June 10th, 2008
Recommended Reading: June 10, 2008
One of the great blessings of this age of blogs and RSS feeds and instant publishing is that we now have access to more information about our favorite subjects—and can get to that information more easily—than ever before. The flip side of this is that a “pleasure reading” list can pile up quickly without constant vigilance, to the point where catching up with our online friends becomes a chore, or even an intimidating mountain of work.
That’s the position I find myself in right now. After a couple of weeks of dealing with looming (or missed) deadlines, sick family members and other distractions, I opened up Google Reader today to find I had nearly 100 articles flagged for perusal (and potential blog posting), with hundreds of others just sitting around, completely unviewed. Yeesh!
So here are some of the things I would have told you about last week if I’d had it together…
HOMECOMING ON MUDDY GROUND
truthdig.com—May 27, 2008
Larry Blumenfeld, who has been an astute observer and critic of the situation in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, uses the celebrated return of the Neville Brothers to this year’s Jazz & Heritage Festival as a jumping-off point for a searing commentary. Blumenfeld looks at the impact of rebuilding efforts on public housing, the city’s changing political and cultural climate, and what “coming home” really means when three years later, the wounds have not healed.
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ESPERANZA SPALDING
csmonitor.com—May 30, 2008
I’ve been a huge fan of the young bassist/singer Esperanza Spalding ever since JazzTimes passed me a copy of her album Junjo for review back in 2006 (ironically, they never ran the review). If you aren’t hip to Spalding yet, this profile by Stephen Humphries of the Christian Science Monitor should bring you around. Spalding’s early career path has been nothing short of astounding, bringing high-profile gigs, a record contract, and even a faculty position at the Berklee College of Music, all in her early twenties. Her latest album, Esperanza has just hit the street, and she’s playing at Yoshi’s Oakland on June 12.
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JAZZ SURVIVORS
nytimes.com—May 25, 2008
Who says jazz players die young? The New York Times‘ Philip Lutz looks at a few of the many graybeards who, working largely in obscurity, play small venues in and around New York City well into their eighth or ninth decades, never quite finding fame but keeping the spirit of the bebop era alive.
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JAZZ BECOMES NEW MELTING POT
mercurynews.com—May 25, 2008
In this preview piece for the San Jose Mercury News, Richard Scheinin links several performances from the SFJAZZ Spring Season into a brief survey of the globalization of jazz:
“...the global dimension is also important because it allows jazz to keep moving in fresh directions. Increasingly learned in conservatories, the music, some would argue, has been losing touch with its African-American heritage, so tightly entwined with blues and gospel.... While those roots remain essential to the music, the infusion of new players from around the world is stirring the pot, adding new folkloric and rhythmic ingredients.”
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