THIS IS AN ADDENDUM TO AN EARLIER POST ON DECIPHERINGCULTURE.COM: Regenerating Jazz Is the future of jazz in its past? There’s a lot of talk lately about why jazz has been losing its audience despite decades of efforts to build infrastructure. There is hardly a university music program that does not include a jazz studies [...]
Reimagining the classics — Turtle Island String Quartet does Hendrix
After being exposed to Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin — a piteous collection of pop dreck — I reluctantly turned my attention to the Turtle Island String Quartet’s Have you ever been…? While the latter’s set of Hendrix covers has not received the level of acclaim that Wilson’s butchering of the songs of the Gershwin [...]
A history of jazz & country interchange
Histories of American popular music have tended to create a clear bifurcation of “White” and “Black” musical genres. Country music has been portrayed as a genre primarily drawn from Anglo-Scottish roots. The significant influences of African Americans on the genre have been diminished or placed in a carefully constructed pre-history. African American musical genres have [...]
“Miles Davis vs Jazz”
Pablo Picasso: “In painting you can try anything. As long as you never do anything over again.” Miles Davis: “Now, nothing in music and sounds is ‘wrong.’ You can hit anything, any kind of chord. … Music is wide open for anything.” Pablo Picasso: “You see me here, and yet I’ve already changed. I’m already [...]
Rave origins (@History is made at night)
An interesting series of posts on the origins of rave, ravers and raving to refer to party-ing and the backstory of the terms (loss of control, blind allegiance, etc.) History is Made at Night – The Politics of Dancing and Musicking (the series of posts). Below is the latest Monday, April 05, 2010 Ravers of [...]
Intimate Dialogue (@ East Bay Express)
Indo-Pak Coalition melds Indian music and jazz for a stylistically ambiguous sound. By Jeffrey Callen Like most musicians who suddenly burst onto the scene, Rudresh Mahanthappa has been working on his craft for a long time. His reputation as an innovative jazz musician and composer took a major leap from the realms of the cognoscenti [...]
Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” — a turning point in 20th century music
Kind of Blue (1959) changed the course of jazz, bringing new sonorities and modalities to the forefront. It also helped open up and retrain the ear of music listeners and influenced creators of various genres from classical to rock. As rapper Q-Tip said in a 2008 interview, “ It’s like the Bible, you just have [...]
Queering Pop Music Studies
I had a female impersonator for years named Jean LaRue. I didn’t tell you about that. She was out of Oakland. I don’t know if she is living or dead. She was with me for years. Name was Jean LaRue. (August 14, 1998 Interview of Clarence ‘Little Red’ Tenpenny). “Little Red” was one of my [...]
