Swinging Modern Sounds #69: Meaning Yes
When in need of comfort, it’s always worth trying close reading.
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Posts Tagged: jazz
This Week in Posivibes: Bowie’s Blackstar
Before news hit about David Bowie’s passing, we had planned a post about the posivibes his most recent album, Blackstar, had received from the media. Although there is so much more to talk about in the wake of his death, we still want to acknowledge the haunted beauty of his last album. After a prolonged […]
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Sound & Vision: Tony Visconti
Legendary producer Tony Visconti talks to Allyson McCabe about working with David Bowie, his own touring musical super-group Holy Holy, and his thoughts on the music industry today.
...moreJamming at the The Jazz Loft
A new documentary explores the New York jazz scene circa 1959 through the lens of W. Eugene Smith, the LIFE Magazine photojournalist, and the shows that sprang up in a squat in Chelsea’s Flower District. Read more about The Jazz Loft According to W. Eugene Smith via okayplayer. and watch a clip from the documentary of Thelonious […]
...moreAnother Lost Work by a Dead Writer
If it seems that “lost” books, short stories, and everything else are coming out of the woodwork, well, they are. The Strand magazine has just published Twixt Cup and Lip, an early play by William Faulkner written in the 1920s: The Strand describes the play as “a light-hearted jazz age story.” Prohibition is under way, and […]
...moreSong of the Day: “So What?”
Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue is one of the most influential albums of all time, not just within the genre of jazz, but within the entirety of modern music. Perhaps the most highly recognizable song on the album, “So What?” was written by composer Gil Evans for Davis and performed by bassist Paul Chambers, pianist Bill Evans, […]
...moreSong of the Day: “Saint Louis Blues”
One of the most enduring individual legacies from the Jazz Age is that of the towering figure of Louis Armstrong. The super-influential artist grew up in New Orleans’s Storyville district during a time of artistic upheaval. His exposure to the musical melting pot of New Orleans left an indelible impression on him. The flavor of that upbringing […]
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The Saturday Rumpus Essay: Bill Cosby’s Faux Legacy
Bill Cosby was never the man, the icon, the protector and illustrator of black culture, the guide, the genius we have created in our minds.
...moreVault Release: Davis, Montgomery, and Ellington
Aquarium Drunkard has highlighted some incredible recent vault releases from the jazz masters, including archival footage that definitely merits a listen. From Miles Davis there’s a Bootleg Series spanning live performances from 1955–1975: four CDs of unreleased material of Davis at Newport Jazz Festivals over the years. Resonance Records is putting out an early pre-fame […]
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Sound & Vision: Dana Nielsen
GRAMMY-nominated mixer, engineer, producer, and musician Dana Nielsen talks about his career, his music, and his new collaboration with Crown and the M.O.B., All Rise, which he co-produced.
...moreSoundtrack to the Shaft Movie of Your Dreams
Aquarium Drunkard recently released its second mix in collaboration with Peer Schouten, a Copenhagen-based DJ and record collector. Titled Shaft’s Old Man: An Imaginary Soul Jazz Soundtrack, the mixtape is divided into an intro and six acts, delineating the major plot points and themes of the imaginary spy film it sonically scripts. This is the kind of […]
...moreRemembering Ornette Coleman
Jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman passed away last week at age 85, and the intervening days have yielded some truly beautiful pieces on the Pulitzer Prize-winning musician. The New Yorker published a comprehensive article on Coleman’s career and revolutionary approach to improvisation, following his influence on jazz as it bled into literature, citing a reference to […]
...moreSong of the Day: “It Never Entered My Mind”
By now Miles Davis has become a cornerstone of modern music. We can’t get rid of him, which is good, because we would never want to. Miles Davis is inside us; he surrounds us, and permeates our collective consciousness. For that reason, it’s easy to take him for granted. But his ballads force us to pause and take in the […]
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Sound & Vision: Nathan East
Legendary bassist Nathan East talks about playing with the pros, from Barry White to Daft Punk, about his new solo album and documentary, and about teaching musicians to play the instrument he loves.
...moreSong of the Day: What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?
The warm swing-era horn section and tasteful piano vamps are just a few reasons to listen to jazz icon Ella Fitzgerald, but today there’s a more obvious reason to cue up her silky ballad, “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” Listen to the smoky trumpet solo and let this be a sign that all […]
...moreWeekend Rumpus Roundup
First, take a walk down memory lane with David Hajdu’s visual memoir of his favorite bar, Bradley’s, boasting art by John Carey. And in the Sunday Essay, Jordan Rosenfeld takes a frank look at the many ways a mother’s boldness can influence her daughter’s relationship with her own sexuality. Having a free spirit for a […]
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Swinging Modern Sounds #57: Going Long, in Four Parts
…if you want more, the music can meet you where you are. It can instruct on the meaning of music itself, on its history, on its cross-cultural possibilities.
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Sound & Vision: Gail Ann Dorsey
Gail Ann Dorsey, a top session bassist and singer-songwriter who’s worked with David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Dar Williams, Tears For Fears, the Indigo Girls, Gwen Stefani, Lenny Kravitz, and many more, talks recording, touring, and learning to play.
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Swinging Modern Sounds #52: Chris Abrahams Riffs
There are not so many great bands anymore, not like there once were. But there’s still Australian experimental jazz trio the Necks.
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Songs of Our Lives: Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s “The Inflated Tear”
I decided that I had to write a book about him. I would track down everyone who knew him while they were still alive, I would collect their stories of him in the hopes of preserving Rashaan’s legacy.
...more“He Put Her Out in the Cold”
When she aims the pistol at the doorman, he grabs her wrist and snatches the gun, then she starts to scream, “Baby, what have I done?” For The Paris Review, Aaron Gilbreath writes about jazz, heroin and love gone wrong. Read the whole thing: “Elegy for Lee.”
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Deep Throat #7: On Being and Unbeing a Singer
He knew what he was doing when he looked at me and said, “Sing for me.” Had I been nude in his bed I would not have been as naked as I was then, stripped down to my brand new skin.
...moreHot Jazz, No Cash
Online library Internet Archive has a free collection of jazz tracks from the ’20s. What hepcat among us doesn’t remember doing the Charleston to such classics as “dardan2.ogg,” “pretgirl.ogg,” or “urbones.ogg”? Wil Wheaton says, “If you liked the music in Bioshock, you’ll dig this,” which, sure, fine, why not?
...moreThe Professor
In a new book of essays, Terry Castle rips through literary and cultural allusions at breakneck speed, citing obscure folk musicians and cult novelists in the same breath.
...moreThe Best Music is Made of Subtraction
Like the Jazz, Blues, and R&B music Brown references, these poems are born of heartbreak, explorations of love and violence, connections and disconnections, the vast complications of body and heart.
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