David Adler
Zinn’s legacy
“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” This was one of Howard Zinn’s famous bon mots, but heaven forbid that a liberal like me should dissent from the unanimous chorus of praise from the left in the wake of Zinn’s death last week. Michael Kazin’s withering 2004 critique of A People’s History of the United States, published in Dissent no
Hajdu on Hersch
David Hajdu’s NYT Magazine profile of pianist Fred Hersch, that is. I did an “@Home” profile on Fred for JazzTimes some years ago — I don’t have the pdf scanned but I’ll work on that. The photographer was late, so Fred and I sat and talked in his kitchen for quite a while. Since then, every time I’ve seen him
Posts, ripostes
Regarding a recent post, Chris Kelsey issues a thoroughly patronizing reply that devolves into a personal attack. That’s cool, I started it. But I plead not guilty to misconstruing the meaning of “formally conventional.” Also, note Darcy James Argue’s comment under Chris’s post, in which he also takes issue with Chris’s evaluation of Hollenbeck. Other than that, I think Chris
Giuliani vs. the facts
Via Andrew Sullivan.
Olive
We lost our beautiful, crotchety Olive to kidney failure this morning. A life well lived, 1994-2010.
Prana Trio/Circulasione Totale Orchestra
In the new Philadelphia Weekly: Prana TrioWed., Jan. 27, 8pm. $10. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com Led by drummer-percussionist Brian Adler (no relation), the Prana Trio arrives in Philly on the heels of its third release, Singing Image of Fire, featuring music inspired by the poetry of Hafiz, Kabir, Rumi and others. “Trio” is meant loosely —
Covers vs. standards
Regarding the need for jazz musicians to be original, Phil Freeman tweeted today: “No rock artist could expect to be taken seriously releasing a covers album as their debut.” I wouldn’t normally respond to random tweets with a blog post, but there’s an important issue at stake here. As much as they may continue to inform one another, and as
The week on disc (63)
In case you missed the last one… Dave Rempis & Frank Rosaly, Cyrillic (482 Music) Tigran Hamasyan, Red Hail (Plus Loin, 2009) Soren Moller & Dick Oatts, The Clouds Above (Audial, out February 9) Jerry Bergonzi, Three for All (Savant) Nilson Matta’s Brazilian Voyage, Copacabana (Zoho, out February 10) John Funkhouser Trio, Time (ind.)