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Jazz and the Healthy Neurotic: How Can It Be Any Good if It Ain't That Hard?
Source:
Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
By Steve Provizer Hey! You with the dirty mind: I'm not talking about sex. I'm talking self-torture here-masochism, not sadism. In this jazz life, we are plagued by a foundational neurosis-to be revealed below-but let's start off with the happy thought that we have found-albeit unconsciously-healthy ways to try and de-fuse or re-articulate this neurosis. Here's what we say to ourselves: “No one gives a shit about this music. This society sucks." Then, if we do get a few people ...
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The Night Jazz Became Itself,..By Matt Lavelle.
Source:
Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
A few months ago,.Giuseppi Logan called me up and said,."man,.we have to work,.I can't get any work,.I'm broke man." Giuseppi is under the impression that we can make enough money playing music to have our rent paid,and and enough food in our stomachs so that they stop growling at us.I had exhausted all my limited options,.and now started to understand that Brother G has just not been received back even close to how brother Grimes was a few years ago.Giuseppi ...
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Now is the Time . . .
Source:
Jazz Lives by Michael Steinman
Calling all cats! I wrote some weeks ago about Mike Durham's plans for a new version of the Whitley Bay International Jazz Festival — a Classic Jazz Party to be held at the same location (the comfortable Village Newcastle Hotel) for three days in November 2011 —Friday to Sunday, November 4-6. Mike's musician list is once again stellar: Bent Persson, Michel Bastide, Keith Nichols, Rico Tomasso, Rene Hagmann, Matthias Seuffert, Norman Field, Jean-Francois Bonnel, Kristoffer Kompen, Martin Litton, Malcolm Sked, ...
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Correspondence, Illustrated, from Canada
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
With too many Rifftides posts lately about the deaths of prominent figures in jazz, it was good to hear from someone who documents the work of young musicians. The message came from Randy Cole in Montreal.I've been making a number of short films, and I wanted to share one with you. Most of my films thus far feature two wonderful Montreal musicians, Al McLean on sax and Kevin Dean on trumpet. Mr. Cole's communique contained a link to one of ...
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Chellah Jazz
Source:
Michael Ricci
By Mehdi El Mouden To share passion for music is to play jazz in Chellah, the site is historic and the music is anthological. Chellah, the old historical city of Merinids in Morocco, Rabat hosts a jazz festival every year in June. Musicians come from all around Europe to meet Moroccan musicians for an unprecedented encounter where music blooms with eagerness and passion from both sides.
The festival started back in 1996 from a European Union initiative to substantiate cultural ...
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The Cortex and the Booty
Source:
Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
This is Your Brain on MusicThe brass band I play with has been talking about the Asphalt Orchestra. In their they seem to be having a great time, engaging the crowd, playing interesting, offbeat music (apart from New Orleans stuff, arrangements of Zappa, Bjork...). On the other hand, a band-mate saw them on the plaza at Lincoln Ctr. over the weekend and described them as “appealing more to the intellect than wanting to make you dance."Meanwhile, ...
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Soundscan R.I.P.?: Big Champagne Rivals with a New Type of Hit Chart. or Do They?
Source:
Moses Supposes
CEO Garland challenges the Old Guard to the seminal question: is a chart based on electronic metrics more relevant than one based on actual sales? Does a song with 100,000 CDs sold deserve more notice than one with 500,000 streams/downloads, regardless of if they are legal or royalty generating?
Last week the data monitoring service Big Champagne brought a whole new meaning to the words “Chart buster" when they announced that they intend to revolutionize the industry and give Billboard/SoundScan ...
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Tyner-in-Amber Or: Jazz and the Kali Yuga
Source:
Brilliant Corners, a Boston Jazz Blog
Hindus break up history into extremely long time spans. We're nearing the culmination of the Kali Yuga, an era of dissolution and breakdown that sets the stage for the next cycle of rebirth.It's always easy to believe you're living in a period of dissolution-it's part of a golden age/nostalgia spiral that's very appealing to the homo sapiens. But even if you don't buy the Hindu cycle concept, it seems reasonable to assume there are larger forces at work. ...
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