dev
Atrocity of the day
I have not been able to comment on the mind-numbing slaughter taking place regularly in Iraq, but I thought this bit was worth preserving: In Diyala Province, where American and Iraqi troops have been fighting Sunni insurgents for control, gunmen publicly beheaded seven people, the police said. One group of suspected insurgents shot six people in the head in a
The Dixie Chicks
Just taking a moment to congratulate the Dixie Chicks for their “Song of the Year” Grammy win with “Not Ready to Make Nice.” I second the judges’ decision. Readers of Lerterland know that I will not hesitate to air harsh criticism of leftwingers when I find it necessary. But the Dixie Chicks aren’t remotely the kind of ideologues I hold
Miffed by Joni
I hate to be critical of one of my all-time idols, Joni Mitchell, but there’s a quote in this NY Times profile by my friend David Yaffe that stuck in my craw. The news hook is Joni’s collaborative piece with the Alberta Ballet called “The Fiddle and the Drum.” She’s talking about the visual backdrop to the song “If I
Deep Purple
I can’t even begin to describe the impact this 1971 clip of Deep Purple, playing their protest song “No, No, No,” had on me as a teenager. This was the early glory of cable TV — I think it was the USA Network that used to broadcast these “Beat Club” clips in the early to mid ’80s. I taped this
Sounds to cherish 6
Another in an occasional series… Gebhard Ullmann/Chris Dahlgren/Jay Rosen, Cut It Out (Leo Records)The German woodwind maestro with bassist Chris Dahlgren and drummer Jay Rosen. Dahlgren stirs it up electronically; Ullmann focuses solely on bass clarinet and bass flute. Truly odd, truly wonderful. Sam Rivers/Adam Rudolph/Harris Eisenstadt, Vista (Meta Records)How this one got away from me in ’04 I can’t
Six Picks: February 2007
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, February 2007: Steve Coleman and Five Elements, Weaving Symbolics (Label Bleu) Scott Colley, Architect of the Silent Moment (CAM Jazz) George Colligan, Blood Pressure (Ultimatum) Ari Hoenig, Inversations (Dreyfus) Jason Lindner, Ab Aeterno (Fresh Sound World Jazz) Charles Tolliver, With Love (Mosaic/Blue Note)
Tin Hat review
The eclectic chamber-jazz group Tin Hat performed on Jan. 28 at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. My review is in today’s Inquirer. [Update: A minor correction — I described “Fata Morgana” as a “three-horn chorale”; it was actually two horns and violin. In jazz slang the word “horn” can refer to just about any instrument, but I won’t pretend that
Defending liberalism
Jonathan Cohn of TNR offers a brief history of contemporary liberalism and how “liberal” became a dirty word. The subject couldn’t be more relevant, as this piece by Rick Perlstein shows. There’s much talk right now about supposed Democratic zeal to “defund” the troops; Perlstein discusses how politicians like Hillary Clinton, deathly afraid of the accusation, are doing their best