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Ratliff on Coltrane
My review of Ben Ratliff’s new book, Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, in today’s Inquirer.
The week on disc (4)
In case you missed the last one…Sean Wayland, Expensive Habit (Seed): The pianist/keyboardist makes beautiful music out of the nearly unplayable. Guitarist James Muller is someone I hadn’t heard before, and I hope to hear much more. Charles Evans, Ballads (self-released): Beautiful originals and classics too from the baritone saxist, with weird harmonic twists and two lovely appearances by another
Deceit and denial
It’s been interesting to watch both the Bush administration and the Burmese regime twist and flail after the revelation of grievous misdeeds. Burmese diplomats, borrowing a page from Robert Mugabe, are making noise about “neocolonialism” and insisting that everyone in the world but them is guilty of “confrontation.” But again, we have footage of their goons murdering a Japanese journalist
Six Picks: October 2007
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, October 2007: The Claudia Quintet, For (Cuneiform) Erik Deutsch, Fingerprint (Sterling Circle) Amir ElSaffar, Two Rivers (Pi)Bill McHenry, Roses (Sunnyside)Sacks/Opsvik/Maneri/Motian, Two Miles a Day (Loyal Label/Yeah Yeah) Maria Schneider, Sky Blue (ArtistShare)
On Andy Milne
My feature on pianist Andy Milne, in this week’s Philadelphia Weekly. Milne plays the Painted Bride this Saturday, Oct. 6.
Maher on Mahmoud
I like Bill Maher, I really do. But toward the end of this clip about Ahmadinejad’s visit to Columbia, he remarks on the Iranian president’s Holocaust denial and belligerence toward Israel. Terrible stuff, Maher says: But those are things he says to get elected. There are Jews in the Iranian parliament. He can’t be that anti-Semitic. Actually he said those
Jazzing Iraq
My guest column on the first-ever Summer Performing Arts Academy in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, appears in the October issue of Jazz Times. Downloadable pdf is here.
On John McLaughlin
My review of John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension at Philly’s Keswick Theatre, in today’s Inquirer.