Results for "Opinion"

News: Opinion

Safety in Numbers

July 26, 2010

The trigger for this was reading that today is Annie Ross' birthday. As far as I'm concerned (and it's a safe bet no one else is), there has never been a greater female 'parts' singer than Annie. Not just parts, but the vocalese solos she sang with Lambert and Hendricks. Fantastic range, intonation and phrasing. I ...

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News: Opinion

England Swings!

July 25, 2010

“like a pendulum do," is the Sixties refrain that comes to mind, but I have other evidence to present here. Our UK sojourn so far has offered many charity shops and second-hand bookshops, and a few jazz oases, potential and real. The potential one was spotted in York: unfortunately, in the fashion of used CD shops, ...

124

News: Opinion

All Hail the Jazz Super-Stud

July 24, 2010

Pity the poor jazz musician. For about 75 years we were branded with a kind of anti-hero cultural status. To live up to that, we coughed up scores of booze-soaked and heroin-riddled deaths. Some-Artie Shaw, Harry James-were forced to march-step through scores of glamorous divorces.After that, the pressure eased off a bit. When people ...

353

News: Opinion

Welcome to 21st Century Jazz. Matt Lavelle.

July 23, 2010

One thing it's taken me 20 years to learn is that the Trumpet is a FEELING.To really unlock it's secrets you have to feel the sound that comes through it.My relationship with the horn is that sometimes there's feelings I MUST confront.I walked into a club the other day with a burning in my chest that ...

121

News: Opinion

Spain and the Netherlands, Jazz, and the World Cup

July 19, 2010

The World Cup is over, and I suppose the time has come for me to stop complaining. I was cheering for Holland from the beginning, and was crushed when the Netherlands lost to Spain in the final minutes of overtime in the final, in what in general was a pretty good game. These two countries are ...

News: Opinion

Life, Death, Resurrection and the Cornet

July 19, 2010

During a recent Nat Adderly listening session, I thought “Why play this style on cornet and not trumpet?" I was thinking of the cliched perception of the cornet, as personified by cornet greats Oliver, Bix, Bobby Hackett, Jimmy McPartland et al.The cornet sound is theoretically mellower and rounder than a trumpet's. The horns have ...

101

News: Opinion

The Infernal Vuvuzela, Scarcity and the Breath

July 13, 2010

The World Cup has resuscitated the vuvuzela, formerly known to us boomers as “can I have one of those big horns?"These horns (always red) stuck out the top of the 2-wheeled carts dragged along by guys working the crowds at parades and ballparks. They also had banners, mylar balloons and the industrious ones had ...

News: Opinion

July 6, 2010

Sometimes people don't know a good, no, a brilliant idea when it bites' em on the tweet. Alex W. Rodriguez @arodjazz was looking for advice on how to write a “smooth jazz" chapter for his jazz curriculum and I suggested he trace its roots back to the age-old dichotomy between “sweet" and “hot" jazz (Notice the ...

124

News: Opinion

Road Worriers.

July 3, 2010

Now that the Jazz Biz elements are in remission and bloat stuff crashes and burns all around, it is time to address the disheveled condition of touring in America. If baby boomers were responsible for destructive aesthetic misconceptions about what would sell, the blame for the grotesque and pathetic lack of a working circuit ...

159

News: Opinion

Pitchfork Creates Altered Zones Uniting Music Blogs

July 2, 2010

Next Wednesday July 7th, Pitchfork will launch Altered Zones, a new sister site uniting an international team of niche blogger focused on leftfield pop, experimental, and home-recorded sounds. Weekly Tape Deck and Gorilla vs. Bear are among the collectives most well known contributors. Under the direction of co-editors Emilie Friedlander (Visitation Rites) and Sahil ...