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On Marlon Simon
In the current Philadelphia Weekly: Marlon Simon and the Nagual SpiritsSat., Sep. 5, 8-11:30pm. $20. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com In Marlon Simon’s Nagual Spirits one hears plenty of Afro-Latin jazz heritage, but also a knife-edged post-bebop vocabulary that has long permeated New York and Philly, two of the drummer’s home bases since he came from Venezuela
Six Picks: September 2009
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, September 2009: Laurent Coq, Eight Fragments of Summer (88 Trees) Crimetime Orchestra, Atomic Symphony (Jazzaway) Herculaneum, Herculaneum III (Clean Feed) Fred Hersch Plays Jobim (Sunnyside) Louis Sclavis, Lost on the Way (ECM) Anthony Wilson Trio, Jack of Hearts (Groove Note)
Angus, June 1997-September 1, 2009
Yesterday we said goodbye to our greyhound, Angus, lost to bone cancer at age 12. In his prime he was nearly 90 pounds of muscle, with tattoos in his ears revealing his birth month/year and order in the litter. A mass-produced, throwaway animal became one of the centers of our universe and a joy for nine of the 10 years
The week on disc (51)
In case you missed the last one… Stefon Harris and Blackout, Urbanus (Concord) Brad Dutz Quartet, Whimsical Excursion Boats (ind.) Fat Cat Big Band, Face (Smalls Records) Joshua Breakstone Trio, No One New (Capri) James Carney Group, Ways & Means (Songlines) Andy Sheppard, Movements in Colour (ECM)
Art in Philly
Good report from Randy Kennedy in the NYT: There is a particularly Philadelphian brand of hardy, low-budget, do-it-yourself, do-it-for-love creativeness evident in art and art spaces across the city. Yes, I loved it so. And on that note, I’m sorry to see Sci Fi Philly, the hardy, low-budget avant-jazz series, closing up shop with a blowout show on October 4.
Guts
I’m all for artists taking political stands, but I don’t think doing so is necessarily brave. In fact, it’s often preaching to the choir and even downright conformist. This, on the other hand, is brave. [Hat tip Adam Holland.]
#jazzlives cont’d.
More discussion brewing on Howard Mandel’s #jazzlives Twitter initiative, from Nate and Darcy. And a very relevant radio exchange between Terry Teachout and Vijay Iyer here. Interesting also to note this finding, that Twitter is not a youth medium….
The donkeys of Fes
Susan Orlean, writing magnificently about the medina in Fes (or Fez), Morocco: The medina in Fez may well be the largest urbanized area in the world impassable to cars and trucks, where anything that a human being can’t carry or push in a handcart is conveyed by a donkey, a horse or a mule. … If you have a heart