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Bird lives? A response to Will Layman
I’ve opened what I hope might be a productive tweet-ologue with jazz critic Will Layman about this piece, with the provocative headline: “Jazz Ain’t Dead, But Charlie Parker Is — So Let’s Move On, Shall We?” Which seems to rest on the assumption that jazz hasn’t moved on since Charlie Parker. And that’s not what Layman ends up arguing, so it’s
Atzmon in America: a follow-up
Rich Siegel, who is partnering with Gilad Atzmon as described in my previous post, has written me a terse reply. He says that the Atzmon quotes I cite “do not constitute racism or holocaust revisionism. I suggest you read them again.” Michael Ezra, in the Z Word comments space, has also referred me to this piece of writing, in which Rich
Atzmon comes to America
[Cross-posted at Z Word, and at Harry’s Place.] The bloggers of Mondoweiss have worked very hard to convince the public that antisemitism does not exist among the Palestine solidarity movement — indeed, that all such charges of antisemitism are mere subterfuge concocted by “Zionists” to tar critics of Israel, who are by definition pure of heart. So it’s important to
The week on disc (74)
In case you missed the last one… Walter Smith III, Live in Paris (Space Time) Daniel Humair/Tony Malaby/Bruno Chevillon, Pas de Dense (Zig Zag) Geri Allen & Timeline, Live (Motéma) Keith DeStefano & Puzzlebox, A Place to Be (ind.) Lee Konitz/Chris Cheek/Stephane Furic Leibovici, Jugendstil II (ESP-Disk) Marilyn Crispell & David Rothenberg, One Night I Left My Silent House (ECM)
On Tim Berne
In the new Philadelphia Weekly: Tim Berne’s Los Totopos Thu., June 24, 8pm. $12. Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th St. 215.545.4302 www.arsnovaworkshop.org For the last 30 years, alto saxophonist Tim Berne has developed a singularly challenging body of work for a host of different lineups (Bloodcount, Caos Totale, Big Satan, more). He recently struck up a creative rapport with
Oliver Stone’s Chávez
Oliver Stone has made a documentary called “South of the Border,” about the new left-wing populist wave in South America, and in particular about Hugo Chávez, a man Stone much admires. On “Real Time with Bill Maher” the other week, Stone praised Sean Penn’s earlier appearance on the same program. Penn, Stone said, had done “a great job” defending Hugo
Obama’s spill speech fallout
The right is blasting Obama’s Oval Office speech for pushing too hard on costly clean energy initiatives. Wait a minute, the left is blasting Obama’s speech for not pushing nearly hard enough on clean energy initiatives. What is going on here? To me it looks like a de facto left-right alliance to tear down this president halfway into his term.
Farewell, Bill Dixon
Trumpeter Bill Dixon has died at age 84. I’m extremely grateful to have seen him several times in New York in recent years. And to have written about his final* release, Tapestries for Small Orchestra. (*My colleague Hank Shteamer notes that Dixon’s final release is the double LP Weight/Counterweight. Apologies.) One performance I heard was with a quartet at the