Here is a fun exercise for a reader’s consideration. Consider these two quotes: “[It is] just a bunch of notes thrown together without melody or soul—hardly what I’d call music” and “[It’s] not music… [it] doesn’t require musicianship….” What genre of music are they referring to? Here is a hint- the music grew organically through […]
Although instruments like the Teleharmonium plugged in as early as the late Nineteenth Century, it was not until the 1970s that electronic sounds would meet the depths of human improvisation-based music by the name of jazz. At the height of fusion, synthesizers added to the works of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, and others. […]
There is a particular power in the creation that comes out of long-term artistic relationships. While there is an excitement in the novelty of working with new collaborators, often it is within the comfort of the familiar that artists are most able to expand and conquer new realms. It is within this space with a […]
Catholic saint Thérèse of Lisieux once stated, “If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness. There would be no wild flowers to make the meadows gay.” To some degree, we perceive something as beautiful because of its ability to step outside of the ordinary. But how do we do […]
In 1835, German instrument makers Wilhelm Wieprecht and Johann Moritz patented the first tuba as a brass instrument that could carry the bassline for a marching band. By the end of the century, it could be found in orchestras through scores by Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, and others. Jazz was also not immune to the […]
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As nonsensical as it may seem in the abstract, sometimes ideological wars are a necessary step towards a renewed and invigorated community. This is certainly the case with the so-called “jazz wars” of the 1980s. After decades of further sonic expansion, one side came with a zealous desire to return the music to its roots. […]
Of the world’s roughly eleven thousand bird species, there is something particularly special about the dove family. Dating back to at least the Miocene epoch, twenty-three to twenty-five million years ago, across its history, the dove has developed a unique status as a symbolic creature. Many of these connections first emerged in the Biblical story […]
With our review of the second day of the 2024 Newport Jazz Festival – read day one here – we continue to draw parallels between the musical greats of the past and the artists with us today. This analysis is not intended to minimize the distinctive individualism of either the legends no longer with us, […]
In making sense of the story of jazz, historians often craft a narrative that neatly divides into different generations and schools of thought. Revolutions in composition, improvisation, rhythm, and instrumentation each producing a distinctly novel area of music. While this perspective has some truth to it, the dividing lines between each era are often far […]
