I'm up in Maine, to produce the annual Deer Isle Jazz Festival. This year, the festival is thoroughly focused on New Orleans. Saxophonist and Mardi Gras Indian Chief Donald Harrison has already arrived, and is serving as musician-in-residence at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. I arrived yesterday, and folks were already buzzing about Harrison's compact history-of-jazz … [Read more...] about new orleans invades tiny maine island
condoms, tampons, excess hair
It's almost time for the Deer Isle Jazz Festival in Stonington, Maine. For eight years, I've helped bring great jazz to this tiny Down East Maine island. In that time, both the fest and I have grown. This year's event is a New Orleans blowout (more on that in my next post). Here's a recent piece I wrote for Jazziz, about my experiences as volunteer producer.MAINE ATTRACTIONby … [Read more...] about condoms, tampons, excess hair
kidd lets it out, lloyd breathes it in
It was June, and I'd just moved back to New York for at least a very long stretch. The sting of missing New Orleans was lessened a bit by the arrival of Kidd Jordan: He got a hero's welcome at this year's Vision Festival, which kicked off a fest-filled June in Manhattan. Here's my Village Voice piece on Kidd, and all the rest of that jazz: Recapping 2008's Vision and JVC Jazz … [Read more...] about kidd lets it out, lloyd breathes it in
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 … [Read more...] about vision fest looks at new orleans
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: … [Read more...] about michael white’s new moon