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Six Picks: September 2008
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, September 2008: Brinsk, A Hamster Speaks (Nowt) Eric Hofbauer & the Infrared Band, Myth Understanding (Creative Nation) Ahmad Jamal, It’s Magic (Birdology) Rosa Passos, Romance (Telarc) Martial Solal Trio, Longitude (Cam Jazz) Torben Waldorff, Afterburn (ArtistShare)
Israeli musicians bullied, not bowed
Many an unkind word has been said about the late scholar and radical Palestinian activist Edward Said, but at least he firmly believed in the necessity of cultural contacts between Arabs and Israelis, so much so that he co-founded (with Daniel Barenboim) the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, one of the most notable peace-oriented artistic endeavors ever to have come out of
Enough!
Hit it out of the park. I like John Dickerson’s take: After one of several passages in which he described the troubles of everyday people, he said, “Tonight I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and independents across this great land—enough!” It was the single most emphatic word of his address. Change is all well and good,
What a week
At an earlier, benighted time in our nation’s history, as historian Michael Beschloss pointed out the other night, Southern Democrats walked out of the party convention in protest of an African-American preacher taking the podium. Last night the party nominated an African-American as its standard bearer, a man who will be, must be, the next President of the United States.
The current PW
I haven’t been in the habit of linking to the short previews and CD capsule reviews of mine that appear regularly in Philadelphia Weekly. Putting up links to these short, ephemeral pieces of writing has always struck me as just too cumbersome on a weekly basis. But I’ve changed my mind. Although I’m preparing to exit Philly, I’m pleased to
Harry’s Place silenced
Jenna Delich, a member of Britain’s University and College Union (UCU), is part of a small UCU faction favoring a boycott of Israeli institutions and individuals. The other day on the UCU activist discussion list she circulated a link concerning the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, a link that directed readers to the neo-Nazi website of David Duke. “No comment necessary.
Project Censored PS
Peter Phillips of Project Censored has responded to my critique, in which I point out that the director of an entity nominally devoted to fighting censorship actually supports censorship, as long as it’s done in Cuba. You’ll find Phillip’s largely boilerplate response, which fails to engage any of the points I made, at the bottom of the original post. He
The week on disc (25)
In case you missed the last one… Glenn White, Sacred Machines (OA2): Smoking, evocative originals by the tenor saxophonist and a quintet (sometimes sextet). Produced by David Binney. The second horn is Jamie Baum’s flute — a refreshing twist. Roberta Piket, Gary Wang, Jeff Hirshfield and Patrick Hay play forcefully and beautifully. David Murray & Mal Waldron, Silence (Justin Time):