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671

Article: Book Review

In Search of the Blues

by C. Michael Bailey
April 3, 2010

In Search of the Blues Marybeth Hamilton Hardcover; 320 pages ISBN: 0465028586 Basic Books 2010 Blues scholarship and archive documentation has undergone an important and much needed evolution since the 1990s. Hints of this renewed but different emphasis appeared in Stephen Calt's I'd ...

721

Article: Bailey's Bundles

Delta Blues & the Birth (and Death) of the Cool: Two definitive Ted Gioia Histories

by C. Michael Bailey
January 22, 2010

Does the music world need one more history of Delta blues music? Does a survey of a spongy concept like “cool" have any relevance in a post-9/11 world? Considering Robert Palmer authored a definitive narrative on depression-era Mississippi Delta music in Deep Blues (Viking, 1981) almost 30 years ago, and that Martin Williams and David Rosenthal, ...

234

Article: Album Review

Vicki Burns: Live at Anna's Jazz Island

Read "Live at Anna's Jazz Island" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
January 7, 2010

Is it possible to love jazz and not possess the restless spirit of discovery? Probably not. Jazz is a restless art forum and, while it respects it's rich and varied history, it always welcomes talented young bloods to renew and replenish the pool of talent.Vicki Burns isn't a widely known jazz singer--yet. Some honcho ...

286

Article: Extended Analysis

John Mayer: Battle Studies

by David Miller
November 29, 2009

John Mayer Battle Studies Columbia Records 2009 Twenty-somethings all over are humming along and nodding their heads. It's almost impossible not to. Guitarist John Mayer's Battle Studies has come out and they've found someone who understands their generation's thought process. This new generation ...

189

News: Contest

Who Will Be Crowned 'King of the Blues'?

November 9, 2009

Who knows what kind of deal with the devil the top five contestants in the Guitar Center-sponsored “King of the Blues" contest have rigged up, but who wouldn't sell their soul for a title like that? Not to mention the $25,000 in cash, a reissue of a vintage '59 Les Paul guitar, a distribution deal through ...

709

Article: Multiple Reviews

Take Two: Variations on Dave Brubeck

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
November 6, 2009

The music of pianist Dave Brubeck has been cherished throughout the world since the mid 1950s. While he's written orchestral, choral and sacred work, his most familiar are jazz tunes like “Strange Meadowlark," “Blue Rondo A La Turk," “Three To Get Ready," “Unsquare Dance" and that mega-hit “Take Five," written by his band mate, alto saxophonist ...

636

Article: Album Review

Fire!: You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago

Read "You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
October 23, 2009

Mats Gustafsson and the word “accessible" are rarely found in the same sentence. For over two decades, this Swedish reed player has been mining the extreme end of free improvisation and cued composition with like-minded players including Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, and The Thing, his ongoing collective with bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. ...

715

Article: Wide Open Jazz and Beyond

A Question of Time

by Alan Bryson
September 8, 2009

Imagine you were given the chance to go back in time and witness four musical events (one each from jazz, blues, classical, and rock history.) What would they be? That's an after-dinner topic friends might discuss by candlelight. If your inner-child has completely matured, perhaps you could approach it as a potential film: if you were ...

825

Article: Film Review

Bill Frisell: Solos and Films of Buster Keaton

by John Kelman
September 1, 2009

In a career which is in 2009 entering its fourth decade in the public eye, guitarist Bill Frisell has fashioned a trajectory like no other. As comfortable playing Hank Williams country tunes as he is a Ron Carter blues, the guitarist has created such a distinctive sound that, even when he's playing a plain old G ...

1,010

Article: Music and the Creative Spirit

Amiri Baraka: Perspectives on Music and Race

by Lloyd N. Peterson Jr.
August 17, 2009

Amiri Baraka is the author of the insightful and comprehensive book, Blues People. It is a book that has opened many minds and readers to the African American Diaspora along with the history and roots of African American music. Baraka has now published a new book of essays titled, Digging (The Afro-American Soul of American Classical ...