The jazz world’s response the Haitian earthquake isn’t overwhelming, but every bit helps. The Groove Collective benefit is tomorrow, Tues, Jan 19, at (le) poisson rouge in Manhattan; a Seattle community jazz fest is at multiple venues Wed., Jan 20, and St. Louis jazz musicians for Haiti gather at Sheldon Concert Hall on Tuesday, Feb 9. Last Sunday (Jan […]
Visionaries photo’d at NEA Jazz Masters concert
Just in — Â Muhal Richard Abrams conducting the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and Yusef Lateef on tenor sax with percussionist Adam Rudolph, fine performance photography by Frank Stewart from the National Endowment for the Arts’ Jazz Masters concert. My post on the concert is here, and the images are below —
Beyond “jazz” conventions from NEA Jazz Masters
Jazz, defined by creativity, pushes boundaries — a fact alluded to and demonstrated by two of the new NEA Jazz Masters at the gratifying if lengthy ceremony and concert held at Rose Theater of Jazz at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, Jan 12. Muhal Richard Abrams and Yusef Lateef were inducted into the canon that now […]
Jazz journalists confer with APAP, NEA
The Jazz Journalists Association‘s five days of programming in coordination with the Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference and Nat’l Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters events was a raging success on several fronts. Activities included the educational, informational, musical, productive and social. Overall, the JJA conference counted approximately 100 participants.
Wynton & Orch play NEA Jazz Masters, on radio tonight!
Just announced: WBGO, NPR and Sirius/XM are broadcasting live and streaming on the web tonight’s NEA Jazz Masters ceremony and concert with W. Marsalis and the LIncoln Center Jazz Orchestra performing works by Muhal Richard Abrams, Bill Holman, Bobby Hutcherson et al. Pianist Cedar Walter will perform with singer Annie Ross, Kenny Barron will play […]
Jazz journalism & beyond weekend
Jazz journalists conferenced in New York City last weekend as arts presenters, National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters and musical showcases galore (including an audience-happy Winter Jazzfest and the debut of drummer Jack DeJohnette‘s hot new band) justified the very existence of the profession.
Arts Presenters meet Jazz Journalists
The Jazz Journalists Association has scheduled a multi-faceted professional conference for Jan 8 – 12 in NYC, concurrent with the Association of Performing Arts Presenters annual conference (which is producing a Special Focus on Jazz), the two-night multi-venue Winter Jazzfest, one-night but multi-stage globalFEST, and the Nat’l Endowment of the Arts’s presentation of 2010’s Jazz Masters. It’s […]
Tesser on top 10s
Neil Tesser blogs about best of the year roundups on Chicago Music Examiner.com — and is added to the blogroll. A gifted writer and broadcaster, an incisive cultural critic, Neil has been a close colleague of mine starting in Chicago in the ’70s (remember them? Most readers, maybe not). We’ve worked simultaneously for the Chicago Reader and […]
Jazz best lists of 2009
Chicago Trib cultural critic Julia Keller decries year-end “best of” lists for their “chilly, retrospective nature,”for their by-definition 12-month perspectives trumping spontaneous enthusiasm, and for their reinforcement of consensus. Nonsense. Here are three opportunities to see what jazz critics are recommending as 2009’s hot recordings, and there’s some consistency, but most of the choices are […]
City Beyond Jazz Lights
Here’s to urban music, transformative perspectives and the new year — image: JA Kawell howardmandel.com Subscribe by Email or RSS All JBJ posts
Experimental singer, frankly in need. Who isn’t?
Mossa Bildner, an indefatigable vocalist and performance artist, is the subject of today’s “The Neediest Cases” column in the New York Times, because having suffered as a freelancer from the economic downturn, she’s been facing eviction. “This could happen to anybody,” she told the newspaper, and though asking for help “was a strange position to […]
House kudos to Miles’ Kind of Blue. So what?
At age 50, Miles Davis’ album Kind of Blue has been officially and unanimously hailed by the US House of Representatives. Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) sponsored H.Res 894, which on Tuesday passed 409 to 0, recognizing the “unique contribution” of the 37-minutes of modal improvisation trumpeter Davis and his stellar sextet recorded on March 2 […]
That’s not jazz, Spaniard tells saxophonist
Larry Ochs’ Sax & Drumming Core may not be al gusto for everyone, but should Spain’s Civil Guard decide whether it plays “jazz”? At the Sigüenza Jazz Festival a disgruntled purist demanded his ticket money back claiming he was subjected to “contemporary music” rather than jazz fitting his definition; pistol-packing cops backed him up (which makes me […]