Just a Girl In the Musical World, Part CDXLVIII

Sorry to break in on your holiday celebrations with a downer of a post, but Darcy James Argue emailed this morning to make sure this little review of Maria Schneider's Montreal performance was on my radar. Its non-musical content has been grinding on me ever since. Before you read it, Darcy's post helpfully included a YouTube link to Schneider in action (though the footage is not from the performance in question). Take a look:

Now, read the post referenced above: Jazz fest 2009: Maria with the long bare arms

Being a critic myself, I'm usually pretty cautious about getting hot over any assessment of an ephemeral live music event, but I mean, seriously?!? Our jaws can drop and our eyebrows crinkle together, and yet perhaps we unfortunately need the reminder that plenty of people still do write about and pass judgment on women in all sorts of fields on grounds just like this. And though it can feel like a time waster, we have to keep talking about it and drawing attention to it until this kind of commentary is gone for good (or at the very least does not appear attached to a national news media brand--blog post or no, it will be read as a critique by a professional in that context). Speaking for myself, all the comments that fill up the space following what Mr. Heinrich wrote are a somewhat saving grace here. Somewhat.