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Music and Places

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 04:45:06 +0000

David Byrne (Talking Heads) talks about the relationship between place of creation of music and the places where it is heard. He explains clearly that what you hear is greatly influenced by where you’re hearing it. (source “Groove Notes“)

The Swinger – Make It Swing!

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 07:51:44 +0000

Recently Tristan Jehan presented The Swinger – a bit of python code that takes a song and makes it swing. It does this by taking each beat and time-stretching the first half of each beat while time-shrinking the second half. It has quite an impressive effect. Listen to the samples:

Every Breath You Take (swing version) by TeeJay

Around the World – the swing version by plamere

More samples.

John Kelman – “Eivind Aarset: Guitar Anti-Hero”

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:27:46 +0000

There is wonderful article about one of the most inventious nowadays guitarists Eivind Aarset by John Kelman in AllAboutJazz: “In a time when the interactive video game Guitar Hero is selling in the millions, Eivind Aarset is, in many ways, the Guitar Anti-Hero. Despite making music that could easily lend itself to the kind of guitar pyrotechnics that are so often the litmus test of a good player, Aarset’s emphasis is on texture, on melody, on groove, and on a kind of collective improvisation that’s been reshaping and redefining what jazz can be since he released his first album as a leader, Electronique Noire (Jazzland) in 1998. Live Extracts (Jazzland, 2010), featuring various incarnations of his expanded Sonic Codex Orchestra, is culled from a number of live dates in Europe, largely revisiting earlier material from albums including Connected (Jazzland, 2004) and Sonic Codex (Jazzland, 2007), but with paradoxically even greater energy and subtlety; music that moves from a whisper to a roar in a matter of seconds.” Read full article.

Twitter Jazz Network

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:04:09 +0000

There is a new blog for jazz lovers: Twitter Jazz Network.

About Twitter Jazz Network

This blog was created to support the efforts of the community of jazz fans on Twitter who actively promote the music. The passion for jazz among this amazing group of people is incredibly inspiring.

Buddy Rich’s Photo by Paul Slaughter

admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:49:59 +0000

Marc Myers: “This image of Buddy Rich by Paul Slaughter is a personal favourite of mine. I think it’s one of the most dynamic and revealing photos of the drummer. For a brief second, you get to see Rich’s intensity, anxiety and aggression in one fleeting glance (or glare).” Read more.

ANTI – JAZZ

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 17:42:18 +0000

Howard Mandel: “Anti-Jazz: The New Thing Revisited” is the provocative title of a four-program series at International House Philadelphia that began in October 2009 with a performance by the Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen, and continues through March 6, 2010 with a concert by the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Curated by the independent non-profit organization Ars Nova Workshop, the series features ensembles rooted in a musical movement that emerged in the late 1950s, cohered in the ‘60s, and has become recognized as an integral part of the historic jazz narrative.” Read more.

Jazz Spam

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:31:21 +0000

Cyril Moshkow writes: “I think that every person who writes about jazz is, this way or that, spammed regularly: there’s hundreds and thousands or artists in the world, and they (or their agents) want gigs. It’s understandable. But I’ve been getting more and more queries lately, literally drowning in dozens of queries a day — queries of three similar types.” Read more.

Jazz Letter

admin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:58:19 +0000

Read the letter for the USA president written by Felix Contreras:

“Dear Mr. President,

I saw an item in the Washington Post two days ago that indicated that you need some new music to put in your iPod.

I’d like to help you with that.

I listen to jazz for a living. I listen to a lot of other stuff too. But like you and Mrs. Obama, jazz has been part of my personal playlist for as long as I can remember. I was there at the White House for Mrs. Obama’s jazz day back in June and enjoyed her story of hearing jazz throughout her home when she was a youngster.” Read more.

What About Vinyl Sales?

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:54:06 +0000

Marc Myers wrote yeasterday: “My eyes narrowed a bit when I read the headline in The New York Times about a week ago: “Vinyl Record Albums and Turntables Are Gaining Sales.” I own a turntable and I own albums, but sales are “gaining?”

For a reality check, I turned to Fred Cohen. Fred is owner of the Jazz Record Center (236 West 26th St., 212-675-4480), which is easily New York’s finest old-school jazz record store. Which means thousands jazz LPs in mint condition and a highly knowledgeable staff. Here’s what Fred had to say about jazz records, buyers and trends…” Read more.

Estonia and Jazz

admin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:41:14 +0000

Our neighbour country Estonia has a well known worlwide blogger Ines Kuusik, who writes a lot about jazz. Here is how Ines talks about herself:

“This is a blog to record my trip to New York starting in May 2009 – all about discoveries ;) music, people, places… This is not supposed to be music criticism, not at all :) My goal is to seek out and enjoy the city’s best concerts, on and off the beaten track and map the way while I’m doing it.

A little bit about me – I’m a jazz student from Estonia, guitar player. And I’m really passionate about good music :D”

Visit.