 years (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* Staunchly Original: Marking 20 Years of Pi Recordings (WBGO)
* Chronology: Quincy Jones in the 1950s (Jazz Times)
* Jazz Fest Canceled; New Orleans Reacts (DownBeat)
* This Musician's Unlikely Duet Partner? The Golden Gate Bridge (NPR)
* Famous Harlem Block Renamed Art Kane Harlem 1958 Place (Jazz Times)
* SFJAZZ Collective: Reflecting the Moment (SFJAZZ.org)
* Chops: Min Xiao-Fen on the Pipa (Jazz Times)
* Tony Bennett Cancels Fall 2021 Tour (Variety)
* Tony Bennett retires from performing (AVClub.com)
* The New York Jazz Museum: 1972-1977 (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Living Spaces: Preserving Jazz Homes (Jazz Times)
* AEG To Require Proof Of Full Vaccination At All U.S. Venues Beginning October 1st (LiveForLiveMusic.com)
* Sonic Temples - The resurgence of Memphis’ classic recording studios. (MemphisMagazine.com)
* Historic St. Louis Church Could Become National Center For Gospel Music (StLouisPublicRadio.org)
* Are NFTs The New Napster? This Time The Music Industry Isn’t Taking Chances (Forbes.com)

Sunday Session: August 8, 2021

Stevie Wonder

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

* Snug Harbor canceling performances due to rising Covid cases (Offbeat)
* Don Marquis, esteemed jazz author and New Orleans Jazz Museum founder, has died at 88 (NOLA.com)
* At Lollapalooza 2021, there's one question hanging over everything (AVClub.com)
* Musical artist Suzanne Ciani feeds deepfake program below Morrison Hall (DailyCal.org)
* Anatomy Of A Bad Gig: Recalling A Show 40 Years Ago Where Virtually Nothing Went Right (ProSoundWeb.com)
* Labels are going to become more like VCs than they probably want to be (Music Industry Blog)
* Study: Consumption of music streaming declined significantly during COVID-19 lockdowns worldwide (EurekAlert.org)
* Alan Rubin: Mr. Fabulous in Every Way (AllAboutJazz.com)
* End of an era: Trumpets owners reminisce after developers buy legendary jazz club (NorthJersey.com)
* NC jazz musician releases album via legendary record label (Durham Herald Sun)
* Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts Drops Out of U.S. Tour After Medical Procedure (Rolling Stone)
* Steve Vai reflects on working with Frank Zappa: "If you didn’t have the goods, you didn’t last. Frank expected everybody to rise to the occasion" (Guitar World)
* Interns Turned Engineers Take the Reins at SF’s Historic Different Fur Studios (KQED)
* Eddie Palmieri On Pioneering Latin Jazz & His Blue Note Residency: "We're Talking About The Greatest Jazz Room In The World" (Grammy.com)
* Blues Great Buddy Guy on His ‘American Masters’ Documentary, Hitting the Road Again at 85, and Why the Blues Is Like Golf (Variety)
* As Delta Variant Spreads, Artists and Venues Scramble to Keep Concerts Safe (Yahoo News)
* When Stevie Wonder Blended Funk, Soul And Social Commentary On ‘Innervisions’ (Yahoo News)
* George Harrison’s Son Dhani on the “Pandora’s Box” Process of Remastering All Things Must Pass at 50 (Consequence.net)

Sunday Session: August 1, 2021

Billie Holiday

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

* Charles Mingus: An Essential Top Ten Albums (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Laura Nyro: the phenomenal singers’ singer the 60s overlooked (The Guardian)
* Buddy Guy: “When you pick up a guitar, you have something of your own even if you don’t realize it” (Guitar World)
* The United States vs. Billie Holiday vs. the Truth (Jazz Times)
* Fire Music Documentary to See National Release (Jazz Times)
* Ryan Adams, Shunned by the Music Business and ‘Scared,’ Pleads for Labels to Rescue His Career (Variety)
* This Is Your Brain On Vinyl, and Other Tales From Obsessive Collecting in the Pandemic (Jezebel.com)
* BREAKING NEWS: Three major music venues in New Orleans will require vaccination cards or negative Covid tests for entry (Offbeat)
* John Pizzarelli’s Ode to Pat Metheny (DownBeat)
* Dee Dee Bridgewater Returns to Rome (DownBeat)
* Low Fidelity: Vintage Vinyl and The Precarious State of the Indie Record Store (DecibelMagazine.com)
* Jim Keltner: A Before & After Listening Session (Jazz Times)
* Blues guitar legend Buddy Guy looks back on a special career (Associated Press)
* Fred Rzewski’s Classical Call To Arms (Bandcamp.com)
* (Back) In The Club: Jazz United Considers the Return of Live Concerts (WBGO)
* A Beginner’s Guide to Frank Zappa (Guitar Player)
* A Guide to the Late Recordings of Experimental Vocalist Linda Sharrock (Bandcamp.com)
* Do You Hear What I See? (New Music Box)

Sunday Session: July 18, 2021

Juini Booth

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

* Rhodes returns: iconic electric piano brand is back with the promise of new keyboards (MusicRadar.com)
* ‘There is no fear’: how a cold-war tour inspired Pakistan’s progressive jazz scene (The Guardian)
* Miles Copeland Shares Tales Of The Police, The Go-Go’s And I.R.S. Records In His New Memoir (Forbes.com)
* The Good Doctor: An Interview With Eugene Chadbourne (TheQuietus.com)
* 'It's Fan Fiction For Music': Why Deepfake Vocals of Music Legends Are on the Rise (Billboard)
* Artist’s Choice: Gregory Porter Cooks Up Some Gumbo (Jazz Times)
* Immerse yourself in the Muscle Shoals Sound in northwest Alabama (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
* Bley, Corea, Schneider Top Critics Poll (DownBeat)
* A Conversation with Jackie McLean (AllAboutJazz.com)
* John McLaughlin Summons the Spirit of His Muses on a New Album, 'Liberation Time' (WBGO)
* The Leopolis Jazz Fest: Back in the (Ex)-U.S.S.R. (Jazz Times)
* The world's most endangered sound (BBC)
* High-profile Cuban musicians show rare public support to protesters (The Guardian)
* Over 66% of all music listening in the US is now of catalog records, rather than new releases (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Re-Revising 'The History Of Jazz' (NPR)
* Arthur “Juini” Booth 1948–2021 (Jazz Times)
* Kamasi Washington is composing a ballet, writing a graphic novel, and returning to the Hollywood Bowl this weekend (KCRW)
* The Sly Stone mystery: why ‘the JD Salinger of Soul’ disappeared (Yahoo.com)
* A Conversation with Amiri Baraka (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Five Records Made With Invented Instruments (Bandcamp.com)
* The New Wave in Jazz, at 60: Jazz United Considers the Legacy of Impulse Records (WBGO)

Sunday Session: July 11, 2021

Susie Ibarra

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

* Gatemouth Brown memorialized on the road he traveled, in the town where he lived (Nola.com)
* The Urge to Destroy a Violin (The New Yorker)
* Little Walter’s Song That Changed Everything for the Blues (TheDailyBeast.com)
* The Story of Louis Armstrong’s Final Tape (LouisArmstrongHouse.org)
* More really is more with new Lee Morgan jazz release (Denver Post)
* PAMA calls for “outdated” audio terms such as ‘master/slave’ and ‘male/female’ to be replaced (MusicRadar.com)
* Grand Funk Railroad Feed Off Crowd's Energy At First Concert Back (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* In Memoriam: Rick Laird (NoTreble.com)
* John McLaughlin Discusses Mahavishnu Orchestra, Liberation Time, and More (Jazz Times)
* Norwegian Company Creating Doomsday Vault to Preserve Music Recordings (Consequence.net)
* The Sound of Early Sci-Fi: Samuel Hoffman’s Theremin (Reverb.com)
* Back on the Road! Live Sound Gears Up for Reopening (MixOnline.com)
* Five things to know about Hamid Drake (Vancouver Sun)
* Susie Ibarra: Hybrid Culture (New Music Box)
* John McLaughlin Discusses Mahavishnu Orchestra, Liberation Time, and More (Jazz Times)
* Mulgrew Miller Saw Us Through (AdmissionsProjects.com)
* What People Actually Listen To In 2021 (Music3Point0.com)
* Numbers Don’t Lie: Lilli Lewis Talks Black Presence in Americana (Offbeat)
* Frank Sinatra And Quincy Jones: When The Voice Met The Dude (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Jam & Lewis: “With Prince, we learned to use synthesizers in a very musical way” (MusicRadar.com)
* Tony Scott: How A BeBop Jazz Clarinetist Invented New Age Music (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* Legendary Pete Escovedo ready to help jump-start Bay Area jazz scene (San Jose Mercury News)
* Call It Mourning: Mark Ruffin Remembers Gil Scott-Heron on the 10-Year Anniversary of the Poet’s Death (Jazziz)

Sunday Session: July 4, 2021

Sun Ra

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

* Congressmen Introduce American Music Fairness Act to Compel Radio to Pay Royalties on Recorded Music (Variety)
* Experimental Musicians Turn to Multimedia Art During the COVID-19 Pandemic (TheRoadToSound.com)
* Jon Hassell, avant garde US composer, dies aged 84 (The Guardian)
* How Sun Ra Taught Us to Believe in the Impossible (The New Yorker)
* Anitta, ‘The Girl From Rio,’ on Interpolating the Classic ‘Ipanema’ Melody for a U.S. Pop Breakthrough (Variety)
* Burton Greene, Pioneering Free Jazz Pianist, Dies at 84 (WBGO)
* Zenón Finds Light in Ornette (DownBeat)
* 20-Year-Old Pi Recordings Builds Path from Past to Future (DownBeat)
* The pop star versus the playlist (Vox.com)
* Spotify Executive Calls Artist ‘Entitled’ for Requesting Payment of One Penny Per Stream (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Elk Live promises next-gen remote collaboration: “play music together like you’re in the same room” (MusicRadar.com)
* The Smithsonian Institution to release 129-song anthology of rap music (NME.com)
* Queen are making £100,000 a day from ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ biopic (NME.com)
* Rock sideman Earl Slick: ‘Bowie had gone levels into insanity’ (The Guardian)
* Less Than 5% of Pandemic Relief Funds for Nightlife Venues Have Been Distributed. Owners Fear the Show Might Not Go On (Time)
* “Blue” Gene Tyranny Was Texas’s Greatest Piano Prodigy (Texas Monthly)
* Herbie Hancock’s favourite books of all time (FarOutMagazine.co.uk)
* Nels Cline: "I had no desire to gyrate and hump my amplifier and set my guitar on fire – I wanted to take a modest path" (Guitar World)
* A Conversation with Mr. Ron Carter (BassMusicianMagazine.com)

Sunday Session: June 27, 2021

Kurt Elling

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

* Her Kind Of Blue: Joni Mitchell's Masterpiece At 50 (NPR)
* 5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Pat Metheny (SPIN)
* Jen Shyu Blends Just About Everything with Zero Grasses (Jazz Times)
* “A Message To My Fans And Friends From All Over The World”: Louis Armstrong’s “Open Letter to Fans” (LouisArmstrongHouse.org)
* Senior's Week: 96-year-old Eve Duke still entertaining music fans (Vancouver Sun)
* Shuttered SideBar in New Orleans Continues To Provide Creative Outlets (DownBeat)
* Julius Eastman, A Misunderstood Composer, Returns To The Light (NPR)
* The Doors’ greatest songs – ranked! (The Guardian)
* 'The Big Blind': Kurt Elling's Jazz Radio Drama In 1950s Chicago (NPR)
* This Orchestra Just Made History As The First All-Black Orchestra To Feature At Carnegie Hall In Its 130-Year-History (BecauseOfThemWeCan.com)
* A Peek Inside the World’s Greatest Record Store (Smithsonian)
* Hannah Peel: "Delia Derbyshire would be completely in awe of all the synthesizers and recording technology we have now" (MusicRadar.com)
* The Beatles: Get Back—An Exclusive Deep Dive Into Peter Jackson’s Revelatory New Movie (Vanity Fair)
* Matthew Whitaker Confronts Racial Injustice on the First Single From His Sweeping New Album, 'Connections' (WBGO)
* Are we headed for a shortage of vinyl records? It looks like it. (AJournalOfMusicalThings.com)
* Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Surrealistic Pillow’: The LP That Fed Your Head (BestClassicBands.com)
* Dream comes true for man who bought his favorite record shop, St. Augustine's Music Matters (St. Augustine Record)

Sunday Session: June 20, 2021

Don Cherry

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

* Now That You’ve Bought a Multi-Million-Dollar Music Catalog, What Are You Going to Do With It? (Variety)
* The greatest 'lost tapes' ever found? (BBC)
* The 10 Great Record Stores in America (SPIN)
* Don Cherry’s Life-Affirming Organic Music (Bandcamp.com)
* Mystical Discipline: Anthony Braxton Interviewed (TheQuietus.com)
* Jeff Beck: my stories of Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan and more (LouderSound.com)
* Elevation Studios Breaks Ground On Massive Production, Rehearsal Campus In Nashville (Pollstar.com)
* Can classical music organizations survive the longest-running disruption in history? Opera Australia has cracked the code. (CultureForHire.com)
* The Sound of Early Sci-Fi: Samuel Hoffman’s Theremin (Reverb.com)
* ‘We could lose it all’: UK jazz tries to get its groove back after Covid (The Guardian)
* U.S. Recorded Music Revenues Are Still 46% Below 1999 Peaks, RIAA Data Shows (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Buddy Guy Documentary Explores the Roots of an American Master (Soulhead.com)
* Jazz Elder Statesman Anthony Braxton Continues To Defy Expectations (NPR)
* The Guitar Playing of Julian Lage (The New Yorker)
* Don And Moki Cherry's Organic Dreams Made Real (NPR)
* Pedal-Steel Guitarist Greg Leisz on His Years With Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, and Daft Punk (Rolling Stone)
* How Boston’s Tom Scholz made their entire debut album in his basement (RockAndRollGarage.com)

Sunday Session: June 13, 2021

Terence Blanchard

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

* Tulsa Race Massacre: How The Gap Band Was a Tribute to the Former ‘Black Wall Street’ (TheWrap.com)
* JazzTimes 10: Essential Horace Silver Recordings (Jazz Times)
* A “Phenomenal Concept,” and A Mega Synth Studio Goes Minimalist (SonicScoop.com)
* Five Months Later, Only 31 of 13,619 Music Venues Have Gotten Their Grants Approved (Rolling Stone)
* ‘This sounds like a human synthesiser’: the evolution of rap, one verse at a time (The Guardian)
* A Guide to the Early Work of Sonny Rollins on Prestige Records (Bandcamp.com)
* The Strange World Of… Don Cherry (TheQuietus.com)
* Floating Along In Uncertainty With Vijay Iyer (NPR)
* The Sound of Joy (SPIN)
* ‘Perry Mason’ composer Terence Blanchard: ‘It was a huge honor’ to remix the iconic theme of the original series (GoldDerby.com)
* U.S. Jazz Venues Announce Reopening (Jazz Times)
* Ray Charles’ ‘True Genius’ Box Set to Feature Previously Unreleased Live Tracks (Rolling Stone via Yahoo News)
* Tone Glow 067: George Lewis (ToneGlow.Substack.com)
* Jazz vs. Classical Funding (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Uncovering the Rich History of Spanish Experimental Music (Bandcamp.com)
* Rolling Stones, Tom Jones and more join campaign for law change on streaming (The Guardian)
* Just a Lego robot strumming a ukulele (AVClub.com)
* Chronology: Freddie Redd Steps Out of the Shadows (Jazz Times)
* Larry Goldings Reaches New Audience as Comedian (Jazz Times)
* Julian Lage: “I bought a stethoscope and taped it to the back of the Telecaster. I could only handle it for about a day and thought, ‘This is abusive!’“ (MusicRadar.com)
* Live music is back, but for roadies and crews, the pandemic’s toll may be irreversible (Los Angeles Times)
* In historic move, Sony Music is disregarding unrecouped balances for heritage catalog artists (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Overdue Ovation: Steve Slagle Remains Optimistic with New Album (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: June 6, 2021

Anthony Braxton

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

* The Making of Sex Pistols' "Never Mind the Bollocks" (Reverb.com)
* Chops: Sam Gendel Creates a Distinctive Sax Sound (Jazz Times)
* With 'Zero Grasses,' Jen Shyu Forges Grief into Revelation (WBGO)
* What Music Is Making Movies Tick? Here Are the 12 Biggest Film Sync Licensing Trends of 2021 (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* 47 Years of Music Industry Change — In 47 Seconds or Less (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Interview with Jeff “Tain” Watts (EthanIverson.com)
* From Heliopolis to Saturn: Sun Ra and Egypt (DIYWorldwide.com)
* Man in Black at 50: Johnny Cash’s empathy is needed more than ever (The Guardian)
* Jazz Singer Nnenna Freelon Works Through Grief With New Album And Podcast (NPR)
* After Delays and Snafus, Music Venues Tenuously Seeing Next Steps Toward Relief (Rolling Stone)
* The ‘Big Bang’ in Jazz History (WNYC)
* How SoundScan Changed Everything We Knew About Popular Music (TheRinger.com)
* Riddle Me This: Jazz Artists Remember Arranger Nelson Riddle on His Centennial (Jazziz)
* The Source - Sun Ra and his Arkestra’s Egpytian adventure (The Nation)
* Alice Coltrane Turiya Sings Reissue Announced (Pitchfork.com)
* A Legendary Stand by the Lee Morgan Quintet Finally Sees Full Release, as 'The Complete Live at the Lighthouse' (WBGO)
* As Grants For Shuttered Venues Trickle Out, Many Owners Are Still Waiting (NPR)
* Producer Mitch Easter shares the inside story of R.E.M.’s early recording sessions: “It was glorious. They rehearsed a lot just because they liked to play together“ (MusicRadar.com)
* ‘Songs In A Minor’ at 20: How Alicia Keys' debut album set the tone for contemporary R&B (USA Today)
* Anthony Braxton On The Radiance Of Standards, His Search For Charlie Parker & The Forces That Divide America (Grammy.com)
* Hear Bach's Music Like You've Never Heard It Before: Upside Down (NPR)
* What Is Asian American Music, Really (Pitchfork.com)
* Gary Bartz & Jazz Is Dead (Jazz Times)

Sunday Session: May 30, 2021

Doug Carn

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

* Celebrating Gospel Music After the Civil Rights Era (AAIHS.org)
* My favourite Dylan song – by Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Jones, Judy Collins and more (The Guardian)
* Vanderbilt Heard Libraries are new home to Dizzy Gillespie Collection (Vanderbilt.edu)
* From the Deep South to Chicago, How Blues Music Shaped the Lives of 2 Japanese Men (NBCChicago.com)
* In his final months, Ralph Peterson pushed ‘onward and upward’ to complete ‘Raise Up Off Me’ (Boston Globe)
* You Just Can't Peg Pedrito Martinez And Rubén Blades (NPR)
* Live Music Is Back. America’s Indie Venues Are No Better Off (Rolling Stone)
* Strata-East Records: An Oral History (Jazz Times)
* The History of Reverb (Reverb.com)
* Unique Collection Of Classic 'Sweet Soul' Music From Chicago Finds New Home (WBUR)
* Branford Marsalis' 'Ma Rainey' Score Makes 100-Year-Old Blues Sound Relevant Today (NPR)
* In Conversation: Can’s Irmin Schmidt on the Band’s Legacy and Most Memorable Live Shows (FloodMagazine.com)
* Six Definitive Songs: The ultimate beginner’s guide to Sun Ra (FarOutMagazine.co.uk)
* Best Archie Shepp Tracks: 20 Essentials From The Jazz Firebrand (UDiscoverMusic.com)
* ‘Black music is my superpower. It’s my way of showing love’: the art of Georgia Anne Muldrow (The Guardian)
* Let’s talk about sax, baby: How one of music’s most maligned instruments reconquered pop and indie (The Independent)
* John Coltrane House project in Strawberry Mansion gets state blight remediation funds (PhillyVoice.com)
* Doug Carn’s Big Moment (DownBeat)
* Lost in Space Music: Records That Explore the Outer Limits (Bandcamp.com)

Sunday Session: May 23, 2021

Quincy Jones

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

* Pioneering composer Terry Riley finds himself comfortably marooned in Japan (ToysMatrix.com)
* Curtis Fuller (1932-2021) – A Tribute by Nils Wogram (London Jazz News)
* "Part of the Tradition is Tipping Your Hat": An Interview with Miguel Zenón (Popmatters.com)
* Sam Leak – Findings of the ‘Livestreaming Music’ survey – and a personal perspective (London Jazz News)
* Moers Festival Interviews: Fred Frith (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Long Hair And Lowriders: Latin Rock In 1971 (NPR)
* Making an Album About George Washington Carver Taught James Brandon Lewis About Himself (Bandcamp.com)
* María Grand Moves Her Music Closer to Nature (Jazz Times)
* The golden ratio: an ancient Greek formula could be responsible for most hit musicals (TheConversation.com)
* Bob Koester leaves a colossal legacy in Chicago jazz and blues (Chicago Reader)
* “Stay Literally Forever Young”: A Conversation with Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans (DwellerForever.blog)
* Mars Williams: The Albums That Shaped My Career (SomethingElseReviews.com)
* How a Favela Orchestra Brilliantly Used Soccer to Get Brazil Excited for Classical Music (Adweek)
* THR Icon: Quincy Jones Reflects on Career, Michael Jackson and Why He Wouldn’t Work With Elvis (Hollywood Reporter)
* Marking Legendary Golden-Age Pianist Erroll Garner's Centennial (NPR)
* Joni Mitchell’s First Song Made Her Piano Teacher Angry (UltimateClassicRock.com)
* Fifteen Questions Interview with Claire RousayFlawed, Unsure, and Deeply Human (15Questions)
* Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ Is as Relevant Today as It Was in 1971 (Smithsonian)
* Bob Dylan at 80: in praise of a mighty and unbowed singer-songwriter (The Guardian)
* Linda May Han Oh: the Perth muso immortalised by Pixar (Sydney Morning Herald) * Wadada Leo Smith :: Transmissions (AquariumDrunkard.com)

Sunday Session: May 16, 2021

Melissa Aldana

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

* Computer World at 40: How Kraftwerk Predicted Our Techno-Utopian Fate (Consequence of Sound)
* Wes Montgomery and friends (TheBlueMoment.com)
* Growth drivers – what comes after streaming (Music Industry Blog)
* Melissa Aldana Signs to Blue Note, Building on the Legacy of Her Saxophone Heroes (WBGO)
* The Weight Of The Ritual: Frank Rynne On The Master Musicians Of Joujouka (TheQuietus.com)
* Vincent Herring: Not the End of the Line (Jazz Times)
* Carla Bley at 85: In Praise and Awe of an Unfettered Genius (WBGO)
* Dave Mason: Feelin’ Alright At 75 (RockAndRollGlobe.com)
* Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to Induct Jay-Z, Carole King, Go-Go’s, Tina Turner, Todd Rundgren and Foo Fighters (Variety)
* Curtis Fuller 1932–2021 (Jazz Times)
* Berlin to officially declare nightclubs as cultural institutions (DJMag.com)
* This man made opera history. Why did I not know him? (The Guardian)
* The Music Industry Is Finally Scaring Spotify (Slate.com)
* Pulling Back the Curtain on Alexander Shustorovich, Classical Music's International Man of Mystery (Billboard)
* Family Company Is Thriving Making Turntables For Vinyl Aficionados (Forbes)
* George Grella on Jazz: Is It Safe? (Red Hook Star-Revue)
* Kind of Blue Books: Novels about Jazz Musicians (NeglectedBooks.com)
* How James Brown’s Star Time Revolutionized the Box-Set Game—and Cemented His Legacy (Pitchfork.com)

Sunday Session: May 9, 2021

Gary Bartz

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

* Why stars should think twice before calling out their critics (The Guardian)
* Vin Diesel, Arthur Russell and Me (PleaseKillMe.com)
* Earliest Jazz Fest tapes discovered after 20-year quest: Historic performances are heard again (NOLA.com)
* Freda Payne: Coming Back to Jazz (Jazz Times)
* T.S. Monk Talks Activism, Jazz, 80s Funk And Keeping His Father’s Legacy Alive (Black Enterprise)
* In the Groove with Joshua Redman: A Conversation With the Acclaimed Jazz Artist (BMI.com)
* Is CD-quality music streaming about to go mainstream? (TechHive.com)
* The Brilliant Stupidity of Robert Palmer’s 1986 No. 1 Hit, ‘Addicted to Love’ (Variety)
* The Song That Sold America to a Generation of Asian Immigrants (The Atlantic)
* How the Internet Archive Has Digitized More than 250,000 78 R.P.M. Records: See the Painstaking Process Up-Close (OpenCulture.com)
* Gary Bartz At 80: On Jazz Is Dead, Miles Davis And Why Improvisation Is A Dirty Word (AllAboutJazz.com)
* How Norman Granz Revolutionized Jazz for Social Justice (Smithsonian)
* Listening In: Leni Stern, High-Flying Bird (BrooklynRail.org)
* Los Lobos Detail New Covers Album ‘Native Sons’ & Share Singles (Jambase.com)
* The Case Against the Eagles (TheRinger.com)
* Gregory Porter Gets Cooking Beyond the Bandstand with a New Show, The PorterHouse (WBGO)
* Skerik Talks About the New Album From Garage A Trois, and the Hope of Post-Pandemic Touring (WBGO)
* Camille Thurman: Before & After (Jazz Times)
* Herbie Hancock reveals details of new album (PlanetRadio.co.uk)
* Aaron Neville announces official retirement (Offbeat)
* Live Nation Weathers Rough Quarter as Concert Business Slowly Rumbles Back to Life (Variety)
* Tower of Power Celebrates 50 Years Together (Jazz Times)
* Inside look: How the freewheeling Alex Chilton, Hi Rhythm collaboration happened (Memphis Commercial Appeal)
* How Billy Gibbons Wrote ZZ Top's “La Grange“ (Guitar Player)
* Mary Halvorson: Melt the Frame (Stereophile)
* Lloyd Price, R&B Pioneer Known as ‘Mr. Personality,’ Dies at 88 (Variety)
* The Lost Recordings Of Hasaan Ibn Ali Reveal A Legend Just Getting Started (NPR)

Sunday Session: May 2, 2021

Osibisa

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

* “Make Something Out Of This”: Drumbo On The Making Of Trout Mask Replica (TheQuietus.com)
* JazzTimes 10: Classic New Orleans Recordings (Jazz Times)
* Bodies and Souls, Sophisticated Ladies, and Plucked Strings (TheSmartSet.com)
* Bob Dylan and Charlie Watts will soon turn 80. More music legends are rocking out long past retirement age (San Diego Union Tribune)
* "The Greatest Improviser I've Ever Known": A Mini Oral History of Diana Ross in 'Lady Sings the Blues (Hollywood Reporter)
* Jimmy Giuffre at 100: A Centennial Tribute in Take Five (WBGO)
* New York City's Influence On Latin Music (NPR)
* Pat Metheny Talks Composition with John Pizzarelli (Jazz Times)
* Meet the Experimental Musicians Who Built Their Own Streaming Service (Pitchfork.com)
* Surrounded By Moving Air: 6 Big-Band Composers Pushing The Format Forward (Grammy.com)
* Robert Wyatt – The Saddest Voice in Modern Music (LivingLifeFearless.co)
* George Benson: My Career in Five Songs (Guitar Player)
* Evocation: Jimmy Giuffre @ 100 (Tidal.com)
* Al Schmitt, legendary recording engineer and producer, reported to have died aged 91 (MusicRadar.com)
* Visit The Oldest Steinway Piano Dealer In The World (Boston.CBSLocal.com)
* Guitar Legends: Television’s Tom Verlaine & Richard Lloyd – the punk guitar heroes who weren’t punk at all (Guitar)
* Where to Begin With Important Records’ Genre-Defying Soundscapes (Bandcamp,com)
* ‘Our ethos was happy music and good vibes’: genre-busting Black British band Osibisa (The Guardian)
* The Women’s Vocal Jazz Supergroup That’s Redefining The Rules (Forbes)

Sunday Session: April 25, 2021

Larry Carlton

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

* Catching Up With Laurie Anderson, An Artist Always Ahead Of Her Time (NPR)
* And all that jazz: innovative album covers from the 1950s on – in pictures (The Guardian)
* Jazz Artists Remember Chick Corea (Jazz Times)
* Apple Music Says It Pays One Penny Per Stream — 2-3 Times What Spotify Pays (DigitalMusicNews.com)
* Does Spotify pay artists a fair rate? Here’s what musicians, managers and Apple Music have to say (Los Angeles Times)
* Ethan Iverson: From The Bad Plus to Bebop, Bud Powell and Bach (JazzWeekly.com)
* Tony Bennett: A Hero's Journey in Authenticity (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Sonny Simmons and the Backwoods (The Wire)
* Larry Carlton: My Career in Five Songs (Guitar Player)
* UnitedMasters’ Steve Stoute: ‘Record companies’ ownership in artists’ intellectual property will diminish.’ (MusicBusinessWorldwide.com)
* Chops: Branford Marsalis and Howard Alden on Ghost Performances in Movies (Jazz Times)
* Prince’s go-to synths and drum machine: a career in music tech gear (MusicRadar.com)
* 2021 NEA Jazz Masters: A Q&A with Phil Schaap (SFJAZZ.org)
* Why is classical music used in cartoons? (ABC.net.au)
* Tomorrow’s Warriors at 30 - the power behind London’s jazz revival (The Standard)
* 45 Lost Albums We Want To Hear (Stereogum.com)
* International Jazz Day's Global Celebrations Are On, And Again Online (NPR)
* Sounding Out Electronic Music’s Female Pioneers (Metrograph.com)
* Tom Holkenborg: “I think I paid about £15 for my Memorymoog synth - in 1983 you couldn’t give them away” (MusicRadar.com)
* SFJazz hosts inspiring virtual Jazz Masters Tribute Concert (San Francisco Chronicle)
* Recordable and portable: the cassette tape miracle (NewFrame.com)
* Steve Reich: Humans Love to See Other Humans Play Music (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Frank Zappa’s Final American Concert to Be Released as Live Album (Consequence of Sound)
* Sisters With Transistors: inside the fascinating film about electronic music’s forgotten pioneers (The Guardian)

Sunday Session: April 18, 2021

Albert "Tootie" Heath

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

* Invention Has A Sound: The story of Mark Twain, a Martin acoustic and the world’s first guitar effect (Guitar)
* The Rhymes And Reasons Behind Re-Recording Your Own Classics (NPR)
* Bob Porter, Eminent Producer, Broadcaster and Writer, and Pillar of WBGO, Has Died at 80 (WBGO)
* Steve Gadd: From Monroe County to Around the World (NYSMusic.com)
* A Guide to the Extensive Musical Legacy of Mills College (Bandcamp.com)
* The Glorious Exclamation Mark: Carla Bley Interviewed (TheQuietus.com)
* Sonny Simmons, Fiercely Independent Alto Saxophonist, Dies at 87 (NPR)
* Interview with Phil Schaap (MaxRaskin.com)
* A philosophy of sound (Aeon.co)
* Inescapable Progression: 10 Jazz Labels You Need To Know In 2021 (Grammy.com)
* 2021 NEA Jazz Masters: A Q&A with Albert "Tootie" Heath (SFJAZZ.org)
* Apple Greenlights Louis Armstrong Documentary From Imagine (Variety)
* Matters of Obsession - Brian Eno’s ambient music for times of thinking and healing (DailyMaverick.com)
* Mental Health Takes Center Stage As Pandemic Devastates Nashville's Live Music Scene (NPR)
* Meet the songwriters who told pop stars: 'Don't steal from us' (BBC)
* Is It Possible For an Opera Singer to Break Glass with Their Voice? (WKYC)
* 2021 NEA Jazz Masters: A Q&A with Henry Threadgill (SFJAZZ.org)
* Painting Music with Artificial Intelligence (Mathworks.com)
* Why It’s Misleading to Say ‘Apple Music Pays Twice as Much Per Stream as Spotify’ (Variety)
* Joe Lovano: Finding New Adventures (AllAboutJazz.com)

Sunday Session: April 11, 2021

Esperenza Spalding

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

* The life and tragic death of Lee Morgan: “He was a young man, already older than his years, thrilled with his talent and the wonders of the world around him” (Jazzwise)
* Islands in the Stream (American Prospect)
* 10 tracks by Herbie Hancock I can’t do without… by Jon Opstad (London Jazz News)
* Brian Bromberg Continues his Journey into the Eclectic (Jazz Times)
* Quincy Jones On Bebop, Jazz And His Streaming Venture, Qwest TV (Forbes)
* 2021 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert to Take Place Virtually April 22, 2021 (AllAboutJazz.com)
* Marion Brown's Musical Portrait of Georgia (The Bitter Southerner)
* 'Our music was born in hard times': How Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra keeps playing (Asbury Park Press)
* On "Let Me Tell You 'Bout It," JD Allen Discusses His New Creative Zeal, and a Solo Sax Album on the Horizon (WBGO)
* Morris 'B.B.' Dickerson, Founding Member of War, Dies at 71 (Billboard)
* From History to Biographies, Here Are the Best Books About Jazz (Billboard)
* Listening for baselines beyond anthropophony: An interview with Bernie Krause by D. Ferrett (AllAroundSound-Bloomsbury.com)
* Healing, grace and enlightenment: How Pharoah Sanders and Floating Points made a spiritual album for the dark ages (The Independent)
* Exit/In: Inside the Last-Ditch Effort to Save Nashville’s Legendary Music Club (Rolling Stone)
* How Tangerine Dream conquered the UK charts in the 70s (LouderSound.com)
* Warren Wolf: A Before & After Listening Session (Jazz Times)
* World-Class Trombonist Andre Hayward's Spiritual Journey (Austin Chronicle)
* Play It Forward: Angel Bat Dawid Knows How To Deliver Emotion Through Song (NPR)
* 2021 NEA JAZZ MASTERS: A Q&A with music director Miguel ZenÓn (SFJAZZ.org)
* Pino Palladino, pop's greatest bassist: 'I felt like a performing monkey!' (The Guardian)
* Meet the Man Recreating Ancient Musical Instruments Lost to Time (AtlasObscura.com)
* Inside the Dirty Business of Hit Songwriting (Variety)
* Flipping Alone: An Oral History of Record Stores During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Consequence of Sound)
* Esperanza Spalding’s New Songwrights Apothecary Lab Is the Music Therapy We Need Now (Vogue)
* The Treatment - Terence Blanchard: ‘Da 5 Bloods’
* ‘It has never been more pertinent’ – Margaret Atwood on the chilling genius of Laurie Anderson’s Big Science (The Guardian)
* Merry Clayton Bares Her 'Beautiful Scars' (NPR)
* The Film That Jazz Deserves (The New Yorker)
* 36 of America’s Best Independent Music Venues on Surviving and What’s Next (Pitchfork.com)
* Trevor Dunn: “It’s in my personality to sit back and groove with the drummer – I took to bass immediately“ (Guitar World)
* Live Music Should Be More Accessible For Disabled Fans (Vice.com)

Sunday Session: April 4, 2021

Sons of Kemet

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

* TONTO synth creator and Steve Wonder collaborator Malcolm Cecil has died, aged 84 (MusicRadar.com)
* Audio cassettes: despite being "a bit rubbish," sales have doubled during the pandemic — here’s why (Salon.com)
* Hardware Store With a Jazzy Past Prepares to End its 95-Year Run (WTTW)
* Sons of Kemet announces new album – Black to the Future (PlanetRadio.co.uk)
* The lavish Moog Sound Studio kits could bring modular synthesis to the masses: “just add headphones” (MusicRadar.com)
* The 100 Greatest Motown Songs (Rolling Stone)
* Stage on the water marks Montreux Jazz Festival's comeback (Reuters.com)
* Archie Shepp :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview (AquariumDrunkard.com)
* Highway Hi-Fi, the Revolutionary Vinyl-In-Your-Car Tech That Failed (AutoEvolution.com)
* Paul Simon Sells Song Catalog to Sony Music Publishing (Variety)
* How To Walk On Water - A Conversation With William Parker (TheQuietus.com)
* Music From Saturn (ImaginaryWorldPodcast.com)
* Chops: Teaching Adults to Play Jazz (Jazz Times)
* Live Music Is About to Get Its Grand Reopening (Medium.com)
* The story of Mahavishnu Orchestra: Devotional, dizzying, and downright revolutionary (LouderSound.com)
* Virtuosos, Voyagers & Visionaries: Five Artists Pushing Jazz Into The Future (Grammy.com)
* What a Wonderful World — the hit that was almost murdered at birth (Financial Times)
* A Beginner’s Guide to Can’s avant-garde rock (TrebleZine.com)
* Ambrose Akinmusire: The man with the horn (Bay State Banner)
* Symphony of a Thousand Millennia (LiteraryReview.co.uk)
* Inside the Barry Harris Method (Jazz Times)