dev
The week on disc (43)
In case you missed the last one… Frank Wess Nonet, Once Is Not Enough (Labeth) Rob Mazurek Quintet, Sound Is (Delmark) Jimmy Greene, Mission Statement (RazDaz) Ralph Alessi and Modular Theatre, Open Season (RKM) Chico Hamilton, Twelve Tones of Love (Joyous Shout!) Reut Regev, This Is R*Time (Ropeadope)
On Rafael Toral
In the current Philadelphia Weekly: Rafael ToralMon., May 18, 8pm. Free. With Alex Nagle/Joe Lentini, Dave Smolen. The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St. www.bowerbird.org “Let your body move to the music,” Madonna once sang, and Lisbon-born Rafael Toral responds to that directive in some of the most radical ways you’ll see — producing real-time sound with “glove-controlled computer sinewaves,” for instance.
Some thaw
About two weeks ago I commented on a strange story in the NYT about a supposed political thaw in Burma. Frank Smithuis of Doctors Without Borders described the regime’s human rights record as “shaky” — a grotesque understatement — but said with a sneer that “it’s politically nice to beat up Burma.” Well, now the regime is putting Aung San Suu
Torture’s supporters cont.
Because congressional hearings on the torture memos are now underway, and because Cheneyites like Frank Gaffney are all over the airwaves spreading lies and propaganda about the wonderfulness of the Bush administration’s torture program, and because TV hosts like MSNBC’s David Shuster are proving utterly incompetent in their framing of this incredibly high-stakes issue, Andrew Sullivan’s latest anti-torture post —
Cynthia McKinney, fascist symp
Cynthia McKinney ran for President in 2008 on the Green Party ticket, supposedly as a more progressive alternative to Barack Obama. She received endorsements from such radical left heroes as Noam Chomsky, Mumia Abu-Jamal and the rap group dead prez. Her running mate was hip-hop activist Rosa Clemente, who, like McKinney, is supposedly a promoter of justice for people of
On Ravi Coltrane
This review appears in the May 2009 issue of All About Jazz-New York. — Ravi ColtraneBlending Times (Savoy) David R. Adler By opening Blending Times with “Shine,” a wonderful rubato melody by pianist Luis Perdomo, Ravi Coltrane seems to take the spotlight off of himself, making deft use of one of his most potent resources: his working band, with Perdomo,
New York @ Night: May 2009
This month in All About Jazz-New York, reviews of Jamie Baum & Tomasz Stanko at Merkin Hall, and Pete Robbins/Nate Wooley/Daniel Levin/Jeff Davis at Le Grand Dakar.
A tragedy
Philly drummer G. Calvin Weston has lost his 19-year-old son in a hit-and-run. Words fail. Calvin is one of the city’s great characters and musicians, the guy who can fill in at the absolute last minute for Kenny Wollesen in Sex Mob and bring the house down. Ornette Coleman alum, trio mate of Vernon Reid and Jamaaladeen Tacuma, leader of