Results for "AAJ Staff"

Weekly Latin Jazz Video Fix: Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Candido Camero, and Ray Barretto

April 22, 2011

Percussion sits at the heart and soul of Latin Jazz, providing the music's cultural lifeline and rhythmic vitality. The use of percussion certainly sets Latin Jazz apart from straight ahead jazz, but it is so much more than a simple novelty.  Embedded in each hit of the drum is a cultural legacy, associated with centuries of ...

The Jazz Session #259: Matthew Shipp and Darius Jones

April 22, 2011

Paul Weston: Mood for 12/Solo Mood

April 22, 2011

Every so often I receive an email from a reader asking whether I really dig easy listening music. My answer is this: Yes, selectively. So do all writers, secretly. Easy listening is the equivalent of a mental rubdown. While I spend most of my days writing and listening to jazz, rock and r&b recordings, there are ...

Honey Ear Trio - Steampunk Serenade (Foxhaven Records, 2011) ****

April 22, 2011

By Paul Acquaro The Steampunk literary genre essentially imagines a present informed by Victorian sensibilities and driven by steam technology. Imagine though, just for a moment, another alternate present in which popular music is not shaped by lowest common denominator tastes and gobs of derivative schmear. What do you hear? For me, the top forty slots ...

Chuck D: 'If a Community Cannot Supports Arts, then Arts Cannot Support the Community'

April 22, 2011

During this weekend's Record Store Day, Chuck D visited Grimey's in Nashville and spoke about the importance of the arts and local community. (Video below.) “If the community cannot supports the arts, then the arts cannot support the community.  When it comes down to radio stations and stores like what Grimey's has done, it's all about ...

Do You Really Want a Major Label Deal?

April 22, 2011

This guest post comes from Robin Davey, a musician, artist and Head of Music and Film Development at GROWVision Media. A recent survey suggested that 75% of artists are still chasing that ever-elusive major deal. This shows the credulity of bands, rather than the shimmering prospects that a major can offer. At this stage of my ...

Yet Another Grammy Dustup

April 22, 2011

Could the Grammys exist without healthy doses of skepticism and controversy? I think not. Skepticism, mostly during the awards season, for all of the hype and pop/hip-hop glitz that seems to minimize the celebration of real music. However, as mentioned a while back, quality turned the tables on pop phenomenon when singer and bassist Esparanza Spalding ...

Two for Tain!: Jeff "Tain" Watts - Family and Laura Kahle - Circular (2011)

April 22, 2011

It's been a couple of years since we last heard from pre-eminent jazz rhythmist Jeff “Tain" Watts, when his star-studded engagement Watts was introduced. This past April 19, Watts' own Dark Key Music label trotted out two new records, one by the thirty-year vet Watts, and the first one by an Australian-born pocket trumpet player by ...

Something Else! Featured Artist: Boz Scaggs

April 22, 2011

We all know Boz Scaggs, right? The guy from Silk Degrees, the 1976 smash that spawned hit single after hit single after hit single—the million-selling “Lowdown," “Lido Shuffle," “What Can I Say," “We're All Alone." The truth is, though, that it was the former Steve Miller sideman's seventh solo release, and Scaggs has continued issuing varied ...

Rethink Music Preview: Ralph Jaccodine on the Future of Artist Management

April 22, 2011

[Editor's Note: Next week, we're going to be covering Rethink Music up in Boston. To get you in the mood, we thought we'd reach out to a couple panel moderators and get some advice/information out of them. This second and final piece is a Q&A with artist manager Ralph Jaccodine] For all the upheaval that the ...