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1

Can You Judge an Album By Its Label?

Read "Can You Judge an Album By Its Label?" reviewed by Dave Hughes


This article was first published at All About Jazz in March 1999. For almost as long as there have been record labels, many labels have sought to build a reputation or a brand identity for themselves in terms of the genre of music presented on their labels or the technical quality of their product. Some of the largest and longest-running labels, such as Columbia, RCA, and Warner Brothers, have taken a “big tent" approach in which major artists ...

253

When is a Jazz Festival (Not) a Jazz Festival?

Read "When is a Jazz Festival (Not) a Jazz Festival?" reviewed by John Kelman


This article was first published at All About Jazz on May 20, 2011. It's becoming almost pandemic for jazz festivals around the world to be challenged for deciding to broaden their programming into areas either peripherally related to jazz... or, in some cases, away from jazz entirely. Festivals like the near-iconic Montreux Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the Ottawa International Jazz Festiva have become easy targets for purists, who are loudly proclaiming “This ...

12

Renegade or Retrograde: Questioning Little Richard's Legacy

Read "Renegade or Retrograde: Questioning Little Richard's Legacy" reviewed by Jacob Bloomfield


In the many retrospectives on rock musician Little Richard since his death on 9 May 2020, some major narratives have emerged: he has been alternatingly cast as a queer forefather in the tradition of Oscar Wilde; a transgressive figure who broke racial, gender, and/or sexual boundaries; and a music pioneer largely defined by his influence on subsequent artists such as The Beatles. But in exalting the singer as a boundary breaker, observers have overlooked retrograde elements of Richard's legacy: his ...

32

A response to yet another senseless public murder of a Black Citizen by officers of the law

Read "A response to yet another senseless public murder of a Black Citizen by officers of the law" reviewed by Wynton Marsalis


With the crescendo of public outcry and proliferation of opinions and justifiable expressions of outrage by so many experts, officials and popular celebrities, I fear there's little room or need for yet another person voicing a commonly held opinion. I also believe that the everyday tragedies that are commonplace and routine to our everyday way of living, should be addressed when they happen, not when so much pressure has built up in the system that it must be ...

15

Black Lives Matter, Black Culture Matters

Read "Black Lives Matter, Black Culture Matters" reviewed by Franz A. Matzner


Black lives matter. I am a jazz writer, so my lens on this truth is in some respects through music. The protests sweeping the country—and globe—are potent and necessarily focused on ending racial violence and police brutality. The images we see with increasingly open eyes of the barbaric treatment of African Americans are changing perceptions and helping us begin to confront systemic racism, the original sin of America's founding that will continue to bar our society from fulfilling the promise ...

3

On Missing Live Jazz

Read "On Missing Live Jazz" reviewed by Douglas Groothuis


This pandemic has snatched much from us through its reign of disease and death. We have lost family, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances to COVID-19. Millions have lost jobs or fear losing them. By all accounts, the whole thing stinks. We try to cling to what remains, and we hope and pray for restoration. How does all this upheaval affect the jazz world? We have lost a host of old and not-so-old jazz luminaries to this disease, such as ...

15

Half Reopen To Food Delivery: Jazz Headwinds In China

Read "Half Reopen To Food Delivery: Jazz Headwinds In China" reviewed by Jiaowei Hu


The festive electronic music pours out of the Vietnamese restaurant across the square, welcoming back its customers, already at two-thirds volume compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Su Yan frowned: “It looks like hiring a DJ does help the business. But what can we jazz clubs do with DJs?" As the Director of Publicity at JZ Club (a major jazz venue brand in China, based in jny: Shanghai), Yan together with his company, has been in the most ...

18

Can Jazz Survive COVID-19? China Has Tested the Waters

Read "Can Jazz Survive COVID-19? China Has Tested the Waters" reviewed by Jiaowei Hu


In the coming weeks, Frank Sinatra's line “I wanna wake up in a city that doesn't sleep" from “New York, New York" may not strike a chord. On March 17, the epicenter of jazz ground to a halt. By the decree of governmental enforcement, all jazz venues in jny: New York City announced closures in rapid succession. Being the last to surrender, Blue Note New York's closure has not only marked a complete suspension of the Mecca of ...

6

New Media, Jazz and Camille Bertault

Read "New Media, Jazz and Camille Bertault" reviewed by S.G Provizer


A recent headline in Fortune.com read: “Why 'Success' on YouTube Still Means a Life of Poverty." Hundreds of thousands, even millions of views often result in meaningless royalty checks to musicians from YouTube (owned by Google). And yet, there are musicians whose videos on that platform, combined with a Facebook and Instagram presence, have either created or dramatically elevated their careers. While this is a much likelier scenario for a pop or a hip-hop artist, it has happened ...

7

Jazz and Assault Rifles: A Peace Barrage

Read "Jazz and Assault Rifles: A Peace Barrage" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


I just participated in the March 24 “March for Our Lives" event in Philadelphia, one among many cities where the Parkland, Florida Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootout led to a large turnout of people advocating for an end to school violence and greater gun control, including, for many, the banning of assault rifles. You may think this violence-preventing effort has nothing to do with jazz, but I think of jazz as an antidote to violence of all kinds, a ...


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