Archive for the 'Editorials' Category
Chick Corea: Artist of the Year? Is This Really 2009?
Author: Anthony Medici
Time to get back to work. The holidays are mercifully over. I was able to use a lot of my unused leave at my real job (and just to repeat, I do not work in a record store, nor do I work for Princeton Record Exchange alas). I took last week off from blogging and just kicked back to listen to music and read, so far as I could in between all the usual holiday hoopla. During that time, I managed to listen to 54 CDs and LPs (rather uncharacteristically, I decided to keep track) and read several interesting jazz books. I’ve been wondering: is this too much, or not enough? A vague feeling of guilt hovers about me (probably due to my parochial school upbringing): was this time well-spent?
Let me review briefly what I listened to and read, and you can form your own response to the question I’ve asked myself.
read comments (0)Top Ten Musician’s List for 2008
Author: Jeff Boule
Happy New Year to all! On my recent visit to the Princeton Record Exchange, the sheer volume of inventory overwhelmed me. The things that were available were equally astounding. Yes, I have been blogging about PREX site unseen until now. I can only further recommend getting down there and checking things out. That is, if you have a ton of time to peruse the massive inventory.
All those artists and genres, it would take hours upon hours to examine everything they have that one might have an interest in. The scope of the variety that the Exchange contained has inspired and reminded me that it is time for my picks of this past year and overall.
Foo Fighters Too Big For Their Britches? And Other Fan Casualties.
Author: Jeff Boule
Before you get mislead, no fans or audience members were harmed in the making of this blog. But it ain’t pretty.
The Year in Review: Highs and Lows, Including the 5 Worst Jazz Magazine Cover Stories
Author: Anthony Medici
This is the time of year when we look back, take stock of what was, both the highs and lows, and look forward to what the new year brings. Let’s start with the Top 5 Worst Jazz magazine Cover Stories of the Year, shall we? Read the rest of this entry »
Passing Ships and Cheesesteaks
Author: Anthony Medici
This past Friday, your intrepid blogger set forth to face the challenges of I-95 from DC to Philly in order to attend the Ars Nova Workshop presentation of the Ron Horton Sextet performance of Andrew Hill’s Passing Ships. Since I love the music of Andrew Hill, I was more than willing to face the three hour drive each way (it’s the return trip late at night that’s tough). On my last trip up the same route, I ran over a large metal object in the road, destroying two tires (newly installed) on the driver side of my car as well as the front left wheel. So it was with some trepidation that I set forth. Fortunately, the storm that had deluged the DC area for several days lifted on the very monring that I left, leaving cold, grey but dry weather for the trip. I was looking for great music and great cheesesteaks. I found great music…. Read the rest of this entry »
Throwdown: Downbeat v Jazz Times, Dec 08-Jan 09
Author: Anthony Medici
I thought it might be fun, and perhaps even instructive, to make some head to head and round by round comparisons between our two heavyweight jazz mags, Dowbeat (DB) and Jazz Times (JT), as they compete for the hearts, souls, and dollars of jazz fans. JT clearly wants to lead the pack, as last week I received their January 2009 issue, while my copy of DB that came in the mail a few days later was only the Decemer 2008 issue. Apparently the DB group are either laggards or have undue respect for the calendar. I noticed that DB’s individual copy price is $4.99, while JT come sin at a bargain price of $4.95 an issue. I wonder what DB does with its extra 4 cents? Read the rest of this entry »
Turkies, Stuffing, and Thanksgiving
Author: Anthony Medici
Sated with good food, good company, and plenty of music listening, it was not easy to put on my blogger’s mantle, but then I saw the cover of the just-issued Jazz Times and, well, I was roused to blog a bit. Our pals at JT seem pretty much determined to prove my point that much of what passes for feature writing in their magazine is simple puffery, fed by the blast furnaces of PR hot air. What else can explain yet another cover story on Tony Bennet? The ostensible reason this time is Mr. Bennett’s new Christmas album with the “Basie Band.” How’s that for advancing the art of jazz?
For those of you not familiar with the name David Byrne, he was the strange man in the suit and horned-rimmed glasses chopping at his forearm in the Talking Heads “Once In A Lifetime” video. Talking Heads long-time producer, Brian Eno, has been a long-time collaborator of Byrne’s. The show was billed as The Songs Of David Byrne and Brian Eno, right there, you know it’s going to be…
Coltrane for Christmas
Author: Anthony Medici
Assuming you have any money left following our current economic downturn, or, almost as good perhaps, know someone who does, let me recommend a few gift ideas. I figure this is safer bet than slagging jazz magazines, or knocking a certain jazz radio station, but who knows. So, here are some ideas for you and yours to consider. Read the rest of this entry »
Why Our Jazz Magazines Are Bad…And May Not Get Better
Author: Anthony Medici
Well, it seems as if I have created a bit of a kerfuffle as a result of my post, “Why Our Jazz Magazines are Bad… and Bad for Jazz.” Who knew? It’s nice to know our little blogspot is getting some attention. In fact, Lee Mergner, editor of Jazz Times, on another website that I happened to come across by chance, huffed and puffed and, showing way more energy than in anything I have read by him or his staff of high-powered writers lately, tried to blow our post down. He didn’t even come close. The fact is, such an apoplectic response tells me that I have struck a nerve, and that the nerve was worth striking. One line from Lee’s blog post really caught my attention:
“For the record, I believe firmly that JazzTimes and Downbeat are much better magazines than most people in the jazz community realize.”
Lee, if “most people in the jazz community” don’t see the value in what Jazz Times and your colleagues at Downbeat put out each month, don’t you think it’s time for you to start trying to understand why they feel this way, start trying to listen to their concerns and criticisms, and start trying to make the sort of changes your magazine needs to make to again become a relevant and worthwhile voice in the jazz community? Read the rest of this entry »
The Death Of Rock and Roll, and Progressive
Author: Jeff Boule
I was asked why my blogs do not appear weekly. The simple answer to this question is: life. I am currently rehearsing my solo acoustic show, I am also participating in my company’s Christmas show, so I have to learn three X-mas songs. This should prove interesting, as I am not a religious person.
But this week, even more extraneous circumstances have arisen that makes one think perhaps everything we are doing is pointless.
Does Keith Jarrett Belong in the Hall of Fame?
Author: Anthony Medici
The cover picture and cover story for this month’s (December 2008) DownBeat (DB) heralds Keith Jarrett’s election to the DB Hall of Fame (HOF). Does Jarrett belong in the Hall of Fame? Well, I suppose the immediate and obvious answer is: Yes. Yet I am uncomfortable with the selection. I have reservations. Indeed, I would like to borrow from the recent discussions regarding the Baseball HOF, and suggest that Jarrett, while he might belong in this venerable jazz institution, should be entered with an asterisk next to his name (figuratively speaking of course), in the same way that many have suggested that such baseball stars as Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, and Pete Rose, were they to be inducted, also be awarded the asterick symbolizing a tainted achievement. Let me offer a few reasons why. Read the rest of this entry »
That Guitar Man from Central Park; David Ippolito
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
That Guitar man from Central Park; David Ippolito
Self-described as “Acoustic-storytelling like James Taylor might have written if heavily influenced by the Beatles and Broadway.”
Going Dutch in Baltimore
Author: Anthony Medici
My pal and I traveled to An Die Musik in Baltimore, Maryland Saturday night to hear two groups: Trio Bramm, from Holland, and All Coda, all from the Baltimore area with the exception of New York-based saxophonist Tim Berne. There was exciting music on offer, all in a small (perhaps 80 seats), comfortable (got to love those stuffed armchairs), and in a welcome departure from much current practice, unamplified format (although the bass players and guitarist did use small amp pickups that did not alter the essentially acoustic nature of the set). The performances were excellent, and the in the case of Trio Braam, particularly interesting and inventive. At the end, though, I was left with a question that has vexed me of late. Read the rest of this entry »
Arena = Todd Rundgren + Guitars Guitars Guitars!
Author: Jeff Boule
The story behind the album Arena is simply a tale born out of situational necessity. You die-hard Rundgren fans remember a couple of years ago (around the time the movie CARS came out) Todd had replaced Ric Ocasek in The New Cars (the ‘New’ being added in light of the minority percentage of returning members, only Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes returned). Also joining Easton and Hawkes were Utopia and long-time Rundgren bassist and vocalist Kasim Sulton alongside drummer for The Tubes, Jefferson Starship and also a long-time Rundgren band member Prairie Prince. During the New Cars tour, the tour bus was in an accident and Easton fell from an upper bunk and broke his shoulder/collar bone. The tour was cut short, the cross-promotion with the Pixar movie was cancelled, and Rundgren found himself with nothing to do for a summer. Not wanting to waste a prime touring season, Rundgren spoke with Tony Levin band and long-time Rundgren guitarist Jesse Gress who contacted Levin and recruited him along with Levin Band drummer Jerry Marotta to do a two guitars bass and drums tour. Less expensive than touring with Midi and keyboards, etc.
Seeing as how he was going to be touring with a guitar-oriented band, not only did he have to limit his repertoire to guitar based or guitar-oriented or guitar adaptable songs, he also had to rearrange some keyboard-oriented standards for guitar.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Why Our Jazz Magazines are Bad– And Bad for Jazz
Author: Anthony Medici
First, full disclosure: I subscribe to both Jazz Times (JT) and Down Beat (DB) (I liked it better when it was “downbeat”) and have for quite a few years. I also have a subscription to Signal to Noise (STN), and until, recently, Cadence. But this has been the year of my discontent with both JT and DB, or, more precisely, this has been the year that my dissatisfaction with JT and DB has creached critical mass, for these two mainstays of the jazz scene are both bad– and bad for jazz. Read the rest of this entry »
FASTER THAN FATE: Pandora’s BOX
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
This band has shown consistently strong song writing skills, as well as ample stage presence. Drawing forces from punk-hardcore-alternative, the result is a unique and innovative sound, remarkable and unforgettable. Despite time and distance, one can not forget the sounds of Faster than Fate.
Anthony Hamilton: The Point of It all
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
anthony hamitlon/The Point of It All/ So So Def/ Zombra Label Group
The six-time Grammy-nominated R&B-soul balladeer croons a melodic picture of life using straightforward lyrics as his mellifluous paintbrush on his junior effort The Point of It All: “Talking about relationships again… everything from making love to building love; having arguments, just life!”
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Mind
Author: Anthony Medici
As William Congreve (not Shakespeare) once famously said, “Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast” (not beast, although now so often misquoted as to form a standard quote in itself), but it seems rather powerless to cure the sick– at least in my case, as I spent the week suffering from a nasty illness that left me time to listen but not much inclination to do so. I usually suffer, as I suspect most music lovers do, from a perceived lack of time to enjoy their favorite music. It’s one of life’s cruel ironies illnes gives one the time to listen but takes away one’s capacity to enjoy it. I suppose music can often be a power for healing and would love to hear from those who have experienced that power.
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Enough said from Byrne/Eno.
Author: Jeff Boule
It seems that life is so high pressure these days. Economic crisis, housing crisis, Middle East crisis, everything in crisis. Sometimes you need something to bring your stress level down. The new album from David Byrne and Brian Eno is something that can keep your toes tapping while reducing heart rate and blood pressure levels. But the music is far too lively to be as coma inducing as some of the earlier Eno ambient albums. But it is far more cerebral than Talking Heads.