Results for "Opinion"

625

Article: Opinion

What Music Tells Us about Our Lives; or, "Well, Git It" by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

by Michael Palmer
January 21, 2006

In “The Opposites in Music class at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation in New York, I'm so fortunate to be learning about what makes for beauty in music and what it can teach us about ourselves. In one class, the teachers, Barbara Allen, Anne Fielding, and Edward Green asked, “Can music be used to be a courageous ...

899

Article: Opinion

Impulsive-Compulsive-Repulsive

by AAJ Staff
December 28, 2005

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.You're relaxing at home after a hard day's work listening to your favorite jazz station. The deejay announces John Coltrane's “Acknowledgement." You must have heard it a thousand times, but a smile crosses your ...

594

Article: Opinion

America's Been Tough On Jazz

by Eric Pettine
December 13, 2005

In America, he's his own man—he's got to be—no corporation seeks him out or needs him. Her attitude and attire doesn't always “cut it" with the latest vogue. He doesn't really have a particular deadline or agenda to meet. She's “got her ax down" and she's ready to carve out her own market share. He's got ...

621

Article: Opinion

The Perfect Jazz Audience on Record... From Ethiopia

by Norman Weinstein
November 15, 2005

Not to add to the many rave reviews that have been justly offered on this site, I want to concentrate on just two facets of this completely remarkable recording. Worthy of this narrow a focus is “Shellela," a nearly eight minute “concerto" for the Ethiopian saxophonist Getachew Mekurya and the Either/Orchestra, and the audience response heard ...

176

Article: Opinion

Viruses force Sony BMG to suspend CD copy protection scheme

by Mark Sabbatini
November 15, 2005

It's a CD copy protection scheme that makes a lot of people sick (along with their computers), so it's fitting a virus is bringing it to at least a temporary halt. Several viruses, actually, as Sony BMG is suspending for now production of discs embedded with software that installs anti-piracy software when users try ...

241

Article: Opinion

Warning - Sony BMG CDs Install Antipiracy Software On Computers

by Mark Sabbatini
November 11, 2005

A few days ago I wrote a “Dear John" letter to The Bad Plus, letting them know I wouldn't be purchasing any more of their CDs as long as they chose to use a copy protection scheme that presents obstacles to those wanting to listen to them on computers, iPods and the like. ...

224

Article: Opinion

A "Dear John" letter to The (Suspicious) Bad Plus

by Mark Sabbatini
October 29, 2005

Dear Ethan, Reid and David: I love you, but we can't have a relationship if there's no trust. That nickname “The Bad Plus" is a winner and I always considered you an artistic genius when many others saw you as phony, or maybe just a little deranged. Sure that made you popular, ...

777

Article: Opinion

With Friends Like These...

by AAJ Staff
September 13, 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 “It's no big thing to make a lot of money, if all you want to do is make a lot of money. (From Citizen Kane)“More harm is done by fools through foolishness than by evildoers through wickedness. (Sufi saying)This is the third in a ...

341

Article: Opinion

Phoenix Rising: A Credo on Behalf of New Orleans Recovery

by Victor L. Schermer
September 6, 2005

More than 100 years ago, a new form of music emerged. It was based on African American spiritual music, the sound and rhythm of funeral marching bands, touches of American and Acadian French folk strains, and a special blend of joy and sadness that was and remains hard to describe. The new music that came into ...

210

News: Opinion

JJA Panels at Major U.S. Jazz Festivals

August 8, 2005

Jazz Journalists Stage Public Panels at Major U.S. Festivals After 9th Annual Jazz Awards, “Jazz Matters" in Newport, Tanglewood, Chicago New York -- The Jazz Journalists Association, the 450-plus member international not-for-profit promoting the documentation and dissemination of news on jazz, follows up its ninth annual Jazz Awards gala held in June with public panel discussions ...