If 2020 has shown us anything, it is how quickly circumstances can change. One day you are living your “normal” life. The next you are unexpectedly shut-in for the foreseeable future. So when R+R = Now – a band intended to reflect upon and respond to the events of the current moment, not weeks or […]
Albert Murray once noted that “the blues is not the creation of a crushed-spirited people [but rather] the product of a forward-looking, upward-striving people.” Throughout his career, Archie Shepp has explored the connection between the blues and aspiration for a brighter future. He’s done so significantly by branching the sonic qualities of the form to […]
Dave Brubeck and Bill Evans were the twin Great White Hopes of jazz piano at the apex of the Pax Americana. Born on opposite coasts at the opposite ends of the 1920s, both men achieved great popular success. Brubeck, the elder of the two, became a cult figure on college campuses during the 1950s and […]
Neo-traditionalists like Wynton Marsalis and Stanley Crouch have long desired the classification of “jazz” as “America’s classical music.” While this idea may bring more stature to the art form in certain social circles, it also largely marginalizes significant works by artists that do not fit their set preconceptions, particularly those in the avant-garde. Ironically, since […]
The first song on BRASS (Backwoodz Studioz, 2020), “Furies”, was the beginning of something special. Although Moor Mother and billy woods had connected before on “Ramesses II” by Armand Hammer (woods and ELUCID), “Furies” was the first time they recorded as a duo. The track was originally released as part of the Adult Swim single […]
Black’s Law Dictionary (8th ed.) defines force majeure as “an event that can be neither anticipated nor controlled.” A party to a contract may be discharged of their duty to perform under said contract upon showing the occurrence of some unforeseeable event outside of their control which rendered their performance impossible or impractical. The concept […]
Geography isn’t destiny, but it might explain some things about pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn and her new release, Pedernal (Relative Pitch Records, 2020). Alcorn is based in Baltimore, a place where the strange, unexpected and contradictory thrive. It is the birthplace of Edgar Allan Poe, Frank Zappa and John Waters, who wrote, “You can […]
On January 24, 1975, Keith Jarrett sat, in pain, at the keys of a decrepit and horribly out-of-tune piano. The instrument’s pedals did not function properly, giving both a dampened lower register and a harsh upper one. Even after several hours of adjustments, it was still defective. Anyone rationally analyzing this situation would see these […]
American musicians have been experimenting with Balkan-esque rhythms since at least 1959 when Dave Brubeck brought the 2 + 2 + 2 + 3 pulse back from a folk song he heard in Istanbul and composed Blue Rondo à La Turk. Since then, unusual note groupings have become standard fare in jazz, fusion, and art […]
The title cut of Emi Makabe’s debut full-length release, Anniversary (Greenleaf Music, 2020), is a graceful, bittersweet waltz about the kind of partings and reunions that form the bar lines in the lives of touring musicians. It’s a spare duet for voice and bass made all the more poignant by the empathetic accompaniment of the […]
