The passage of time can leave the legacy of important figures underrecognized. For every figure like Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, or John Coltrane who remains indelibly etched in our collective consciousness, dozens more have furthered the music in significant ways yet too often remain overlooked in the history books. One great example can be found […]
With the start of a new year, we also start a new feature on this site. These capsule reviews aim to provide very brief reviews – a few hundred words at most – of albums of note which have come out around the month at issue. For this month, only one of these albums – […]
We continue our conversation with the great Billy Harper by discussing the beginning of his professional career in New York, his work with Lee Morgan and Gil Evans, the representation of Black artists in popular culture, and his compositional process. You can check out part one of the interview here. PostGenre: A little earlier, you […]
The lineage of jazz has long drawn upon ideas from gospel music, whether Louis Armstrong’s presentation of spirituals or Duke Ellington’s or Mary Lou Williams’ sacred music compositions. However, to some, the connection between faith-based songs and contemporary improvised music seems more tenuous. Artists are more likely to find a space between jazz and hip […]
My annual list is the only time each year I try to get more personal with my writing, speaking in the first person and laying out my thoughts on the year passed. While at the outset of 2022, I decided to feature more interviews on the site, I never intended to focus so overwhelmingly on […]
In the second part of our conversation with composer Anthony Davis, we do a deeper dive into his work, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. Part one of our discussion can be found here. PostGenre: X was first presented in 1986. What was behind your decision to revisit the work over thirty years later? Anthony […]
When one looks beyond the jokes about “the fat lady” singing or baseless accusations of the form being boring, one can find operas sharing some of the most intriguing stories ever told. These tales present the full range of human emotion, from devastating loss to insuppressible joy. Often overlooked, however, are these works’ political overtones. […]
We continue our conversation with NEA Jazz Master Donald Harrison, Jr. (read part one here) by digging into Mardi Gras Indians, Dr. John, Miles Davis, The Notorious BIG, and more. PostGenre: Keeping with the topic of New Orleans tribal culture, one of your prior albums, Indian Blues (BMG, 1992), digs deep into the music of […]
While the history of improvised music is replete with works of artistic brilliance, such recordings seldom reach outside the confines of their usual audiences. It is not merely difficult but near impossible for improvisation-laced instrumental music to resonate with the larger popular culture. But there are always exceptions. One of these rare recordings is Herbie […]
There is much in this world that we do not understand. Phenomena not easily understood by science or human reason. Unexplained mysteries are impossible to distinguish as either shocking reality or mental delusion. As bassist Trevor Dunn writes in the liner notes to Séances (Pyroclastic, 2022), his group Trio-Convulsant’s first release since 2004, “[w]e are […]
