It can be incredibly difficult to be creative at the culinary arts. Insufficient attention to detail or excessive or inordinate amounts of particular ingredients potentially create a bland or inedible product. Masterful creation requires a background on how to best use materials and a desire to mix them in the best way possible. When done […]
Tonic, minor third, fourth, minor fifth, fifth, minor seventh. While this describes the blues scale, such a summation misses the point entirely. The blues is about more than a series of set modes or even emotions. Although often identified with sorrow, the form has always extended far beyond. In light of its historical basis, it […]
In ancient Greek mythological lore, Hephaestus, the god of technology, created a giant bronze automaton named Talos who was powered by ichor, the blood of the gods. It was Talos’ job to protect the island of Crete from invaders by throwing boulders at incoming ships and crushing anyone who washed ashore. He was programmed to […]
From the Thirteenth to the Seventeenth Centuries, the powerful Mali Empire ruled Western Africa. Encompassing modern Mauritania, Niger, Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Mali, the nation was led by members of the Keita dynasty, a series of rulers who tracked their heritage to Bilal Keita, a freed slave who became a close […]
Throughout history, musicians have used the direst of circumstances, including widespread pandemics, to expand their artistic boundaries and examine unexplored sonic territories. As European society collapsed during the era of the Black Death, composers presented new complex forms – the rondeau, the virelai, and the ballade. By 1365, the last of these would become one […]
There is a Japanese proverb dating back to at least the 16th Century: 一期一会 . Roughly translated, it means “each moment only once” and is intended to convey the fleetingness of life. The focus on the current moment, however, does not mean the nation ignores its past. Instead, it often melds ancient traditions and contemporary […]
This is the final segment of our four-part series celebrating the legacy of the landmark Bitches Brew on its Fiftieth Anniversary. Our prior pieces emphasized the album’s compositions, production techniques, and recent “jazz” albums it influenced. Each adopts the list format and follows two general guidelines: that the artist presented still performs today, and that […]
This is the penultimate chapter of our four-part series celebrating the legacy of the landmark Bitches Brew on its Fiftieth Anniversary. Our first piece focused on the album’s compositions, the second on production techniques, and our forthcoming final feature will emphasize its influence on “non-jazz” artists. Each adopts the list format and follows two general […]
This is the second of our four-part series of lists celebrating the legacy of the landmark Bitches Brew on its Fiftieth Anniversary. Our first piece focused on the compositions while forthcoming ones will emphasize the album’s influence on subsequent “jazz” and “non-jazz” artists. Each list follows two general guidelines: that the artist presented still performs today, […]
On March 30, 1970, Miles Davis shocked the world with his groundbreaking Bitches Brew (Columbia Records, 1970). Although the trumpeter had been increasingly trending towards merging jazz with rock since at least Miles in The Sky (Columbia Records, 1968), Brew destroyed any divide between the two. At the time, some close-minded critics accused him of […]
