dev
Six Picks: April 2009
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, April 2009: Michael Blake & Kresten Osgood, Control This (Clean Feed) Seamus Blake Quartet, Live in Italy (Jazz eyes) Fareed Haque & The Flat Earth Ensemble, Flat Planet (Owl Studios) Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra, Muse (Creative Nation) Ben Wendel, Simple Song (Sunnyside) Michael Wolff, Joe’s Strut (Wrong)
Jules at 21
The first time I heard guitarist Julian Lage, he was playing a duet with his mentor, the great Gary Burton, at the 2004 Newport Jazz Festival. Pretty good for 16. I assumed he was some European prodigy. Only later did I learn that this was the kid from “Jules at Eight,” a 1996 documentary that focused on Julian’s music studies
On Jamie Baum & Tomasz Stanko
My preview of the Jamie Baum/Tomasz Stanko double bill (Merkin Hall, Sat. April 4), in the current Time Out New York.
Jazz and Protest: A Reappraisal
My essay on jazz and protest is now online at Z Word.
Michael Scheuer, hatemonger
Jeffrey Goldberg cites a string of extraordinary comments by ex-CIA analyst Michael Scheuer. I’d seen this over a week ago and didn’t have time to remark on it. Pro-Israel Americans, Scheuer argues, are a “fifth column,” “disloyal citizens,” “enemies of America’s republican experiment and will have to be destroyed” and so on. People turn to Scheuer as an expert commentator on
Coates on Uhuru
Lerterland readers will be familiar with my disdain for the Uhuru Movement, a revolutionary cult that enjoys the vocal support of the underground rap duo dead prez. I’m glad to see Ta-Nehisi Coates registering his disdain as well, now that Uhuru’s adherents are marching in support — in support — of Lovelle Mixon, the Oakland parolee shot dead by police
Churchill parody update
Shalom Lappin’s Five British Children: A Play for Britain.
On Erik Friedlander
The new Philadelphia Weekly website is buggy, and for some reason the music previews didn’t make it online this week. So I’m posting mine here. Broken Arm TrioThu., Mar. 26, 8pm. $12. Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th St. 215.545.4302 www.arsnovaworkshop.com Erik Friedlander’s 2007 solo disc Block Ice & Propane — and ravishing unaccompanied set at International House last year