[contextly_auto_sidebar id="YXdMgAzz7hJ9NRLELcZVcMFgrKuOTAA1"] Remembering the great and influential Bill Evans. Here he is playing "Waltz For Debby." Evans played on the immortal Miles Davis album Kind of Blue, which he shaped nearly as much as Davis himself did, and soon after led one of the greatest-ever jazz trios, a group destroyed by the death of his young bassist … [Read more...]
Where to Start with Ornette Coleman
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="vGiRx28JEAJa3NJAi6uPVSLuqhSRvvpA"] THE great Texas-born jazz musician, who died last week, worked in a number of genres -- free jazz, symphonic music, funk -- and it can be hard for newcomers to get a sense of him. Here's how I began my Salon piece on Coleman: Miles Davis said he must be “all screwed up inside” to play that way he did. Max Roach punched him in … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday, Billie Holiday
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="bE6xtH54tzETQjjE7nXEoXhm2A8BNjAw"] TODAY would be the 100th birthday of one of the greatest musicians in history. I've been watching this 1957 video of "Fine and Mellow" for more than 20 years now and continue to love it. There are so many great musicians on this track, but let me point out that Holiday's greatest-even musical partner Lester Young, plays tenor … [Read more...]
Stevie Wonder on Duke Ellington
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="mbl7Kvnu4O02Y4xkk8gCu7d8lD7hlfYk"] THERE'S been a lot of talk about Mr. Wonder lately, largely because of the recent concerts. It reminds me of what may be my favorite Stevie song, from a record my parents had when I was a kid and which I pretty much wore out. Cool that he is tipping his hat to another piano player. I've only seen Stevie play once, at the 80th … [Read more...]
“Love Songs: A Hidden History”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="jmgPWNAcri7qqzMjI9cU8cSfZfom5qHL"] INTERESTED in songs about love and sex going back to ancient fertility rites, through the medieval troubadours and the German art song and into the age of "Tangled Up in Blue," Ziggy Stardust, and bedroom R&B? Then you may want to get your hands on Ted Gioia's new secret history, Love Songs, just out on Oxford University … [Read more...]
Brad Mehldau and the Bad Plus in Northridge
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="ocaaAdSFWvE4N0CAxZumQsegvYINpapN"] IT was no surprise that two of the greatest trios in jazz today put on bracing and powerful sets. What was new was that these two groups performed in the San Fernando Valley, an enormous swatch of suburbia that has often lagged behind the rest of Los Angeles for most kinds of culture. (As Easterners have often looked down on LA, … [Read more...]
Ani DiFranco and New Orleans Jazz
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="eOM6zDzXxMJEZEKZ9nBWihWGmDmFugP3"] THE feminist singer-songwriter has been living in the Crescent City for about a decade now, and she works with a group that enlists kids into old-school jazz bands. DiFranco is the latest in my Trust Me On This series I'm handling for Salon. Di Franco told me about her first visit to New Orleans, where she saw the Rebirth Jazz … [Read more...]
“What’s With All the Jazz Bashing?”
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="5PEO4QFSNmxgzHgSPv9UaaL0AEAfjMDQ"] SOME of America's smartest publications -- the ones that often offered robust and serious jazz coverage in decades past -- have recently been running articles (satiric, critical or otherwise) dissing one of my favorite art forms. New Yorker, Atlantic, New York Review of Books... What's behind it? Music historian and CultureCrash … [Read more...]
Lonnie Johnson’s Guitar
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="fcUsm68cqoCwHl6s0ZHPlhwRCVXW8pyC"] THERE'S been a lot of bad news for culture and society lately, so I want to offer one of my occasional bits of inspiration. Jazz and blues player Lonnie Johnson is one of the greatest-ever American musicians, and one of the most underrated guitarists in history. His playing predates Robert Johnson and many of the Delta blues … [Read more...]
Drummer Brian Blade
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="dpPxWyWkL9K8V1VG4SfF8hwPukC2yYjM"] THE other night I was invited to the Silver Lake home of producer Daniel Lanois, who (best known for his work with Dylan, U2 and Emmylou Harris) has a new record of his own coming. I went partly because of the involvement of Brian Blade, mostly known as a jazz drummer. Blade played with Wayne Shorter's group at Disney Hall … [Read more...]