Jazz Articles
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Rafael Toral: Traveling Light
by Fran Kursztejn
Jazz has a difficult time wrestling with its own history. All genres do, but jazz, specifically in the lethargic modern era, cannot but find itself somewhat directionless. Rock, pop, and electronica all advertise their frontrunners as “the next big thing" or “revolutionary," or otherwise contain a je ne sais quoi found nowhere else but in the artist or song in question. Certainly, very few of these promises are ever kept, but publicity around jazz frequently goes the opposite route. The ...
Continue ReadingLee Underwood: California Sigh
by Gareth Thompson
Lee Underwood's late father played trombone in a big band at the University of Colorado. Underwood recalls, “Whenever he thought of those days, my dad would close his eyes, purse his lips, and extend his right hand as if still playing this beloved trombone." Lee himself became a high-school jazz pianist, but caught his break as a guitarist, playing for Tim Buckley throughout the singer's turbulent and tragic career. Buckley's untimely death in 1975 saw Underwood pursue a ...
Continue ReadingTashi Dorji: Stateless
by Gareth Thompson
It was an ambitious move from Bhutan to Asheville, North Carolina, that helped shape Tashi Dorji's musical direction. The guitarist had previously been steeped in classic rock and hair metal, but as a foreign exchange student he soon absorbed punk and free jazz. Two saxophonists in particular, John Zorn and Albert Ayler, inspired Dorji to his self-proclaimed “cathartic achievement of beautiful noise, rhythm and melody." His subsequent guitar albums wore this inspiration openly, earning Dorji's playing a reputation for scratchy ...
Continue ReadingJoanna Newsom: Ys and The Ys Street Band
by Joshua Weiner
Joanna Newsom Ys/The Ys Street Band Drag City 2006/2007
Joanna Newsom is not a jazz singer, to be sure. But neither is she a pop singer, nor simply a folk singer, even one with the back-handedly complimentary “freak sobriquet inserted as a prefix. No, Joanna Newsom is a force of nature, the kind of conduit to ancient musical and lyrical verities that appears from time to time, to grace those who listen ...
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