Archy Stallings and Nat Jaffe, the central characters in Michael Chabon's sprawling Telegraph Avenue, love nothing more than records; listening to them, talking about them, savoring the whisper of an LP as it slides out of its sleeve. But for all the music it name-checks the novel, which revolves around the two owners of Oakland's rapidly obsolescing Brokeland Records, lacks its own soundtrack. So eMusic has thoughtfully provided one, syncing an album to each of… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »
The first HUGE new release day of 2012, so strap in and get ready for a pretty comprehensive rundown! Dave Sumner's got your jazz picks, and I've got the rest. Here we go!
Cloud Nothings, Attack on Memory: ALBUM OF THE DAY. Dylan Baldi grows up in a nanosecond, making a snarling rock record that hurtles forward with the speed and fury of a meteor. The sonic touchstones here are '90s emo greats like Jawbreaker, the… more »
Few musicians brought as much passion to jazz as Charles Mingus (1922-1979). You can hear it all over his music in every period: the power, the lyricism, and the sheer propulsion. He loved independent melody lines interwoven in raucous counterpoint and infused with the emotional power of the sanctified church. As bass player he had few peers, in terms of agility, a big sound, and percussive plucking; his tender, singing work with a bow reflected… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »
A few years ago, Italian saxophonist Daniele D'Agaro was visiting Chicago, and a critic friend put on a fairly obscure record to stump him. D'Agaro listened for about three seconds, said: "Lucky."
Good ears. He knows the distinctive sound of Lucky Thompson after he started hanging out in Paris and playing sumptuous tenor saxophone ballads recalling old idol Don Byas's Parisian sides. On "Solitude" and "We'll Be Together Again," from Lucky in Paris 1959, his tenor's… more »
When Jaki Byard was with Charles Mingus in the 1960s, audiences would laugh when, mid-solo, Byard would burst into 1920s-style stride piano — the revved-up ragtime offshoot where the left hand bounds back and forth over the lower half of the keyboard. Its archaic quality struck listeners as comic — in that avant-garde age, stride was for antiquarians.
Nowadays every hip outside or inside pianist will drop a little stride science once in awhile — like… more »
