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Six Picks: August 2007
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, August 2007: Tom Harrell, Light On (HighNote) Roscoe Mitchell, Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (ECM) Ferenc Nemeth, Night Songs (Dreamers Collective) Michel Portal, Birdwatcher (Universal France/Sunnyside) Alex Sipiagin, Prints (Criss Cross) Dayna Stephens, The Timeless Now (CTA)
Ingmar Bergman RIP
In “The Seventh Seal” (1957) there’s a scene in which the knight (Max von Sydow) sits down on a hillside with a troupe of traveling performers. They offer him strawberries and milk. The scene ends with the knight speaking these lines: “I shall remember this moment. The silence, the twilight, the bowls of strawberries and milk, your faces in the
Blogs of note
My colleague Howard Mandel recently launched a blog called Jazz Beyond Jazz. “Thinking about jazz leads beyond the jazz one is thinking of,” wrote Howard in his inaugural post. Sums up much of my life the past few years. Sometime ago I also added Larry Blumenfeld’s ListenGood to my blogroll. I’m doing the same now with Fred Kaplan’s Jazz Messenger.
Rage against the death penalty
Zach De La Rocha, lead singer of the reunited Rage Against the Machine, made waves during a recent concert by accusing the Bush administration of war crimes and saying, quite incoherently, “They should be hung and tried and shot.” Fox News pundit Sean Hannity interpreted this as an assassination threat and seemed to call for Secret Service intervention, prompting De
Cuba responds
It became clear last year that Cuba is governed as much by nepotism as by socialism. And while the Cuban state may block citizens’ access to U.S. media, its leadership certainly pays close attention. This statement by Raul Castro seems to allude to the question that touched off the Clinton-Obama foreign policy dispute, which I discussed here: If the new
The dogs of war update
I’ve noted here that the Baghdad Diarist column in TNR, about a soldier running over dogs for fun with a Bradley, etc., has been called into question as a possible hoax. The author of the piece has written in, and he’s standing by his story. Some of the commenters aren’t buying it. TNR has pledged to recheck every detail and
Orrin Evans at Reuben’s Marc
Orrin Evans, the renowned pianist, is playing regularly at a new club in Mt. Airy, just outside Philly. It’s a new and interesting development in town. My story, in today’s Inquirer.
The Obama-Clinton dispute
The debate highlight I commented on here has become a major bone of contention between the Obama and Clinton campaigns. To recap quickly: The question concerned whether the candidates would be willing to meet with leaders of hostile countries without condition, in the first year of a new presidency. Obama said yes. HRC said no, and she’s now on the