Jazz Beyond Jazz http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/ Howard Mandel's freelance Urban Improvisation en Copyright 2009 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:44:46 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Far downtown weekend adventures Vision Festival stage 28 hours of multidisciplinary improvisation starting tonight (Friday) at 6 p.m. at Clemente Soso Velez Cultural Center; Mode Records throws itself a benefit marathon concert featuring Philip Glass, John Zorn and Robert Ashley, among many others on Saturday at Abrons Art Center; jazz scholars convene for The Louis Armstrong Symposium at College of Staten Island also Saturday starting at 9 a.m., keynote by Dan Morgenstern) and the Destination Guadeloupe Festival climaxes with Gwo-ka drumming, "gwanda jazz" and zouk at S.O.B.'s on Sunday (bands from Guadeloupe are also there and at Zinc Bar tonight and tomorrow).The possibilities show again the breadth and depth of music made and presented in NYC.]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/far_downtown_weekend_adventure.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/far_downtown_weekend_adventure.html main Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:44:46 -0500 Trouble -- or transition -- at Jazz.com? Stepping down from presiding over Jazz.com two years after its launch, editor, author and pianist Ted Gioia isn't saying much about what's up with the site that has become a major web resource and destination. Naturally, this leads to wondering what has become of the promise and potential of jazz on the web.]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/trouble_--_or_transition_--_at.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/trouble_--_or_transition_--_at.html main Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:03:33 -0500 Wynton le Chevalier Marsalis City Arts column of the music of trumpeter-composer Wynton Marsalis, in the jazz spotlight for 25 years. Founder and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, educator, activist, humanitarian, winner of a Pulitzer and multiple Grammies, Wynton stands tallest in my book when he just plays jazz.]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/wynton_le_chevalier_marsalis.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/wynton_le_chevalier_marsalis.html main Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:15:38 -0500 The critics play Burnt Sugar at the Blue Note last night, not stepping out front of his troupe to guide them (kinda like President O waiting for Congress to decide what to do), but the late Robert Palmer's spirit hovered quite tangibly over the tribute his daughter Augusta Palmer ran at Le Poisson a couple blocks away, celebrating the screening of her film The Hand of Fatima which tells the story of her disengaged dad and his musical fascinations. The struggle for respect of music journalists who believe black music is the heart-and-soul of America goes on. . . ]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/the_critics_play_1.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/the_critics_play_1.html main Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:11:26 -0500 Performance night of beyond-jazz critics Greg Tate's Burnt Sugar plays the Blue Note, and the late journalist-reedsplayer Robert Palmer is celebrated by biographer-world musician John Kruth, historian-memoirist-social commentator-radio producer-singer-songwriter Ned Sublette, and the Master Musicians of Jajouka with at Le Poisson Rouge. Are the inmates running the asylum?
   
]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/performance_night_of_beyond-ja.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/performance_night_of_beyond-ja.html main Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:52:47 -0500 Winners and their blues Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson Play the Music of Ray Charles DVDS to ease their weary minds. All have expressed regrets they can't get to  Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts of Wynton and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra celebrating for Mary Lou Williams' centennial or  alto saxist Maceo Parker, so sadly those tix go wanting. But that's the blues for ya. . . ]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/winners_and_their_blues.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/winners_and_their_blues.html main Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:51:01 -0500 Midnight (EST) deadline, blues contest entries I'm not publishing any of them until all the tries are in and the winners have been chosen. Is it hard to write a blues lyric? See my examples from yesterday, or search the web for classics, which are plentiful. Three to five choruses fitting a standard 12-bar blues form, or a bluesy prose poem of 100 to 150 words are what I want to see -- alto sax soulman Maceo Parker playing in the elegant Allen Room, and Wynton leading the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in music by Mary Lou Williams, with featured soloists Geri Allen and Geoff Keezer are first prizes; second and third are dvds of Wynton and Willie (with guest Norah Jones), autographed by Mr. Jazz at Lincoln Center himself. 

Submit your blues now! Don't delay and cry like this -- 
]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/midnight_est_deadline_blues_co.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/midnight_est_deadline_blues_co.html main Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:50:34 -0500 Blues lyrics: write to win
"Minutes seem like hours, hours seem like days,
Seems my baby would stop her lowdown ways" -- Muddy Waters, "Country Blues"

 "Woke up this morning, looked 'round for my shoes
You know I had those mean old walkin' blues" -- Robert Johnson, "Walkin' Blues" 
. 
"Whoa, oh tell me baby
Where did ya stay last night? An' why don't ya hear me cryin'?
Whoo hoo, whoo whoo, 
Whoo who. . . " -- Howlin' Wolf, "Smokestack Lightning"
]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/blues_lyrics_write_to_win.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/blues_lyrics_write_to_win.html main Albert King Bessie Smith blues lyrics Howlin' Wolf Maceo Parker Mary Lou Williams Muddy Waters Robert Johnson Willie Nelson Wynton Marsalis Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:09:32 -0500 Jazz at Lincoln Center ducats, Wynton-Willie dvd giveaways! Maceo Parker or the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra playing Mary Lou Williams, or autographed Wynton-Willie Nelson Play Ray Charles dvds. But in keeping with the inherent value of these prizes, I'm making the contest creative, not easy.]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/jazz_at_lincoln_center_ducats.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/jazz_at_lincoln_center_ducats.html main Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:41:50 -0500 US remains jazz central Fractale wraps up an eight-gig tour of the States at the Drom in the East Village, after stops in New Orleans, Cleveland and Chicago. From December 3 to 6 Spanish pianist Chano Domínguez & his Flamenco Quintet bring its commissioned "The Flamenco Side of Kind of Blue" to the Jazz Standard to assert that the Barcelona Jazz Festival (in which they premiere the work on November 12) has something to do with the Big Apple. Next February the Portland Jazz Festival explores the theme "Is Jazz Dead (Or Has It Moved To A New Address?)." But incontrovertible evidence suggests that however far the sound has spread, those who matter know where jazz calls home.]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/us_remains_jazz_central.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/us_remains_jazz_central.html main Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:33:36 -0500 Henry Threadgill, seer beyond 'jazz' In my City Arts column: a new album and Roulette concert with commissioned work from a worldly-wise 65 yr-old NYC/East Village-based composer-bandleader who keeps looking at music -- Varese's and Wagner's, Scott Joplin's and Ornette Coleman's -- to find something new. I call Henry Threadgill a prophet in the wilderness, urgently trying to shake us from complacency. At De Roberti's classic Italian pastry shop for coffee yesterday, Threadgill claimed he's just helping American music born in the urban late 20th century to develop its full potential, and it's got a long ways to go.]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/henry_threadgill_seer_beyond_j.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/11/henry_threadgill_seer_beyond_j.html main Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:34:20 -0500 JazzTimes' robust recovery November issue of JazzTimes magazine is the first created (not just published) under the imprimatur of Madavor Media, LLC imprint, and the periodical looks very much the same as before its hiatus last spring. Editors Lee Mergener and Evan Haga remain, columnists Nat Hentoff and Nate Chinen are present, most if not all recent editorial contributors remain on the masthead and features -- drumming being the issue's loose theme -- are by regulars, though Fernando González, former editor of rival Jazziz, came onboard to write the story on Guggenheim Foundation and MacArthur fellow Miguel Zenón.]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/10/jazztimes_robust_recovery.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/10/jazztimes_robust_recovery.html main Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:51:51 -0500 Sweet Rhythm quietly ends run as Village jazz stage The 7th Ave. home in the '80s and early '90s of Gil Evans' last orchestra, David Murray's octets, Abdullah Ibrahim's bands, Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy and other avant-gutsy acts closed last night (Oct. 24) without notice or fanfare. Sweet Rhythm nee Sweet Basil was one of the coolest spots to listen, drink and hang out in Greenwich Village, a wood-paneled room with fine sound, sightlines, bookings and bartender, but it never recovered from what its most recent owner described as a post-9/11 decline in street traffic, competition from nearby clubs offering lesser music at no cover charge, and disinterest among the young in jazz. http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/10/sweet_rhythm_quietly_ends_run.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/10/sweet_rhythm_quietly_ends_run.html main Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:14:50 -0500 Soupy Sales, 1926-2009, friend to jazz Soupy in Sepia.jpg
photo courtesy of Craig Marin, www.Flexitoon.com -- more pix there
]]> http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/10/soupy_sales_friend_to_jazz.html http://www.artsjournal.com/jazzbeyondjazz/2009/10/soupy_sales_friend_to_jazz.html main Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:05:09 -0500 Salsa dura and NYC jazz hot City Arts column cites Chris Washburne's SYOTOS band, Arturo O'Farrill and Bobby Sanabria as avatars of Latin American music's essential excitement, so well depicted by the 4-part PBS documentary "Latin Music USA" (viewable online). But let's not forget Eddie Palmieri is still in his prime (and coming to the Blue Note jazz club Dec. 9 - 13).

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