The National Endowment of the Arts, arguably the most misunderstood and beleaguered doing-good office of the federal gov't (excluding the NEH, EPA, Consumer Financial Bureau, Civil Rights Division of the Justice Dept., and a few others) has issued its 2017 funding report, highlighting that its monies (monies from we US taxpayers) flow to communities in all 50 states and five territories. Included is support for 36 jazz-related projects, most generated in the usual cities but also to entities based in Baton Rouge LA; Hartford CT; Pinecrest and … [Read more...]
How Charles Lloyd stays marvelous
During the 50 years since his breakthrough album Forest Flower (released in February 1967, recorded live at the Monterey Jazz Festival the summer before) -- comparable in some ways to The Epic success of Kamasi Washington -- saxophonist-flutist Charles Lloyd has been unusually popular for an adventurous jazzman. He showed how he's done that, accomplished a long career while expressing himself freely, with his on-tour Marvels at Chicago's Symphony Center Friday night (4/21), and it's worth unpacking. Lloyd, 79, and his empathic, considerably … [Read more...]
Butch Morris’s workbook for spontaneous composition published
The deathbed wish of composer-cornetist Lawrence Douglas "Butch" Morris (1947-2013) was that his detailed documentation of Conduction®, the method he devised to enable spontaneous composition for ensembles of literally any type employing codified hand-signals, be published in hardcover. This has come to pass. On April 24 and May 1, events in New York City will launch The Art of Conduction, an elegant workbook from art-world publisher Karma with photos of Morris and his text, making his innovative work available for use by anyone/everyone, … [Read more...]
Composer Heiner (Brains on Fire) Stadler @ It’s Psychedelic Baby
Heiner Stadler is a lesser-known but fascinating New York City-based composer who's stretched he structures and dimensions of jazz with all-star productions including A Tribute to Monk and Bird and Brains on Fire (which I annotated for recent reissue). It's Psycheledic Baby, the online magazine by Klemen Breznikar taglined "discover the unknown" has published an interview with Stadler -- a Polish-born ('42) WWII refugee who heard a Sydney Bechet record when he was 13, got to NYC by boat in his 20s, broke but motivated. He says his composing … [Read more...]