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On Big Monday
My preview of Big Monday (Tritone, April 13), in the current Philadelphia Weekly.
John Hollenbeck in Philadelphia
My story [pdf] on John Hollenbeck’s “Big Ears” residency at the Painted Bride, Philadelphia, in the May 2009 issue of Jazz Times. Note: The photo shows Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, not the Philadelphia “Big Ears” band, as the caption states. [Update: It’s still wrong in the mag, but the pdf is now fixed.]
The week on disc (40)
In case you missed the last one… One for All, Return of the Lineup (Sharp Nine) Denman Maroney Quintet, Udentity (Clean Feed) Ton Trio, The Way (Singlespeed) John Hollenbeck, Rainbow Jimmies (GPE) Alex Sipiagin, Mirages (Criss Cross) The Complete Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Recordings (Fantasy/Concord)
On FLY
My feature on FLY (Jeff Ballard/Mark Turner/Larry Grenadier) is in the current Time Out New York. FLY plays the Jazz Standard April 9-12. I am forced to point out that the following grammatical error: “A reluctant leader, his four-album stint on Warner Bros ended in 2001, …” is not mine.
Turkey and NATO
From the NYT’s report on the potential appointment of Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO Secretary General: NATO works by consensus, and the European-favored candidacy of Mr. Rasmussen was publicly opposed by Turkey, NATO’s only Muslim country. Turkish officials said that Mr. Rasmussen was too insensitive to Muslim concerns during the scandal over the Danish newspapers publication in 2005
Gergiev/Putin
Arthur Lubow’s NYT Magazine piece of March 15 dealt with conductor Valery Gergiev and his close ties to Vladimir Putin. In last week’s magazine, Les Dreyer, retired violinist with the Met, has a letter which concludes: Because of his political power and loyalties, Maestro Gergiev has been unjustly judged by his detractors, many of whom are still fighting the Cold
On Claudia Acuña
This review appears in the April 2009 issue of All About Jazz-New York. — Claudia AcuñaEn Este Momento (Marsalis Music) David R. Adler It’s been roughly five years since Chilean vocalist Claudia Acuña gave us Luna (MaxJazz), a brilliantly conceived meeting of minds with pianist/co-producer/co-composer Jason Lindner, her strong ally coming up in the Smalls scene of the 1990s. In
On Branford Marsalis/Blue Note 7
Philadelphia Weekly is still figuring out why the live music previews aren’t appearing online, so I’ll continue to post mine here… Branford Marsalis QuartetSun., Apr. 5, 7pm. $20-$55. Zellerbach Theater, 3680 Walnut St. 215.898.3900 www.pennpresents.org No doubt, the long-ago Sting sideman, former Tonight Show bandleader and guest food-taster on Top Chef is a celebrity. But undiluted jazz is the saxophonist’s