• Home
  • About
    • Jazz Beyond Jazz
    • Howard Mandel
    • Contact
  • AJBlogs
  • ArtsJournal

Jazz Beyond Jazz

Howard Mandel's Urban Improvisation

You are here: Home / 2007 / Archives for October 2007

Archives for October 2007

Confession: Deaf to Gospel

October 29, 2007 by Howard Mandel

I may burn at the stake for political incorrectness, but it's the truth: I have an intense aversion to gospel music. My distaste dates to a haunting childhood vision in which an overwhelming Mahalia Jackson is routed by a malevolent clown. … [Read more...]

Guitars and jazz tradition, popularism, innovation

October 23, 2007 by Howard Mandel

Jazz at Lincoln Center opened its canon to Swing Era guitar heroes Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian last week, while John Scofield, one of the instrument's current avatars, disappointed in performance of This Meets That with his trio + Scohorns. Where does the six-string ax belong, and what's it to do? … [Read more...]

Singers of the songs

October 14, 2007 by Howard Mandel

Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Corrine Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza and Leonard Cohen are not voices necessarily dear to fans of serious jazz, but Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter don't alone make River: The Joni Letters a must-hear. … [Read more...]

Herbie enriches Joni

October 13, 2007 by Howard Mandel

A decade ago, pianist Herbie Hancock established his "New Standards" initiative, aiming to wed sophisticated improvisation to a contemporary American pop songbook (post-Berlin, Gershwin, Porter, et al). At last, after several disastrous attempts, he's justified such a project with River: The Joni Letters -- infusing well-known high art pop songs by inimitable Joni Mitchell with the depth of lyrical, inspired jazz. … [Read more...]

Monk at 90, Monk Forever

October 9, 2007 by Howard Mandel

Thelonious Sphere Monk (Oct. 10, 1917 - Feb. 17, 1982) should be celebrated today on the occasion of his 90th birthday, and always for the indestructible resonance of his compositions, pianism and performance style. He is an authentic icon of the American alternative, the possibility of us each becoming, and making sense of, who we uniquely are. It's easy to hear Monk's influence in present day jazz -- as easy as listening to a parade of 18 jazz and classical keyboardists in 10-15 minute increments from 5 p.m. to 9:15 this evening (Oct. 10) at … [Read more...]

NEA Jazz Masters — Who’s Tom McIntosh?

October 8, 2007 by Howard Mandel

At the National Endowment for the Arts party last week announcing the 2008 of Jazz Masters at least one celebrant was hoping the award would kick-start a professional cycle. "You know," said the 80-year-old trombonist/composer, paraphrasing the sequence of recognition he said Fernando Lamas had once applied to his career arc: "Who is Tom McIntosh? Get me Tom McIntosh! Get me a Tom McIntosh type! Get me a young Tom McIntosh! Who is Tom McIntosh?" Who indeed? … [Read more...]

Internat’l jazz journalists convene, talk, listen (eat, drink, argue, make merry)

October 1, 2007 by Howard Mandel

More than three dozen pundits and several hundred devotees of "jazz" old and new, free-form and familiarly-structured, abstract and/or pure blue -- writers, broadcasters, editors, photographers, new media specialists and teachers (most of whom fulfill several of those roles simultaneously) -- from some 20 countries -- pondered the big picture - "Jazz in the Global Imagination" at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism lecture hall Saturday in the first such international conference ever held in the U.S. It was sponsored by the … [Read more...]

Howard Mandel

I'm a Chicago-born (and after 32 years in NYC, recently repatriated) writer, editor, author, arts reporter for National Public Radio, consultant and nascent videographer -- a veteran freelance journalist working on newspapers, magazines and websites, appearing on tv and radio, teaching at New York University and elsewhere, consulting on media, publishing and jazz-related issues. I'm president of the Jazz Journalists Association, a non-profit membership organization devoted to using all media to disseminate news and views about all kinds of jazz.
My books are Future Jazz (Oxford U Press, 1999) and Miles Ornette Cecil - Jazz Beyond Jazz (Routledge, 2008). I was general editor of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz and Blues (Flame Tree 2005/Billboard Books 2006). Of course I'm working on something new. . . Read More…

About Jazz Beyond Jazz

What if there's more to jazz than you suppose? What if jazz demolishes suppositions and breaks all bounds? What if jazz - and the jazz beyond, behind, under and around jazz - could enrich your life? What if jazz is the subtle, insightful, stylish, … [Read More...]

Recent Comments

  • Kevin E Lynch on International Jazz RIPs, 2017: “re: previous comment” Jan 8, 12:59
  • Kevin E Lynch on International Jazz RIPs, 2017: “What a profoundly moving and thought-provoking list. Who knew so many, gone. And these few precious days...I'll spend with…” Jan 8, 12:57
  • Howard Mandel on Hyde Park Jazz Fest, summer’s last dance (photos): “thanks Bob -- Andrew is playing at his peak, should be heard!” Oct 1, 17:05
  • Bob Gluck on Hyde Park Jazz Fest, summer’s last dance (photos): “Thanks for the report on what sounds like a vibrant festival mixing generations and approaches. I particularly appreciate the space…” Oct 1, 14:57
  • Howard Mandel on The Jazz & Blues Art Box — instant collection, rare data trove: “I dont know about the publicfunding for the Bern jazz festival OR the videos; the Box itself seems to be…” Jul 31, 00:13

@JazzMandel

Tweets by @jazzbeyondjazz

More Me

I'll be speaking:

JBJ Essentials

Archives

Interviews & Articles

ESP Disks — origins of jazz beyond jazz

Reviewing a sleeping giant, ESP Disks before its early '00s revivalĀ  Howard Mandel c 1997, published in issue 157, The Wire It was a time before psychedelics. Following the seismic cultural disruptions of the mid '50s, rock 'n' roll had hit a … [Read More...]

William Parker, my DownBeat feature from 1998

Howard MandelĀ c 1998/published by DownBeat, July 1998, under headline Beneath the Underdog (the editor's reference to Charles Mingus's autobiography): There's an anchor for New York's downtown free jazz and improv "wild bunch": his name is William … [Read More...]

Matthew Shipp, my feature for The Wire, 1998

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="IFeXJPobvykRyuU4dU68FilRPv0EE8oC"] This is a complete version of the feature on pianist Matthew Shipp I wrote for The Wire, published in February, 1998 Is this the face of New York's jazz avant now? Pianist Matt … [Read More...]

Rashied Ali (1935 – 2009), multi-directional drummer, speaks

A 1990 interview with drummer Rashied Ali, about his relationship with John Coltrane. … [Read More...]

On The Corner program notes, Merkin Hall concert 5/25/09

Miles Davis intended On The Corner to be a personal statement, an esthetic breakthrough and a social provocation upon its release in fall of 1972. He could hardly have been more successful: the album was all that, though it has taken decades for its … [Read More...]

Blogroll

Jazz Beyond Jazz
Jose Reyes’ Jazz Con Class
Roanna Forman’s Boston Jazz Blog
David Hadju’s The Famous Door
Matt Miller’s tuneOUToptIN
Richard Mitnick’s Musicsprings
A Blog Supreme (NPR)
George Grella’s The Big City
Sebastian Scotney’s LondonJazz
Alex W. Rodriguez’s Lubricity
Ralph Mirlello’s Notes on Jazz

Return to top of page

an ArtsJournal blog

This blog published under a Creative Commons license

Copyright © 2018 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in