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Six Picks: July 2008
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, July 2008: Kris Davis, Rye Eclipse (Fresh Sound New Talent) Guillermo Klein, Filtros (Sunnyside) Bennett Paster & Gregory Ryan, Grupo Yanqui Rides Again (Miles High) Mario Pavone, Trio Arc (Playscape) Wadada Leo Smith, Tabligh (Cuneiform) Miguel Zenon, Awake (Marsalis Music)
Letter from Morocco
My take on the Fes Festival in Morocco, in the current edition of the Forward.
Fire at will
So sayeth the Supreme Court. Dahlia Lithwick makes a great point at Slate. Justice Scalia wrote in his Boumediene dissent, concerning the habeas corpus rights of Guantanamo detainees, that “today’s decision will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.” No such concern in the case of handguns, which kill more Americans in a year than terrorism has in the
“Playing Changes for Change”
Read my column on jazz and politics, in the July/August issue of Jazz Times, here [pdf].
On Venissa Santí
My review of Philly-based Cuban-American vocalist Venissa Santí, in today’s Inquirer.
The week on disc (20)
In case you missed the last one… Huong Thanh & Nguyên Lê, Fragile Beauty (ACT): A three-hour rain delay on the JFK tarmac caused me to miss Huong Thanh’s concert at last week’s Fes Festival. But I’d forgotten about this gem of a disc sitting on my shelf, a truly odd mix of traditional Vietnamese instruments/vocals and fusion guitar. Thumbs
Live highlights
After Wednesday’s JJA Jazz Awards event I club-hopped with award winner Nate Chinen, first to the new Poisson Rouge — kind of a fussy, disorganized space on first impression — for Charlie Haden’s Quartet West. I’m not a keen follower of the band, but Ernie Watts on tenor really grabbed me by the lapels. Haden’s lines on rhythm changes (“Passport”)
Esbjörn Svensson RIP
I was tremendously saddened to learn of the pianist’s death in a scuba diving accident on Saturday. A few years ago, around the time of EST’s first U.S. release, the group did a special industry showcase at Tonic, and Columbia invited a handful of music journalists to a pre-show dinner with Svensson and the band on the Lower East Side.