June 10, 2008

vision fest looks at new orleans
New York's annual Vision Festival is one of my favorite annual events, not just for wall-to-wall musical improvisation at its freest, and often finest, but also for the context: Various art forms relating to each other in real time, plus an overarching sense of social and political purpose. When festival organizer and choreographer Patricia Parker asked me to moderate a panel about New Orleans, I jumped at the chance. Here's the details of tomorrow's event:

NEW ORLEANS: Culture, Crisis, and Community

How can music help heal New Orleans? What role should the arts play in rebuilding communities? Why does this city's storied culture find itself embattled? Why are so many residents still displaced or homeless?

A panel discussion

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Moderator: Larry Blumenfeld, journalist

Panelists: Kalamu ya Salaam, poet/activist; Kent Jordan, musician/educator; Josh Neufeld, cartoonist/Red Cross volunteer; Emmanuel Pratt, urban planning researcher/digital media artist; Rob Cambre, producer; others

Wednesday, June 11th 5pm (until about 6:30)

Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center

107 Suffolk Street

New York NY 10002

Presented by the 13th annual VISION FESTIVAL as a prelude to Wednesday night's Lifetime Achievement Celebration of Edward "Kidd" Jordan

www.visionfestival.org

June 10, 2008 4:58 PM | | Comments (0)
June 4, 2008

michael white's new moon
Of all the recent recordings from musicians born-and-raised in New Orleans--and there are several notable ones--the one I've focused on lately is Dr. Michael White's Blue Crescent (Basin Street Records). It's an important marker in one man's spiritual and musical rebirth since Katrina. Here's my Blu Notes column in this month's Jazziz magazine on White:
Continue reading michael white's new moon.
June 4, 2008 10:17 AM | | Comments (0)
May 30, 2008

dr. john's healthy dose of rage
Dr. John is pissed off -- about oil companies eating up the Wetlands, presidents and congressman and mayors turning their backs on New Orleans, and policemen trying to shut down second-line parades, among other things. His new CD, City That Care Forgot, channels his rage in powerful groove-laden fashion. Here's a link to my review.
May 30, 2008 4:28 PM | | Comments (0)
May 27, 2008

muddy feet, clear politics at jazzfest.

Politics were in the air during jazzfest -- literally. While the Neville Brothers closed the event on the Acura stage, a plane circled above the Fair Grounds towing a banner that read: "Shell, Hear the Music. Fix the Coast You Broke." Not all the commentary was so overt, and none as visible, but it was there if you kept your eyes and ears open. Mind you, it's too easy in New Orleans these days to read meaning and purpose into every lyric or song choice -- was Sheryl Crow making a statement by covering "Gimme Shelter," or was she just doing a Stones tune? -- yet some of the messages were timely, pointed, and worth remembering.

Here's my reflection on all that in a piece for the website Truthdig.

Continue reading muddy feet, clear politics at jazzfest..
May 27, 2008 11:33 AM | | Comments (0)
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ListenGood Crisis in New Orleans; the struggles of a musical culture to survive. Live music in New York and elsewhere. Life-affirming sounds caught in performance, on recordings, and anywhere else I find them.

Larry Blumenfeld I'm a writer and editor living in Brooklyn, New York. Most of the time, whatever I'm up to, I'd rather be listening to live music or playing basketball. Just now, I'm immersed in

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Dee Dee Bridgewater
Red Earth: A Malian Journey (DDB Records/Emarcy/Universal) Despite her place in the top rank of American jazz vocalists and her crossover success, Dee Dee Bridgewater has often felt displaced. "I'm always trying to fit in somewhere," she once told me. This new disc, which finds Ms. Bridgewater and her band in collaboration with a cast of Malian musicians and singers, is no further pose:
David Murray Black Saint Quartet featuring Cassandra Wilson Sacred Ground (Justin Time) 
Long among the strongest, most adventurous reedmen in jazz,
Joe Zawinul Brown Street (Heads Up) 
The list of great Viennese composers must include Zawinul--same for the honor roll of jazz innovators.
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