Posts

The richest symphony in the USA.

Sucked into the bile by a NY Times article by David Allen. (The Times has lifted the limit of 10 free articles, so moving forward looks like free articles.) "As ticket sales fall, donors become more influential and orchestras operate ever more like corporations, where should power lie? Rather than debate such matters calmly, the richest orchestra in the world has devolved into a morass of anonymous quotations, destructive leaks and social media bile." I've always felt that this regime likes the evolution of more poor, more influence for donors.  Adam Nagourney and Robin Pogrebin broke the original story in the Times
Post a Comment
Read more

Music I'm listening to this summer

Image
James Brandon Lewis Omni and Deface The Currency ( Spotify ). He's a soulful jazz saxophone with some free jazz mixed in.   Sahara Blues by  Tinariwen , from Algeria, world music: Hogar (2026) spotify , YouTube . Amatssou (2023) spotify . Maya de Vitry Violet Light 2022 spotify . Country music, folk music.  Maya de Vitry - in the studio recording "All My Faith" YouTube . Begum Akhtar. I saw her in The Music Room (1958), a movie by Satyajit Ray. The Best of Hindi Ghazals spotify .  Black, Brown and Beige: Duke Ellington with Mahalia Jackson 1958 spotify . A Tick of The Tail by Genesis 1976 (2007 remaster spotify ). Utopia (2017) Bjork spotify . DOMi and JD Beck 2026 Who Asked? Spotify Mulatu Astatke :  New York–Addis–London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965–1975 . Nala Sinephro  2021 Space 1.8 spotify .  Nala Sinephro (born 1996) is a Belgian experimental jazz musician based in London. She is best known for her ambient jazz compositions, w...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
 
Post a Comment
Read more

Live at Smalls

Image
Andrew Kushnir / Drums Chet Doxas / Tenor Sax Matt Dwonszyk / Bass YouTube
Post a Comment
Read more

Sonny Rollins

Image
Sonny Rollins passed away at 95, yesterday in Woodstock New York.  Someone said all the people in the A Great Day In Harlem famous photo are dead now. Gemini AI confirming it's true. (Miles Davis was born 100 years ago today.) Top 3 Sonny Rollins Albums on Spotify: Night At The Village Vanguard  (1957) ( Wikipedia ) Saxophone Colossus  (1956) ( Wikipedia ) Way Out West  (1957) ( Wikipedia ) All 3 playlist Links to articles: 2020 NY Times interview NY Times Obit Guardian 2022 interview
Post a Comment
Read more

May

Image
  Reddit : 5/1 Irreversible Entanglements - Future Present Past (wouldn't be surprised if this ends up my aoty) 5/2 Immanuel Wilkins - Live at the Village Vanguard 5/3 Work Money Death - A Portal to Here 5/4 Gregory Uhlmann - Extra Stars 5/5 Adam O'Farrill - Elephant 5/6 Joshua Abrams - Pulse Meridian Foliation 5/7 Harlan Silverman - Music for Stillness 5/8 Ben Wendel - BaRcoDe 5/9 Morton Feldman 1991 Rothko Chapel YouTube 5/10 Patterns In Motion: The Great Minimalists 2026 YouTube . 5/11 A Feather On The Breath Of God 1982 spotify This is the music of  Hildegard of Bingen , and wow, I quite like it even though I'm a Buddhist. I have written about my respect for her spiritual journey in 2019 when I learned about her, and I've always wanted to find her music. I'm going to look for more versions of her music. One thing you can do on Spotify is choose her as an artist, and then play all the albums. I reverse the order, go from earlier to later.  5/12 Acoustic Gr...
Post a Comment
Read more

April Album Listenings

Image
  I saw this glorious painting by  John Singer Sargent at the Met over the summer. At the time it was quite a scandal at the Paris Exhibition with Portrait of Madam X . 4/1 Kacey Musgraves Tiny Desk Concert YouTube 4/2 Deeper Well 2024 spotify . Her new album isn't on Spotify yet.  4/3 Joe McPhee's Nation Time spotify 4/4 John Scofield 2002 Uberjam spotify I've been listening to Uberjam a lot. I like Avi Bortnick on rhythm guitar. I looked through my past postings and I was surprised I hadn't included it. I was reading online about similar albums to A Go Go , which I absolutely love. The drummer reminds me of JD Beck and some Japanese anime music. He didn't drop Madeski, but he dropped Martin and Wood. There's a 20 second rap on the 4th track, "I Brake 4 Monster Booty". Reddit post of European jazz musicians: 4/5 Niclas Knudsen Trio (Denmark) 2025 Nostalgia spotify Guitar with  Anders Christensen (b), Kresten Osgood  (d) 4/6 Neil Cowley T...
Post a Comment
Read more