All these honorees are jazz convention-challengers, if not outright game-changers
Jazz in the ‘hood: house concerts make Brooklyn mighty
Jazz is local and homey, as well as grand and global — that’s what a house concert last weekend in Brooklyn shouted out. Transylvanian photographer Sánta István Csaba joined me at a “rare NYC performance” of 10³²K, the trio of trombonist Ku-umba Frank Lacy, bassist Kevin Ray and drummer Andrew Drury, at Drury’s apartment in […]
Gordon Marshall, Boston music poet
Boston-based poet Gordon Marshall has published 12 collections of his works, and is currently blogging on The Flash: jazz, noise, psych from the house scene in Boston. There he writes prose. All his poetry is musical, whether directly about music or not. See also my report about Boston doubling down on jazz. Different Colors The silence […]
What does it take to write a jazz biography?
“Writing Jazz Biographies” is the third free, interactive webinar, scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 8 pm. edt, presented by the Jazz Journalists Association. Paul de Barros (Shall We Play That One Together? The Life and Art of Piano Legend Marian McPartland), Robin D.G. Kelley (Thelonious Monk: The LIfe and Times of an American Original), […]
Are there new songs? Play what’s recorded on gigs?
The venerability, relevance and novelty of the “jazz standard” is being questioned in the jazzosphere, but I wonder about the dearth of new songs that are sticking in my latest column in CityArts-New York. In my just- previous column I reviewed recent albums by a few musicians gigging in NYC, and warned there’s no reason to expect […]
Rhymin’ Simon swings $3.6 mil Wynton’s way
Jazz at Lincoln Center has released a “Post Gala Report” on the April 18 concert debut of Paul Simon performing his career songbook with both his band and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, plus special guest vocalist Aaron Neville. Â $3.6 million was raised at the black tie event, which provided dinner and […]
New York jazz now, on records (listen and be wowed)
City Arts did post my column of record reviews so please read what I wrote about Henry Cole and the Afrobeat Collective, Steve Lehman Trio, Less Magnetic (on Facebook, or view their show below), Esperanza Spalding, Michael Bates (plays Shostakovich), and Wayne Escoffrey. Then, I urge you, check out samples of those artists online, and […]
Etta James and Johnny Otis — Jazz Masters?
Etta James, who died today Jan. 20 at age 73, and Johnny Otis, who died Jan. 17 at 90, Â are rightly recognized as innovators and icons of American rhythm ‘n’ blues and soul. But the jazz world — listeners, broadcasters and journalists, musicians and institutions up to and including the NEA — would be well-served […]
West Side Story @ 50 — the soundtrack’s the thing
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of West Side Story — the movie, released October 18 1961, Â not the play which debuted on Broadway in 1957 — for my column in CityArts – New York, I listened to the Bernstein/Sondheim music in many variations. Here’s my report, slightly revised for the web: For West Side Story, the […]
Marian McPartland choses “Piano Jazz” successor: Jon Weber
Pianist and NPR “Piano Jazz” host Marian McPartland, age 93, has found a worthy successor to her post interviewing and duetting with musicians — Jon Weber, an extraordinarily fluent keyboard artist with encyclopedia depth on many of the earliest styles of American improvised music. Though rather under-recorded, Jon excels at the most intricate (and […]
MC to stars @ Jazz Foundation Loft Party benefit
MC JazzMandel: At the Jazz Foundation of America’s Benefit Loft Party tonight (Oct. 29), 7 pm to midnight, Manhattan, my room has — Tom Harrell‘s Quintet, pianist Marc Marc Cary, preeminent bassist Ron Carter with fine guitarist Gene Bertoncini, turbanated organist Dr. Lonnie Smith with alto sax/Mardi Gras Indian Donald Harrison and N.O. drummer Herlin Riley (yeah!), magisterial Randy Weston’s African Rhythm Quintet, […]
Roulette: “old” new music/dance space moves to central Brooklyn
My new column at CityArts-New York is about Roulette, the new music/new dance performance space, started in downtown Manhattan but moved to a coolly refurbished theater near a major Brooklyn transportation hub. Roulette’s in first season in this new home is thick with Chicago-born, -raised  and -emigrated “creative musicians” — Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, George E. […]
NYC new music post-9/11 to fall 2011
“The decade that followed 9/11/2001 has been marked by jazz and new music makers’ determination not to be deterred from what the Taliban and Tea Party alike may consider marginal activities, if not outright affronts to God’s dominion,” I write in my latest CityArts column. “Whether the city suffers attacks from abroad, natural disasters or economic collapses […]