Home » Jazz News
Book / Magazine News
Timely announcements covering new album releases, tours, concert series, special events, job postings, crowdfunding campaigns and more. You can find more news by searching our website, viewing our news stream, seeing what's trending or reading our blog posts. Subscribe to our news RSS feed and/or embed AAJ news content on your website or blog. Learn about our news service here. Submit news here.
New Children's Book Celebrates Django
Source:
Michael Ricci
“When I think about the best guitar players ever, the first name that comes to mind is Django Reinhardt. No one has ever equaled his sound or technique." - Willie Nelson “The story of Django Reinhardt is a natural for younger audiences...Christensen supports the inspirational story with rich, vibrant paintings that capture the texture and tone of the landscapes in Django's life. The art steals the show here, but the text works fine, too, describing the essence of Django's story ...
Continue Reading
Drum! Demos Diversity for NAMM 2010: Dave Lombardo's Loud, but New Approach; Gavin Harrison's Tips of the Trade; Stanton Moore Meets Bonham
Source:
JCM Media
San Jose, Calif., -- Enter Music Publishing, publishers of hip/drum percussion magazines worldwide, has published, maybe, its most diverse, insightful issue to date. And how apropos that Issue 168 is being displayed at NAMM (National Association of Music Merchandisers trade show) 2010. Featuring Dave Lombardo of Slayer on the cover, DRUM! investigates his new approach to playing louder and harder. The magazine also examines the always interesting Gavin Harrison--drummer for Porcupine Tree-- and his suggestions to boosting one's career. DRUM! ...
Continue Reading
Book Review: Charles Schulz, "The Complete Peanuts: 1973 to 1974"
Source:
Pop Dose
I am a bald, neurotic person with poor social skills and an equally dismal amount of self-esteem. It is only logical that I see so much of myself in the character of Charlie Brown. Im in good company as report after report, after bio after expose, has confirmed Peanuts creator Charles Schulz used his famous loser as an outlet for his own emotional shortcomings. Beyond Schulzs passing it is hard to imagine such an iconic and influential figure having such ...
Continue Reading
AllAboutJazz-New York January 2010 Issue Now Available!
Source:
Michael Ricci
If a new year makes people reflective, what about a new decade? We are entering the second chapter in a new century and it's almost overwhelming to think of the events both remarkable and tragic, innovations both uplifting and idiotic and transformations both obvious and still being understood that have taken place. Even in the small corner of the world called jazz, we've seen new faces arrive, old ones depart, the death knell sounded and then revoked, crossing over and ...
Continue Reading
The Man Who Sang, Played and Smiled
Source:
Michael Ricci
One of the hardest parts of writing a biography is finding a fit subject, but sometimes theyre in plain sight. Despite his incalculable contributions to American culture, there has never been a fully adequate narrative biography of Louis Armstrong. Terry Teachout now fills that void with Pops. He begins by suggesting how this omission came to be, then persisted for so long. No one disputes that Armstrong revolutionized music, helped popularize jazz throughout the world and created countless imitators. Even ...
Continue Reading
Jazz
Source:
Michael Ricci
We had a hard time getting people to quiet down and listen, Percy Heath, the Modern Jazz Quartets bass player, once explained about his innovative ensembles early gigs in clubs whose patrons were inclined to jabber during performances. If it got too loud, wed come off just stop playing and walk off. . . . We were conservatively dressed, we played conservative music, and if you didnt listen you didnt get it. The M.J.Q.s formative role in the cool jazz ...
Continue Reading
Book Review: "The Pat Metheny Interviews"
Source:
Pop Dose
In 2007, composer, arranger and performer Richard Niles wrote, produced and hosted a three-part radio series for the BBC titled Pat Metheny Bright Size Life. The in-depth discussions Niles held with Metheny for the series covered all aspects of the renowned musician who has revolutionized both the guitar and jazz music--from Methenys first realization of his affinity for music to his wisdom accrued from years of dedicated musicianship. This book simply transcribes those and other interviews Niles conducted with Metheny ...
Continue Reading
AllAboutJazz-New York December 2009 Issue Now Available!
Source:
Michael Ricci
Of the many laudable qualities of jazz, possibly its most notable is a courage to explore boundaries. Born out of its original free spirit and now supported by a knowledgeable (if lamentably small) fan base, modern jazz musicians can inhabit multiple sub-genres and flavor their work with a number of outside influences, all without being explicitly crossover.
For our last issue of the 2000s, in anticipation of a new decade full of promising and stimulating jazz, we include features on ...
Continue Reading
