On Bird: the Man and the Movie
Richard Williams, formerly of the London Times, is absolutely one of the smartest writers on music alive. Thankfully, he has created his own blog. If you don’t know Richard’s work, check out this essay on Clint Eastwood and Charlie Parker, and I think you’ll be hooked.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Five Great Samples of Jazz Clarinet
Just a feeling, but jazz may be on the threshold of a new age of ascendancy for the jazz clarinet. This NPR feature by clarinetist Ben Goldberg trains the spotlight on five premier practitioners of the jazz clarinet, from Sidney Bechet through Jimmy Hamilton, John Carter and Michael Moore, with examples of their work.
(Photo: Jimmy Hamilton, left, with Harry Carney; by William Gottlieb/The Library of Congress)
-Nick Moy
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General Motors Learns a Lesson in Jazz Song: Lyrics Matter
Jazz has been no stranger to controversy, and apparently no less so today, in Adam Pasick’s story of international affront. It might be convenient to cast blame on Lil Hardin Armstrong for the language in the 1938 song that inflamed Canadian airwaves in 2013 and caught the notice of media in China. As I see it, though, Armstrong’s song is yet another reminder of what jazz musicians had to do to earn a buck in those days \u2014 not to mention a reminder of how times have changed in China, Japan and the Arab world. Evidently, some folks at one major American corporation might just be coming up that learning curve.
-Nick Moy
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Jazz Journalists Association 2013 Musician Awards Winners
The Jazz Journalists Association has announced its Musician Awards for 2013. Among the highlights, Wayne Shorter was recipient of an award for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz, and Wadada Leo Smith (pictured above) was named Musician of the Year. See the complete lineup of JJA Musician Award winners. Congratulations, all.
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Read MoreThe Gil Evans Project at the Jazz Standard
In our recent post in the Gazette, we shared Ryan Truesdell’s overview of the Gil Evans Project, just named Best Large Ensemble of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, and whose Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans was named the JJA’s 2013 Record of the Year. Here’s a vivid look at the ensemble at the Jazz Standard in 2012, performing two pieces Evans recorded for his classic, The Individualism of Gil Evans. You can catch a live look at the band when they return to the Jazz Standard in mid-May.
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Ryan Truesdell: Behind the Gil Evans Centennial Project
Ryan Truesdell enjoyed a burst of celebrity this month, when the Jazz Jorunalists Association named his Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans as its 2013 Record of the Year, and named his Gil Evans Project its Best Large Ensemble of the Year. Who is Ryan Truesdell, and where is he coming from? Thoughtful answers to those questions, and a wealth of insight into Gil Evans and this project, in Edward Blanco’s interview with Truesdell in All About Jazz.
-Nick Moy
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Opus De Horace
Ethan Iverson’s post pays tribute to what was probably Horace Silver’s first hit, “Opus De Funk,” with the notated music and the recording. Great stuff, as is everything on Ethan Iverson’s site.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Singer Madeleine Peyroux: Perfect Musical Pedigree and Beyond
Madeleine Peyroux has the perfect artistic pedigree: New Orleans heritage and raised in Brooklyn and Paris. Her unique vocal approach is directed toward the songs that Ray Charles popularized on “Modern Sounds In Country And Western” on her latest album “The Blue Room,” for which I had the honor of writing the liner notes. Here’s a brief but interesting interview in the Great Britain’s The Guardian.
-Michael Cuscuna
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Chick Corea Interviewed
This late ‘80s Chick Corea interview by Billy Taylor took place when Chick was splitting his life between the Akoustic Band and the Elektric Band, satisfying his two major streams of music and inspiration. The conversation reaches back to Chick’s Boston beginnings.
-Michael Cuscuna
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The 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music Goes to: Caroline Shaw
We thought you might like to know more about the composer whose work won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Music. Listen to this NPR profile of Caroline Shaw, with excerpts from her entrancing a capella composition Partita for 8 Voices, that took this year’s Pulitzer in a formidable field, including Wadada Leo Smith’s epic work, Ten Freedom Summers.
- Nick Moy
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