Music
Rest in peace, Wayne Shorter, one of the very greats. 🎶
Current listening: Kendrick Scott, Reverence.
A 2009 album featuring some incredible players: not just Scott, but Gerald Clayton, Walter Smith III, Mike Moreno, and Derrick Hodge. 🎶
Current listening: Chris Potter, Got the Keys to the Kingdom. 🎵
Absolutely scorching live set featuring a dream-team of some of my favorite musicians: not just Potter, but also Scott Colley on bass, Marcus Gilmore on drums, and Craig Taborn on piano. Highly recommended!
Not surprised—it’s a great album! 🎶
Current listening: Brian Blade & the Fellowship Band, Season of Changes 🎶
Thanks to MinnPost for publishing this rich, illuminating portrait of MSP drummer Dave King (of The Bad Plus, Happy Apple, & Julian Lage’s current trio, among many other groups & projects). 🔗🎶🥁
Max Richter, giving Auden pride of place in his Recomposed Four Seasons headshot. (The album is very good.) 🎶📚
When was the last time I link to a Slate article? Maybe never.
In any case, their “Best Jazz Albums of 2021” is excellent—introduced me to a number of albums I hadn’t yet heard; all the ones I have heard I also loved, especially the Mingus and the Shepp/Moran. 🎵 🔗
"Homeward Bound (for Ana Grace)" 🎵
The title track from Johnathan Blake’s upcoming album Homeward Bound is a beautiful tear-jerker.
“Homeward Bound (for Ana Grace)” was written in memory of Ana Grace Marquez-Greene, the daughter of saxophonist Jimmy Greene & flutist Nelba Marquez-Greene, who died at Sandy Hook, just six years old. 🎵🔗
Current listening: Squint, jazz guitarist Julian Lage’s new album, which features the trio Lage has been playing with lately: Minnesotan Dave King on drums and bassist Jorge Roeder. 🎶
Current listening: Another Land by Dave Holland, featuring Robin Eubanks on guitar and Obed Calvaire on drums. 🎵
Dropped yesterday: Uneasy by Vijay Iyer with Linda May Han Oh & Tyshawn Sorey. Three jazz musicians at the absolute pinnacle of their instruments. It’s a beautiful album. 🎶
Happy new year / public-domain day! 🎶 📚
Happy new year & happy public-domain day! The works coming out of US copyright protection this year are pretty impressive: Mrs. Dalloway, The Great Gatsby, The Trial; music by Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, & Fats Waller.
Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain has a detailed overview.
Your annual reminder that Geri Allen’s A Child is Born is the pinnacle of Christmas jazz, and the title track is sublime. 🎶
My favorite year-end list is always Ted Gioia’s 100 favorite albums of the year. I guarantee you’ll find something excellent you didn’t previously know about.
(If you think 100 albums isn’t quite enough, well, he includes 100 honorable mentions as well.) 🎶
Out this week: Songs from Home, beautiful solo piano from Fred Hersch. 🎶
Coffee + grading while listening to Mahler’s Sympony No. 5, prompted by this touching anecdote from Alex Ross. 🎶 ☕️ 🔗
Here’s 58.5 hours of Glenn Gould playing Bach for y’all. See ya next week. 🎶