derek
Coming Down the Mountain
M
Just heard via Scott Mehinick (his source, Time Out NY) that Papa Joe Maneri has passed on. Apologies for the ramshackle nature of this remembrance, but this hits me in the gut & heart, hard. Joe was (& still is) one of my favorites, as a musician and human being. I have fond memories of [...]
James Finn - Live at the Via Della Pace (Gingko Leaf)
Where are you, James Finn?
John Hicks - I Remember You
HighNote 7191
During his first several decades in jazz, pianist John Hicks was one of the undisputed dynamos on his instrument. Leaders like Art Blakey and Betty Carter relied on his abundant energy and versatility to stoke their more exploratory bands. Hicks passed away in 2006 and his last few years were marked by solo recitals [...]
Trainreck - Train Keeps a’ Rollin (self-released)
Easily “the discovery” for me at this year’s Deep Blues Festival that just wrapped yesterday, KM Williams has been doing his thing longer than most of the 70-odd other acts on the schedule. His repertoire ropes in a fair chunk of the idiom’s history from Blind Willie Johnson, Son House and Fred McDowell to [...]
Mary Halvorson, Reuben Radding & Nate Wooley - Crackleknob
hatOLOGY 622
In Brooklyn, as with Chicago, improvising enembles are comparable in number to tadpoles teeming in a pond. It’s a condition of the creative explosion that continues to sustain both communities. Nate Wooley, Reuben Radding and Mary Halvorson are poster people for the idea that diversification staves off artistic stasis. A thick chunk of the [...]
William Kapell - Plays Brahms and Prokofiev (Music and Arts)
This is a remastered version of two monuments of the piano concerto repertoire played by one of their finest proponents. The short-lived William Kapell recorded these performances of the Brahms first and Prokofiev third piano concertos for broadcast in 1953 and 1949 respectively. The Brahms was conducted by Mitropoulos and the Prokofiev by [...]
Goodbye, Ali Akbar Khan
Learned via a post by Ravish Momin on Facebook, it appears he was felled by a chronic kidney ailment in San Francisco today. Eighty-eight years on the planet is a respectable run, but the longevity does little to leaven the sadness at his passing. His work and influence, particularly as documented by the Ammp label, [...]
What’s Your Favourite Colour?
The reality that we’re living in the era of the reboot is reflected practically every area of the entertainment industry. The latest evidence to cross my desk: The press release below trumpeting the reunion of Living Colour. Say what? LC were a staple for me in high school starting with their MTV-storming video “Cult of [...]
The Naked Prey (Wilde, 1966)
The parable of the hunter finding himself the hunted is virtually timeless in origin. It’s so fundamental in its reversal that the scenario exudes immediate visceral appeal. Cornel Wilde’s co-option has root in the ordeal of one John Colter, an erstwhile associate of Lewis & Clark who escaped from Blackfoot Indians in the early-19th century. [...]
Seven From Steeplechase
Steeplechase continues the lonely but admirable role of sole label patron to saxophonist Stephen Riley. Why the Carolinian saxophonist hasn’t generated stacks of accolades and attention remains a vexing mystery, the consolation being that the recording spigot hasn’t shut off. I expressed the desire to hear him in a tenor tandem several years ago, positing [...]
Art Hodes - Up in Volly’s Room
Delmark
Art Hodes has long had home at Delmark. Despite recording for a variety of other imprints over his lifetime, it’s the Chicago label that continues to keep the departed pianist’s candle lit by keeping the highest percentage of his albums in print. Case in point, this 1972 jam session recently re-minted from its first 1992 [...]
Lin Halliday - Where or When
Delmark
Here’s an old favorite that I didn’t even realize was in need of re-pressing prior to receiving the promo. Saxophonist Lin Halliday is in certain senses the Herbert Huncke of jazz, a hard luck magnet and itinerant who could bring sporadic savant-like genius to his art. Numerous are the tales of Halliday’s self-sabotaging ways, his [...]
Hector Berlioz - Requiem, op. 5
SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart/SWR Vocal Ensemble, Stuttgart, Toby Spence, Tenor
Roger Norrington
The team of Norrington and Hanssler has proven to be a fantastic one! I only became aware of the combination last year, after hearing the label’s superb set of Beethoven symphonies, Norrington’s second cycle and an absolutely essential listen.
Like the Beethoven, this [...]
Touring Tumbao
I have a habit of being late to the party when it comes to artists outside of jazz and improvised music. Part of it stems from my reviewing focus and subsequent weighted nature of my music collection (roughly 4:1 in favor of improv & jazz). Part is a function of the mild obsessiveness parceled with [...]
Concentrated Kristofferson
It’s a puzzling statistic considering the caliber of his song craft, but Kris Kristofferson’s films outnumber his albums by a ratio of nearly five to one. My parents weren’t country fans by any margin, so he first hit my radar through memorable turns in Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and Lewis Carlino’s [...]
Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering
Couple years back when Bags had a bigger Points of Interest section, one of the featured links was to Autoharp Quarterly. Correspondence came across the desk periodically querying weather it was a joke. Short answer is nope, and a reason why I’m posting this post-Fool’s Day. There’s just something about the autoharp (especially in June [...]
Various - The Very Best of Prestige
Prestige
Half a decade ago when the Concord Music Group positioned itself to buy out the Fantasy family of labels many jazz fans saw the move as a harbinger of doom. Visions of large swathes of titles falling out of print, replaced by revolving reissues of only the highest selling offerings from cash cow icons like [...]
The Black Keys - Chulahoma (Fat Possum)
The only Black Keys album I own, but not because of any aversion to their other work. There’s just something special about this one, an EP devoted to the songs of Junior Kimbrough. Dan Auerbach, the guitar and vocals half of the Keys, spent countless hours shedding to Kimbrough’s records in his late teens and [...]
Deep Blues Festival 3
No specifics yet on daily schedules, but this was easily my concert-going pick of last year. The switch to city venues will no doubt help w/ revenues/attendance and it looks like organizer Chris Johnson’s going for a record in terms of roster & reach. I strongly urge anyone and everyone with even a passing interest [...]
Vision Turns 14
Thanks to Margaret Davis and Steven Joerg for the heads-up:
VISION FESTIVAL 14: JUNE 9 – 15, 2009, NYC
Abrons Arts Center / Henry Street Settlement
466 Grand Street (at Pitt Street) New York, NY 10002
(MONDAY, JUNE 15 takes place at Orensanz Art Center for the old school VF flavor!)
Day 1: Tuesday, June 9th All [...]
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