April 30, 2008

goodbye, lincoln center; hello, wider world
Arturo O'Farrill told me that he and his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra were "cast out of the castle" after five years as a resident ensemble with Jazz at Lincoln Center. But he's hardly packed it in: He's created his own nonprofit, established a broader aesthetic mandate with the orchestra's first season at Symphony Space, and grown outspoken about Latin jazz as no exotic "other".

I've grown to admire O'Farrill as a pianist, composer, bandleader, and man. I recall his first visit to Cuba, in 2002, when he visited the childhood home of his father, Chico O"Farrill. And I can't forget the tears in his eyes while he watched as the corner where he grew up, at 88th Street and West End Avenue in Manhattan, was renamed "Arturo 'Chico' O'Farrill Place." He's done his father's legacy proud, and then some.

You can find my piece on Arturo (the son) in The Wall Street Journal here.
Continue reading goodbye, lincoln center; hello, wider world.
April 30, 2008 11:55 PM | | Comments (0)
goodbye, lincoln center; hello, wider world
Arturo O'Farrill told me that he and his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra were "cast out of the castle" after five years as a resident ensemble with Jazz at Lincoln Center. But he's hardly packed it in: He's created his own nonprofit, established a broader aesthetic mandate with the orchestra's first season at Symphony Space, and grown outspoken about Latin jazz as no exotic "other".

I've grown to admire O'Farrill as a pianist, composer, bandleader, and man. I recall his first visit to Cuba, in 2002, when he visited the childhood home of his father, Chico O"Farrill. And I can't forget the tears in his eyes while he watched as the corner where he grew up, at 88th Street and West End Avenue in Manhattan, was renamed "Arturo 'Chico' O'Farrill Place." He's done his father's legacy proud, and then some.

You can find my piece on Arturo (the son) in The Wall Street Journal here.
Continue reading goodbye, lincoln center; hello, wider world.
April 30, 2008 11:55 PM | | Comments (0)
April 16, 2008

tribeca film fest: worthy docs
I'm in New Orleans now, gearing up for jazzfest (and here's a little psych-up piece I did for Billboard on that). But were I in NY, and were I attending the Tribeca Film Festival, I'd be sure to catch a terrific documentary by Dawn Logsdon and Lolis Eric Elie, "Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans." My synopsis in the Village Voice guide to the fest is here (just scroll down a bit). And I'd check out another doc, "Old Man Bebo," on Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés (I've included a piece I once did on Bebo for The Wall Street Journal below):
Continue reading tribeca film fest: worthy docs.
April 16, 2008 4:29 PM | | Comments (0)
April 10, 2008

no justice for drummer's murder
I've been too long away. Forgive me. I arrived in New Orleans two days ago to find that the trial of David Bonds, the accused murderer of Hot 8 Brass Band snare drummer and educator Dinerral Shavers, had finally begun. It was a dramatic three days of testimony, after which, to an outrage I'm sure I share with others, Bonds was acquitted on all counts. 
I'll have more to say on this matter, but I'm off to the Experience Music Project Conference in Seattle to present a paper on jazz funerals, dirges, and hymns in post-Katrina New Orleans. You can find the Times-Picayune stories on the trial here.
April 10, 2008 9:03 PM | | Comments (0)
Archives

About

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

Contact me Click here to send me an email...

Subscribe to feed Subscribe to this blog's feed

Archives

Archives: 72 entries and counting

New Orleans

more New Orleans

Music

more music

ListenGood

 
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.
more listengood

Blogroll

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

AJ Ads

Introducing
AJ Arts Blog Ads
Now you can reach the most discerning arts blog readers on the internet. Target individual blogs or topics in the ArtsJournal ad network.

Advertise Here

AJ Blogs

AJBlogCentral | rss

special
Program Notes
the blog of the National Performing Arts Convention
culture
About Last Night
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
Artful Manager
Andrew Taylor on the business of arts & culture
blog riley
rock culture approximately
CultureGulf
Rebuilding Gulf Culture after Katrina
diacritical
Douglas McLennan's blog
Flyover
Art from the American Outback
Mind the Gap
No genre is the new genre
Rockwell Matters
John Rockwell on the arts
Straight Up |
Jan Herman - arts, media & culture with 'tude

dance
Foot in Mouth
Apollinaire Scherr talks about dance
Seeing Things
Tobi Tobias on dance et al...

jazz
Jazz Beyond Jazz
Howard Mandel's freelance Urban Improvisation
ListenGood
Focus on New Orleans. Jazz and Other Sounds
Rifftides
Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

media
Out There
Jeff Weinstein's Cultural Mixology
Serious Popcorn
Martha Bayles on Film...

classical music
The Future of Classical Music?
Greg Sandow performs a book-in-progress
On the Record
Exploring Orchestras w/ Henry Fogel
PostClassic
Kyle Gann on music after the fact
Sandow
Greg Sandow on the future of Classical Music
Slipped Disc
Norman Lebrecht on Shifting Sound Worlds

publishing
book/daddy
Jerome Weeks on Books
Quick Study
Scott McLemee on books, ideas & trash-culture ephemera

theatre
lies like truth
Chloe Veltman on how culture will save the world
Stage Write
Elizabeth Zimmer on time-based art forms

visual
Aesthetic Grounds
Public Art, Public Space
Artopia
John Perreault's art diary
CultureGrrl
Lee Rosenbaum's Cultural Commentary
Modern Art Notes
Tyler Green's modern & contemporary art blog
Creative Commons License
This weblog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.