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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
Smalls live archive
There’s a substantial live audio archive at the Smalls website. You’ll want to explore at length. Myself, I began with this bruising Seamus Blake set from February 6, featuring Lage Lund and David Kikoski.
Sun Ra redux
Here’s the pdf of my Sun Ra feature in the Inquirer. Front-page, above-the-fold spread in Tuesday Magazine section, not bad at a time when the Inquirer (and Philadelphia Daily News) are in Chapter 11. [PS — I’ve also put up pdf’s of some other Inquirer features, on Return to Forever, Sci Fi Philly, Elliott Levin, Danilo Perez and Orrin Evans.]
On Tom Harrell
This review appears in the May 2009 issue of All About Jazz-New York. — Tom HarrellPrana Dance (HighNote) David R. Adler Following up his 2007 HighNote effort Light On, trumpeter Tom Harrell continues to document his original compositional voice, and uncommonly tight working band, with Prana Dance. Again we hear the youthful, hungry lineup of tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, pianist
Live music in brief
In particular, back-to-back shows at Merkin Concert Hall this week: Spectral aesthetics The term “new music,” or New Music, connotes a family of sounds, a cadre of living composers, but on Tuesday, May 5 it also simply meant new. There were three U.S. premieres on the bill and one New York premiere, focusing on figures within the so-called spectral movement.