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Jazz and Self-Determination in Brooklyn - PT. 2
Source:
The Independent Ear by Willard Jenkins
Our series of conversations with African American jazz presenters and entrepreneurs last time took us to Brooklyn, NY, via our ongoing research project for the Weeksville Heritage Center (718/756-5250; www.weeksvillesociety.org for more information). In part two of our dialogue with the Brooklyn sage Jitu Weusi we examine the development of the East cultural center, a sadly defunct font of African American culture, education, jazz music, and pure black energy & spirit. In part the East grew out of the notorious ...
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Finding the "Voice" in Jazz
Source:
Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
By Steve Provizer 'Voice' has always been seen as the sine qua non of jazz-the quality that separates it from other genres and either marks a musician as worthy of attention or consigns him to mediocrity. Someone with very sharp ears might be able to tell the difference between Maurice Andre and Wynton Marsalis playing the Haydn Trumpet concerto, but it's damned hard. In any case, we evaluate the composer, the orchestra and the performer as a unit. But, when ...
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Matthew's Back in Town.
Source:
Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
Image courtesy of Lena Adesheva. While a debate over the pros and cons of mercantilism as applied to jazz rages below, I got an e mail from Mr Shipp last night to let me know he's back from a fabulous September that began in Brazil, took him through another fat swath of former Soviet enclaves, saw him do a Poland jaunt with Mr. Morris and topped it off with a date in Amsterdam. He gets to relax for a bit ...
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"Confessions of an Esoteric Blogger"
Source:
Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
By Steve Provizer Attend the fate of Mad Sweeney, as delineated by author Flann O'Brien in “At-Swim-Two-Birds:" “Neck high sticks he must pass by leaping. Knee high sticks by bending." There are those who say that I apply that injunction to my unwitting readership. And, though it be mercantile suicide and savagely highfallutin,' that may be so. Scores plead that I lower my stringent standards in order to lure the elusive “crossover" audience ("Just one click can lead ...
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Top 10
Source:
Indaba Music Artist in Residence with Greg Osby
I remember when I first started going to jazz festivals as a fan and eventually as a participant. I was in my late teens and early twenties when I made the observation that, each year, the same personalities and groups were appearing on all of the festivals. I'm talking late 70s and early 80s. The lineups would then consist of maybe Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, the MJQ, Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck, Nancy Wilson, Oscar Peterson and others that I, being ...
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The End?
Source:
Prague Jazz
With a great deal of sadness I have decided to discontinue Prague Jazz, for now at least. This is in no way because of a lapse in enthusiasm for the music of this great city. My love of the music is as strong as before, and you will still see me around at the front tables of Prague's clubs, enjoying the world-class jazz that is on offer. However the world moves on around music, and changes in my personal and ...
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The Jazz Entrepreneur-Threat or Menace
Source:
Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
By Steve Provizer Blogmeister Chris R. bemoans the lack of entrepreneurial spirit among local jazzers. I more or less demur. There are musicians out there exercising the old entrepreneurial spirit and bestirring themselves to various exotic gig locales and this is surely a better strategy than bemoaning one's fate while passively waiting to be discovered. But does it mean that all or even most jazz musicians should scurry from their caves and try to sell their wares to the unwilling ...
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Fear and Confidence-the Jazz Tight Rope
Source:
Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
By Steve Provizer If you're an improviser who completely lacks confidence, you'll never get out of the practice room, but if you have no fear, you won't find The Edge. Most of us struggle to find a balance between the two. Some people have no fear in a studio, but freeze up in front of audiences. More commonly, people fear the trappings of the recording studio (much more true before technology allowed infinite edits). In both cases, the caution that ...
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