Jazz
Why sweat the future of jazz when you can listen to Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah right now?
Certain people expect certain styles of music to obey certain laws, but the rest of us know that it’s the anti-laws that keep a musical tradition breathing.<p>Here’s an eternal anti-law of jazz: Anything can be played. In rap music, where alchemical producers transform samples of crickets and gunshots …
LifestyleNights of the Mu-Tron III: On Peter Conners’s “Cornell ’77” and the Mystique of the Grateful Dead - Los Angeles Review of Books
IN THE SPRING of 1990, a fellow high school senior I barely knew offered me a free ticket to see the Grateful Dead at Landover, Maryland’s Capital …
BooksJazz musician Nduduzo Makhathini wants to heal through music
Award-winning jazz artist Nduduzo Makhathini's love for music has pushed him to look into ways to keep jazz alive by combining his knowledge of …
Trio Da Kali: the Malian musicians defying jihad – with help from Kronos Quartet
The griot supergroup have teamed up with the US musicians to fuse classical strings and traditional west African instruments on songs inspired by civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson<p>The first time David Harrington met Trio Da Kali, they made him cry. The lead violinist and founder of Kronos …
MusicReview: A Montreal Orchestra Brings Back Bartok’s Strangeness
Radicals of the mid-20th-century avant-garde did not wait long after Bartok’s death in 1945 to savage some of his final works. Writing in Sartre’s influential journal Les Temps Modernes, the critic and musician Rene Leibowitz assailed Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra as a creative “compromise” — a …
The Arts10 Dope Black Women To Dress Up As For Halloween
From Nina Simone to Michonne.The post 10 Dope Black Women To Dress Up As For Halloween appeared first on MadameNoire.
Women of ColorHe was a shorty when he started playing music. Here’s how he’s training the next generation
<b>Hari Sreenivasan:</b><p>An old New Orleans art form is winning over new audiences on the international stage.<p>Jeffrey Brown visited one of the Crescent …
The 11 worst biopic castings of all time
Shortly after Hugh Hefner's death in September, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Jared Leto would be playing the media mogul in a biopic about his life.<p>"Jared is an old friend," the biopic's director Brett Ratner told THR. "When he heard I got the rights to Hef's story, he told me, 'I want to …
EntertainmentFerrari turns 70: The makings of the sexiest car in history
Ferrari has been making a lot of noise about turning 70 this year: limited-edition cars; two-day cavalcades of classic cars; three-day cavalcades of modern cars; a charity auction (at which a secret buyer bought a limited-edition supercar for $10 million); weekend-long race meetings; big logos on …
Alfa RomeoReviews of bluegrass music releases
GINA CLOWES, "True Colors," Mountain Home. 12 tracks<p>Gina Clowes picked up a banjo for the first time when she was 11.<p>A year later, she was taking …
EntertainmentAugustin Mawangu Mingiedi, Bandleader of Congolese Group Konono N°1, Has died
<b>Augustin Mawangu Mingiedi</b>, leader of the celebrated Congolese band <b>Konono N°1</b> has died. He was 56 years-old.<p>Mingiedi, who became the leader of the …
AfricaHow two D.C. institutions celebrate a new old master
Who are the most important living composers? Philip Glass and Steve Reich are often lumped together in people’s minds as the Hertz and Avis of “minimalism,” the maverick musical style that emerged in the 1970s whose hallmark was repeating patterns of notes. But where Glass is a wildly prolific …
EntertainmentOctoberfest of quality filmmaking continues
What is it with all these fine film festivals featuring documentaries this month? I, for one, am not complaining.<p>The 11th annual <b>Boston Palestine Film</b> …
John ColtraneJerry Douglas: Stirring the Gumbo
<b>The resonator virtuoso has three Beard Guitars square-neck signature models. Here, he’s playing a JD Jerry Douglas. There’s also a JD Signature</b> …
GuitarDJ Sessions: Kansas City Jazz 101
Support the news<p>Kansas City is one of America's most famous cradles of jazz, according to <b>Chuck Haddix</b>, DJ and host of "The Fish Fry" on KCUR. During …
CultureAlt.Latino Guest DJ Antonio Sanchez: Jazz Drummer, Musical Activist
The jazz drummer Antonio Sanchez is much more than that job title suggests. With over 15 years playing for guitarist Pat Metheny and a handful of albums under his own name, Sanchez certainly fits the role of jazz cat.<p>Listen closely to his playing, though, and you'll be hearing the expansion of …
MusicThe Hologram Theaters are Coming
Remember Michael Jackson’s controversial and posthumous performance at the 2014 Billboard awards?<p>The music icon’s image appeared onstage, grooving …
Lonely PlanetCanterbury Legend Phil Miller Remembered
The death of <b>Phil Miller</b> announced yesterday evening robs progressive music of one of its most distinctive voices. The guitarist, whose work with a …
Classic RockAnouar Brahem: Blue Maqams review – wild card Bates adds intrigue to Brahem's vision
(ECM)<p>Eight years have passed since oud-improviser and composer Anouar Brahem’s vivid ECM album The Astounding Eyes of Rita, but the silence hasn’t muted the Tunisian maestro’s jazz enthusiasms. This glitzy lineup features his bass-playing soulmate Dave Holland, drums star Jack DeJohnette, and a …
MusicBéla Fleck & The Flecktones Trio Start Rolling Out 2018 Dates
Genre-defying act Bela Fleck and the Flecktones was formed as a quartet and remained as such through Howard Levy’s departure in 1992. Between 1993 …
Feldman: Trio CD review – mystery, unease and rapt beauty
Ives Ensemble (hat[now]ART)<p>The Hat Hut label is working its way methodically through the rarefied products of Morton Feldman’s last decade. The latest additions to its catalogue are this 20-year-old recording of Feldman’s Trio for piano, violin, and viola from 1980, as well as a disc devoted to two …
MusicHear Mitski Cover Billie Holiday for Planned Parenthood
Mitski has shared a new cover Billie Holiday’s “I’m a Fool to Want You” as part of the <i>7-inches for Planned Parenthood Compilation</i><i>.</i> Announced this …
MusicTheatre Bizarre Orchestra showcasing new album
Theatre Bizarre transports you to another world. Enter the Masonic Temple for this weekend’s festivities and you’ll find a masquerade ball adorned by …
DetroitRudresh Mahanthappa's Indo-Pak Coalition: Agrima review – flexing Indian rhythms and jazz with swagger and wit
(Mahanthappa’s Music)<p>Jazz musicians have been integrating Indian ragas into their improvisations for more than half a century, but few do so as comfortably as New York-based alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. Instead of taking his cue from John Coltrane’s mystical fusions, Mahanthappa plays with …
MusicLindstrøm: It’s Alright Between Us As It Is review – back on track with bubbling beats, jazz piano and goth feathers
(Smalltown Supersound)<p>Oslo producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm, already known for being pretty cosmic, went further out than ever before with his last album, a collaboration with Todd Rundgren that turned them both to spaghetti in a psychedelic black hole. He’s now back out the other side, making his …
MusicCecilia String Quartet
The clarinet of Order-of-Canada recipient James Campbell promises to deliver a “mountaintop” piece of classical music when he unites with a …
Canadian NewsBonteheuwel Jazz Day boasts top line-up | Cape Argus
Cape Town - The Jazz Yard Academy together with Community Chest organisation will have Jazz Day in Bonteheuwel on Saturday.<p>The event is showcasing …
Vector Families: For Those About to Jazz/Rock We Salute You review – spontaneous, off-the-wall improv
(Sunnyside)<p>Amid five very different current UK releases from New York’s open-minded Sunnyside label comes this engagingly off-the-wall collaboration between drummer Dave King – cornerstone of genre-hopping supertrio the Bad Plus – and three experimenters from King’s Minneapolis home turf: …
MusicThelonious Monk's Quiet, Slow Conquest of the World
For decades a respected but somewhat eccentric figure even within the jazz scene, the pianist and composer is at the peak of his influence as he reaches his centennial this month.<p>The peak of Thelonious Monk’s fame came in 1964, in his 47th year, when his painted portrait—dourly glowering or shyly …
Wynton Marsalis