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We Travel the Spaceways
Mark Corotto takes a look down the road less travelled.
Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, and the Buddha walk in to a bar...
Ivo Perelman / Matthew Shipp The Art Of Perelman-Shipp Leo Records 2017 If you are looking for reviews of the seven new discs Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp released on Leo Records, you won't find them here. You probably won't find a proper review of the music elsewhere either, but we'll get back to that later. The São Paulo-born, now Brooklyn-based saxophonist has, like pianist Shipp, moved into the rarefied air of the master ...
read morePete Mills: The Anatomy Of A Jazz Release
I'm here to tell you that everything you thought about the making of a modern jazz records is wrong. The notion that there are talent agents selling concepts to record companies--wrong. That bands work on tunes, perfecting them for months before entering the studio--wrong. That jazz musicians make money from records--again, wrong. I had the first-hand experience of observing how saxophonist Pete Mills put together his latest recording Sweet Shadow (Cellar Live, 2014) from conception to release. If ...
read moreThe Dude Abides
To paraphrase Jeffrey Lebowski, aka The Dude (or El Dudarino, if you are not into the brevity thing), “I've had a rough night, and I hate the fucking Grateful Dead, man." Actually, The Dude said the “Eagles" (and I guess I'm obliged to agree with him), but for me the Dead seem to always get under my skin. Someone is always saying to me, “you dig jazz, check out this Dead concert from..." and then they name some ...
read moreTaking stock, a year half over
This month, at the halfway point in the year of music, we are taking stock, and there have been so many great discs released. Here is my list (in no particular order) of the best albums so far. I predict many of these will make final top ten 2013 lists. Sorry, I couldn't keep my list to ten.The Ex & Brass Unbound--Enormous Door (Ex Records) Federico Ughi--Federico Ughi Quartet (FMR) Rachel Musson/Mark Sanders/Steve Noble--Tatterdemalion (Babel) Matt Parker--Worlds Put ...
read moreArt Strike!
"Would you support an art strike?" That's the question I've been asking musicians for the past few months. “Will you agree to stop writing and performing music for one year?" In 1990 the London artists Stewart Home and Mark Pawson proposed that all artists cease to “make, exhibit, distribute, sell, or discuss their work" for three years. They also called upon galleries, museums, alternative spaces, clubs, and concert halls to cease operations for that period. Their goal was ...
read moreJazz: A Blessed Obsession
Jazz listeners travel some strange and beautiful paths. It might have all begun with collectors trying to find a legendary Edison cylinder that New Orleans trumpeter Buddy Bolden--some believe to be the very first jazz musician--may (or may not) have recorded in 1904. Fast forward to modern times, a quick scan of eBay and the exorbitant prices bid for long out-of-print Free Music Production (FMP) LPs or alternative releases. $150 for Peter Brötzmann's first solo recording and $175, for the ...
read moreBefore We Say Goodbye To 2012
In consumer culture, where we are all guilty of looking for the next new thing, the emphasis is always on new releases, and what the next, best, super-improved product will be. It seems that even before this week's movie opens, we are being told about next week's blockbuster.Before we turn our attention fully to 2013, here are some 2012 releases that deserve a listen.Sam Newsome The Art of the Soprano, Vol. 1 Self Produced 2012
read moreYou say you're beat? You don't know Jack
..."the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..." Jack Kerouac, On the Road (Viking Press, 1957)Bill LaswellMethod Of DeliveranceInnerhythmic2012The very essence of music, ...
read moreMerzbow Brings The Noise
Merzbow MerzbientSoleilmoon Recordings 2012 Are you of the mind, that in the big scheme of things, the really big scheme of things, there are no accidents? That everything happens for a purpose? Call it synchronicity or a Shirley MacLaine cake recipe, and I'm sure Kevin Bacon would agree, that fate or destiny plays a role in everyone's life, even a music critic. What am I talking about? I'm talking about kismet. ...
read moreThe Grand Canyon
Flying over the Grand Canyon on your way to Las Vegas is one way to see that huge gash in the earth, and standing on the banks of the Colorado River is another. From one perspective depth cannot be appreciated, from the other the enormity of it all. Such is the case with modern improvised music. Listeners often maneuver in the dark, catching a glimpse here and a glance there, but to take in the enormity of it is quite ...
read moreYes. But Is It Jazz?
Jazz comes at you from so many directions these days, that to rely on just one definition, is not enough. Sure, it can be a blues-based rhythmic music but it is also minimalist free improvisation. Pigeonholing something, such as jazz, always separates and eventually segregates supporters, creating conflicts and in the end lessening the whole.Maybe that's why so many “jazz" artists these days eschew the label. Is it also why many “jazz fests" have quasi-rock, blues and easy-listening ...
read moreThe Rocket Ship Takes Off
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is the big record companies are dead. The good news is the big record companies are dead. Gone are the days of Columbia Records signing trumpeter Wynton Marsalis to a million dollar contract and then promoting the hell out of his vision of jazz, selling his records and supporting his touring. While the major labels were reassessing all forms of music from pop to hip-hop, jazz slipped further and further ...
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