Dig what we’re puttin’ down, readers. Sometimes, you just want to find a groovy, little stash and hold back the dawn. Know what we mean? If not, you’re in dire need of the jive talk glossary below, which was included in the packaging for jazz pianist Harry “The Hipster” Gibson’s 1944 album, Boogie Woogie in Blue. “For Characters Who Don’t Dig Jive Talk” is full of both outdated phrases and terms that have stood the test of time. But perhaps the most currently relevant definition is the one Gibson provides for his namesake “hipsters”: “characters who like hot jazz.” So, there you have it. In only 67 years, we have taken a word that use to mean “jazz fans” and turned it into the apparently un-killable mess it is now. Read More »
Over the weekend, the Guardianpublished an opinion piece that asked the question, “Is tribalism in music dead?” The article was inspired by this year’s Mercury Prize shortlist, a suitably eclectic selection of 12 artists that ranged from King Creosote to Tinie Tempah to James Blake. It argues that the Internet has mitigated the once fiercely territorial tendencies of music nerds, and that these days we’re all totally happy to have Rihanna nestling next to Battles on our gym playlists. We’re not sure we really buy this idea — if anything, casual listeners might get exposed to a greater diversity of genres than they used to, but there will always be fans who are fiercely protective of “their” music and would be aghast at the idea of it ending up on the iPod of someone who just doesn’t get it, man. Join us as we indulge in some affectionate stereotyping of the tribes that still exist in the world of music. (And before you go crazy in the comments section, let’s just emphasize those last two words again: “affectionate stereotyping”.)
Theatrical performer Gabby Young weaves together gypsy punk, folk, jazz, indie rock, burlesque, and over-the-top fashion with her eight-piece cabaret band, Other Animals.
On stage, the troupe revels in spectacle with an exuberance that comes through just as strongly on record. Named after the album’s most affecting track, Gabby Young & Other Animals’ debut, We’re All in This Together, has just received the deluxe-reissue treatment, bringing it the attention it has deserved since it first fell into the hands of a lucky few.
Running the classic soul of Billie Holiday and Etta James through a kaleidoscopic-carnival filter, British singer Paloma Faith’s debut album asks, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?
Faith’s combination of ’40s jazz conceits with modern pop has earned her comparisons to fellow Brits Amy Winehouse and Duffy, but her sense of spectacle and grandeur puts her more in line with the more elegant likes of the long-standing Angela McCluskey. From her album art to her stage shows and videos, Faith puts as much focus on enchanting with visuals as with sound, ensuring a wholly immersive experience in her delightful burlesque circus of a world.
Classical TV brings “performance on demand” to a new level, taking high-brow arts events out of stuffy halls and streaming them directly to your computer.
The site’s extensive collection includes hundreds of world-class performances, and runs the gamut from the latest Met in HD offerings to a rare Diana Krall concert in Paris. Many of the offerings are even free to watch, including Johnny Cash’s amazing set at the 1994 Montreux Jazz Festival. An accompanying blog provides commentary and keeps viewers up to date with cultural happenings.
Terry Teachout’s Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong sheds new light on the great Satchmo’s already well-documented life.
Taking a critical look at Armstrong’s dual roles as both artist and entertainer, Teachout, an arts critic for the Wall Street Journal, parses out the variously competing and complementary sides of the music icon’s legacy.
Along the way, he addresses the issues of race and identity that affected Armstrong’s persona, from his early days in New Orleans to his later years in the public eye. The result is a stunning new portrait of one of America’s most familiar yet enigmatic figures.
One-woman band Emily Wells marries classical composition to hip-hop and jazz, using her loop pedal to cement the union.
Wells has released two albums to date, but gained the most notoriety for her loving interpretation of Biggie Smalls’ “Juicy,” featured on her new EP Dirty. Live, Wells recreates her elaborately layered studio constructions by playing and looping herself on multiple violin, keyboard, and vocal tracks, constructing full, lush symphonies from just a handful of materials. Read More »
The Didge Project are AJ Block and Tyler Sussman, a pair of California-bred jazz musicians who fell in love with the didgeridoo. Together in their Brooklyn home base, the duo handcraft instruments, conduct intensive sound healings, and constantly spread the gospel of the Aboriginal aerophone.
I first encountered the Didge Project right outside my front door. One sunny spring morning, I emerged from my apartment building to the sounds of a mighty, throbbing pulse. Confused, I looked up at the sky for a low-flying airplane. Finding nothing, I gingerly felt my stomach, imagining that a lack of breakfast must have precipitated an unusually vigorous tummyrumble. The thought of food caused me to cast a glance at the coffee shop across the street from my stoop, and there the mystery revealed itself — AJ Block, blowing blissfully into a massive didgeridoo.
Henry Grimes is one of the world’s greatest living jazz bassists. A free-jazz pioneer and relentless innovator, he has played with everyone from Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus, and Sonny Rollins, to Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, and Albert Ayler. In the late ’60s, at the zenith of his powers, Grimes disappeared. For nearly 35 years, the legendary musician was presumed dead — until he was discovered by a social worker in 2003, living in a tiny Los Angeles apartment with volumes of poetry and no bass.
Grimes performed a recent live date with poet and professor Amiri Baraka at Brooklyn’s Issue Project Room, where the unusual pairing produced a riveting conversation between music and language. In an after-show interview with Grimes and Margaret Davis Grimes, the legendary musician and his lovely wife shared aspects of his intensely emotional creative process, his incredible disappearance and return, and his personal theology.
Click here for part one in this series, featuring coverage of the event, background on the artists, and an exclusive interview with Amiri Baraka, and check below for an in-depth conversation with the brilliant and humble Henry Grimes.
