There's a fullness in ten years. A lot of work, if rather relentlessly done, can really make a discernible impact. Ten years ago, folks were making all the talk as rather cyclically that jazz was dead. It was such an exhausting conversation. Folks were around making this music, obviously. It couldn't be that dead. The problem was in the awareness and the tweaking of the … [Read more...]
Stream the ECM Records 50th Anniversary Concert
ECM Records will be capping its 50 year anniversary celebration tonight with an epic concert live from Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Featuring a who’s who of modern jazz cognoscente including Joe Lovano, Craig Taborn, Vijay Iyer, Ravi Coltrane, Bill Frisell, Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier, Ethan Iverson, Fabian Almazan, Dezron Douglas, Shai Maestro, Ziv Ravitz, Nasheet … [Read more...]
On Iverson on Glasper (Pause): Everyone Wants Everything, Even If It’s Different
This past summer, a friend of mine went off to the island of Mykonos for a few weeks of, well, let's just say it, some good ol' fun debauchery. The Mediterranean isle is kind of a gay paradise. I talked with another friend of mine at the time about the place, what he told me second-hand of the open culture there. I noted that it must be nice for these people to have a place of … [Read more...]
Smells Like Teen Spirit: A Critical Analysis of Covers
Bringing outside influences into jazz and bringing jazz to other genres has been going on probably since there was a concept of jazz as a genre. Witness hip-hop and electronic producers sampling from jazz records and Robert Glasper playing J Dilla tunes. Witness David Bowie backed by a group of incredible jazz musicians, DJ Logic joining Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Miles Davis … [Read more...]
‘The Bad Plus Joshua Redman’ + Kneebody at the Montreal International Jazz Festival
The collaboration between Joshua Redman (sax), Reid Anderson (bass), Ethan Iverson (piano), and David King (drums) is one of the most musically successful enterprises in recent memory. The band has been touring together on and off since recording The Bad Plus Joshua Redman (Nonesuch) and played to a nearly sold-out crowd Sunday, June 28 at the historic Theatre Maisonneuve as … [Read more...]