David Sanborn, the six time Grammy-winning alto saxophonist who played at Woodstock, composed music for the Lethal Weapon movies, played in the SNL and Late Night with David Letterman bands and worked with everyone from Stevie Wonder to David Bowie, died Sunday afternoon, May 12th, after an extended battle with prostate cancer with complications. He Was 78.
Sanborn’s music is often described “smooth jazz,” but he reportedly rejected that characterization, and one can see why. His lively, iconic sax solo on Bowie’s “Young Americans” is anything but. Sanborn preferred the idea that he “put the saxophone back into rock ’n’ roll.”
Indeed, he worked with a virtual who’s who of rock and R&b legends, including James Brown, Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Elton John, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Billy Joel, Roger Waters, Steely Dan, the Eagles,...
Sanborn’s music is often described “smooth jazz,” but he reportedly rejected that characterization, and one can see why. His lively, iconic sax solo on Bowie’s “Young Americans” is anything but. Sanborn preferred the idea that he “put the saxophone back into rock ’n’ roll.”
Indeed, he worked with a virtual who’s who of rock and R&b legends, including James Brown, Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Al Jarreau, George Benson, Elton John, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Billy Joel, Roger Waters, Steely Dan, the Eagles,...
- 5/13/2024
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Superchunk won’t let a little thing like the brittle and cruel nature of human mortality get in the way of a good punk song. On their latest single, “Everybody Dies,” frontman Mac McCaughan pays tribute to the many musicians who have passed away in the last decade and how jarring their loss has been. “I was happy in a world of wishful thinking and outright lies,” he sings, “but I’m beginning to think that everybody dies.” The music recalls Superchunk’s pogo-ready, hyper-enough Nineties rockers, paired with some Clash-like “whoaas.
- 1/11/2024
- by Kory Grow
- Rollingstone.com
ESPN has switched up its soundtrack for Monday Night Football with a new opening theme in which Chris Stapleton, Snoop Dogg, and Cindy Blackman Santana perform a “reimagining” of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight.” Check it out below.
If you really nit-pick this, the unlikely cover actually makes a decent amount of sense: Stapleton and Snoop have both performed at recent Super Bowls, with Stapleton performing the National Anthem this year and Snoop a part of the Halftime Show in 202. “In the Air Tonight” obviously needs a powerful drummer like Santana, who’s performed with legends including Pharoah Sanders, Lenny Kravitz, and — you guessed it! — Santana.
Why Collins’ 1981 smash hit was chosen as ESPN’s new hype anthem, however, is a bit of a head-scratcher. In a statement, the network said “In the Air Tonight” has a “deep relationship” with football, “having been cited in the past and present...
If you really nit-pick this, the unlikely cover actually makes a decent amount of sense: Stapleton and Snoop have both performed at recent Super Bowls, with Stapleton performing the National Anthem this year and Snoop a part of the Halftime Show in 202. “In the Air Tonight” obviously needs a powerful drummer like Santana, who’s performed with legends including Pharoah Sanders, Lenny Kravitz, and — you guessed it! — Santana.
Why Collins’ 1981 smash hit was chosen as ESPN’s new hype anthem, however, is a bit of a head-scratcher. In a statement, the network said “In the Air Tonight” has a “deep relationship” with football, “having been cited in the past and present...
- 9/18/2023
- by Abby Jones
- Consequence - Music
It’s been almost a year since the ground-breaking jazz legend, Pharoah Sanders, passed away. Now, fans are getting a chance to dive into one of the most interesting albums from his nearly-six-decade career. On Friday, September 15th, the record label Luaka Bop shared the first official reissue of his 1977 LP, Pharoah. Stream it below.
With three tracks spanning over 40 minutes, Pharoah has earned a reputation as one of Sanders’ most creative works. It was recorded in 1976, nearly a decade after the death of his friend and collaborator, John Coltrane, and Sanders was at a crossroads of sorts. With a growing fascination with rock music, he put together a band for some kind of fusion project, but a miscommunication with producer Bob Cummins resulted in the sessions going poorly.
A disappointed Sanders left, reconvened, and returned to record with Cummins again, this time with a unique ensemble featuring spiritual guru Tisziji Muñoz on guitar,...
With three tracks spanning over 40 minutes, Pharoah has earned a reputation as one of Sanders’ most creative works. It was recorded in 1976, nearly a decade after the death of his friend and collaborator, John Coltrane, and Sanders was at a crossroads of sorts. With a growing fascination with rock music, he put together a band for some kind of fusion project, but a miscommunication with producer Bob Cummins resulted in the sessions going poorly.
A disappointed Sanders left, reconvened, and returned to record with Cummins again, this time with a unique ensemble featuring spiritual guru Tisziji Muñoz on guitar,...
- 9/15/2023
- by Jo Vito
- Consequence - Music
Richard Davis, the prolific bassist who adorned jazz classics by Pharoah Sanders, Eric Dolphy, and Andrew Hill and laid the musical foundation for Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, has died at the age of 93.
Davis’ daughter Persia confirmed her father’s death Thursday on both a memorial page and to Madison 365; Davis taught at the University of Wisconsin for over 40 years, but spent the last two years in hospice care. “We appreciate all the love and support the community has shown him over the years,” Persia Davis added.
The Chicago-born...
Davis’ daughter Persia confirmed her father’s death Thursday on both a memorial page and to Madison 365; Davis taught at the University of Wisconsin for over 40 years, but spent the last two years in hospice care. “We appreciate all the love and support the community has shown him over the years,” Persia Davis added.
The Chicago-born...
- 9/7/2023
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Pharoah Sanders, the revered tenor saxophone player who was part of John Coltrane’s band in the 1960s and helped popularize the spiritual jazz movement, died Saturday in Los Angeles, his label announced. He was 81.
Luaka Bop revealed the news on social media. “Always and forever the most beautiful human being,” the label wrote. See the full post below.
Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery
Born Farrell Sanders on October 13, 1940, in Little Rock, Ak, he briefly studied music at Oakland Junior College before relocating to New York, where he played with Sun Ra — who gave Sanders the “Pharoah” nickname. The Sun Ra live album Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold was recorded on New Year’s Eve 1964, but not released until 1976.
After recording his debut solo album, Pharoah’s First, he began playing live gigs and recording with Coltrane. He went on to play on about a dozen of the...
Luaka Bop revealed the news on social media. “Always and forever the most beautiful human being,” the label wrote. See the full post below.
Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery
Born Farrell Sanders on October 13, 1940, in Little Rock, Ak, he briefly studied music at Oakland Junior College before relocating to New York, where he played with Sun Ra — who gave Sanders the “Pharoah” nickname. The Sun Ra live album Featuring Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold was recorded on New Year’s Eve 1964, but not released until 1976.
After recording his debut solo album, Pharoah’s First, he began playing live gigs and recording with Coltrane. He went on to play on about a dozen of the...
- 9/24/2022
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Pharoah Sanders, the legendary tenor saxophonist who performed alongside John Coltrane in the mid-1960s, has died. He was 81.
Sanders’ passing was announced on Saturday (Sept. 24) by his record label Luaka Bop, which released the influential jazz musician’s 2021 album, Promises, a collaboration with Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra. A cause of death was not provided.
“We are devastated to share that Pharoah Sanders has passed away,” Luaka Bop wrote on Twitter. “He died peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends in Los Angeles earlier this morning. Always and forever the most beautiful human being, may he rest in peace.”
Born in Little Rock, Ark., on Oct. 13, 1940, Sanders — whose real name was Ferrell Sanders — moved to the Bay Area in the late 1950s before relocating to New York City, where he met fellow jazz artist Sun Ra, who encouraged him to take the name Pharoah.
Pharoah Sanders, the legendary tenor saxophonist who performed alongside John Coltrane in the mid-1960s, has died. He was 81.
Sanders’ passing was announced on Saturday (Sept. 24) by his record label Luaka Bop, which released the influential jazz musician’s 2021 album, Promises, a collaboration with Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra. A cause of death was not provided.
“We are devastated to share that Pharoah Sanders has passed away,” Luaka Bop wrote on Twitter. “He died peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends in Los Angeles earlier this morning. Always and forever the most beautiful human being, may he rest in peace.”
Born in Little Rock, Ark., on Oct. 13, 1940, Sanders — whose real name was Ferrell Sanders — moved to the Bay Area in the late 1950s before relocating to New York City, where he met fellow jazz artist Sun Ra, who encouraged him to take the name Pharoah.
- 9/24/2022
- by Mitchell Peters, Billboard
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Pharoah Sanders, the saxophonist who helped John Coltrane explore the avant-garde and pushed jazz itself toward the spiritual, has died at the age of 81.
Record label Luaka Bop, which released Sanders and Floating Points’ acclaimed collaboration Promises in 2021, announced the jazz legend’s death Saturday; no cause of death was provided.
“We are devastated to share that Pharoah Sanders has passed away,” the label wrote on Instagram. “He died peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends in Los Angeles earlier this morning. Always and forever the most beautiful human being,...
Record label Luaka Bop, which released Sanders and Floating Points’ acclaimed collaboration Promises in 2021, announced the jazz legend’s death Saturday; no cause of death was provided.
“We are devastated to share that Pharoah Sanders has passed away,” the label wrote on Instagram. “He died peacefully surrounded by loving family and friends in Los Angeles earlier this morning. Always and forever the most beautiful human being,...
- 9/24/2022
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
Despite being John Coltrane’s most celebrated album, and one of the most beloved jazz albums of all time, A Love Supreme wasn’t a record that the saxophonist touched on much in the live setting. Up until now, most Coltrane enthusiasts have only ever heard a single live performance of the literally divinely inspired four-movement suite that makes up the LP, taken from a July 1965 performance at a French festival and first released on a 2002 reissue. That will change in October, when Impulse! will issue another full live version of A Love Supreme,...
- 8/26/2021
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
While Grammy nominations usually include many commercial picks, the awards pride themselves on being decided by music industry peers judging quality over popularity, even banning chart-related messages in FYC ads recently. So we often can expect a couple of critical darlings to get nominated across genres and sometimes even in the general field. Nominations this past year for Haim’s “Women In Music Pt. III” in Album of the Year and Phoebe Bridgers in Best New Artist are examples of how far acclaim can take you at the Grammys. Granted, we don’t know how this will hold up with no more nomination review committees giving a boost to lower-profile acts. Nonetheless, there are a lot of lauded artists who might surprise us this year.
SEEThe Weeknd could win an Emmy for his Super Bowl Halftime Show to make up for his Grammy snubs
One of the most acclaimed contenders...
SEEThe Weeknd could win an Emmy for his Super Bowl Halftime Show to make up for his Grammy snubs
One of the most acclaimed contenders...
- 7/28/2021
- by Jaime Rodriguez
- Gold Derby
Questlove’s new Summer of Soul doc is a trove of incredible footage, featuring extended clips of Sly and the Family Stone, Mavis Staples, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, and other icons at the height of their performing powers. But one of the film’s most striking sequences spotlights a lesser-known figure who shared the bill with these legends at 1969’s Harlem Cultural Festival: the guitarist Sonny Sharrock, seen convulsing and grimacing onstage as he wrings a gritty expressionist racket from his hollow-body ax during an appearance backing flutist Herbie Mann.
- 6/25/2021
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
The acclaimed new album Promises from jazz great Pharoah Sanders, electronic musician Floating Points, and the London Symphony Orchestra will be part of a new film that explores artist Julie Mehretu’s 2003 painting, Congress.
The film, Promises: Through Congress, will premiere virtually April 24th at 3 p.m. Et/12 p.m. Pt via the Whitney in New York and the Broad in Los Angeles. Registration for the premiere is free and open on the websites of both museums.
The film, directed by Trevor Tweeten, comes after portions of Congress — which is a large,...
The film, Promises: Through Congress, will premiere virtually April 24th at 3 p.m. Et/12 p.m. Pt via the Whitney in New York and the Broad in Los Angeles. Registration for the premiere is free and open on the websites of both museums.
The film, directed by Trevor Tweeten, comes after portions of Congress — which is a large,...
- 4/13/2021
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
In June of 1965, two young saxophonists, Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, gathered at New Jersey’s famed Van Gelder Studio as part of an 11-piece band convened by John Coltrane. At the time, Coltrane was leading his so-called classic quartet, one of the most celebrated bands in jazz, but he was looking toward a wilder, more expansive sound. And he’d enlisted a crew of hungry up-and-comers to help him get there. Joining fellow new faces like Marion Brown and John Tchicai on the date — the results of which came...
- 3/24/2021
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and electronic producer Floating Points (a.k.a. Sam Shepherd) have announced a new album, Promises, out March 26th via Luaka Bop. The album marks the first that Sanders, 80, has recorded in over a decade.
Sanders and Floating Points recorded the nine-part project with the London Symphony Orchestra, but have not yet shared a single from the piece, instead releasing a brief teaser clip on Tuesday that shows Sanders and Shepherd working together in the studio.
Promises will feature cover art designed by contemporary visual artist...
Sanders and Floating Points recorded the nine-part project with the London Symphony Orchestra, but have not yet shared a single from the piece, instead releasing a brief teaser clip on Tuesday that shows Sanders and Shepherd working together in the studio.
Promises will feature cover art designed by contemporary visual artist...
- 2/16/2021
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
It’s a fairly familiar tale by now: An obscure album sees reissue after decades out of print, and the artist responsible gets to enjoy some overdue recognition. But in the case of Alan Braufman — a saxophonist, flutist, and composer whose 1975 debut, Valley of Search, a potent product of New York’s so-called loft jazz scene of the Seventies, resurfaced in 2018 via a label owned by his nephew — the story has a welcome new twist. Braufman and the pianist Cooper-Moore, a key member of the Valley of Search band, reunited...
- 8/6/2020
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Robbie Shakespeare — reggae artist extraordinaire, prolific bassist, and in-demand producer alongside his longtime collaborator Sly Dunbar — admits he was “humbled” upon learning he made Rolling Stone’s recent list of the 50 Greatest Bassists of All Time.
“Number 17, that’s good,” Shakespeare says of his ranking, “compared to all the bass players in the world.” When asked where he’d put himself on the list, the Sly and Robbie hitmaker jokes, “Number two.”
For Shakespeare, great bass playing is all about “the style.” “Most bass players, like drummers, have a style,...
“Number 17, that’s good,” Shakespeare says of his ranking, “compared to all the bass players in the world.” When asked where he’d put himself on the list, the Sly and Robbie hitmaker jokes, “Number two.”
For Shakespeare, great bass playing is all about “the style.” “Most bass players, like drummers, have a style,...
- 7/21/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
McCoy Tyner, one of the most distinctive and influential jazz pianists of the past 60 years, who became best known for his work with John Coltrane’s legendary 1960s quartet, died at age 81.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of jazz legend Alfred ‘McCoy’ Tyner,” his family wrote in a statement. “McCoy was an inspired musician who devoted his life to his art, his family, and his spirituality. McCoy Tyner’s music and legacy will continue to inspire fans and future talent for generations to come.”
Tyner...
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of jazz legend Alfred ‘McCoy’ Tyner,” his family wrote in a statement. “McCoy was an inspired musician who devoted his life to his art, his family, and his spirituality. McCoy Tyner’s music and legacy will continue to inspire fans and future talent for generations to come.”
Tyner...
- 3/6/2020
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
When writing the big-screen adaptation of Motherless Brooklyn, Edward Norton’s upcoming directorial effort, the actor knew early on that he wanted his longtime friend Thom Yorke to contribute music to the Fifties-set drama.
“Thom is so good at weaving together personal anguish and the crushing politics of the time,” Norton tells Rolling Stone before quoting Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android.” “‘When I am king, you will be first against the wall.'” Norton compares the incisiveness and timelessness of Yorke’s music to the “profoundly melancholy and very political” songs of Billie Holiday,...
“Thom is so good at weaving together personal anguish and the crushing politics of the time,” Norton tells Rolling Stone before quoting Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android.” “‘When I am king, you will be first against the wall.'” Norton compares the incisiveness and timelessness of Yorke’s music to the “profoundly melancholy and very political” songs of Billie Holiday,...
- 8/21/2019
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
These days, you hear a lot of talk about so-called spiritual jazz, a Sixties and Seventies subgenre that resonates strongly in the work of contemporary standouts like Kamasi Washington and Nubya Garcia. Along with John and Alice Coltrane, one of the patron saints of the unofficial movement is saxophonist Pharoah Sanders.
In 1969, Sanders released “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” a 30-minute track that summed up the spiritual-jazz aesthetic with its blend of blissed-out, meditative vamping and fiery abstraction — as well as some ecstatic yodeling from vocalist Leon Thomas. Now,...
In 1969, Sanders released “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” a 30-minute track that summed up the spiritual-jazz aesthetic with its blend of blissed-out, meditative vamping and fiery abstraction — as well as some ecstatic yodeling from vocalist Leon Thomas. Now,...
- 3/4/2019
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Kamasi Washington was hardly the first saxophonist to revive the so-called spiritual-jazz aesthetic of John Coltrane and his key successors like Pharoah Sanders. As early as the late Seventies, the late David S. Ware was combining blissful melodicism with mighty fervor in a way that pointed directly back to those influences. From the early Nineties through 2007 Ware led a celebrated quartet that garnered him wide acclaim — Rolling’s Stone‘s David Fricke called him a “radiantly confident player” in a review of the group’s 1995 album Cryptology— and even a brief major-label deal.
- 11/12/2018
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
If you’re going by the bare facts alone, Jazz in Detroit / Strata Concert Gallery / 46 Selden is strictly for Charles Mingus completists. Unlike, say, John Coltrane’s recently unearthed Lost Album, Jazz in Detroit doesn’t date from a pivotal period in the leader’s career, feature an iconic lineup or introduce a wealth of unfamiliar repertoire.
But what looks marginal on paper turns out to be sheer joy coming out of the speakers, thanks in large part to Mingus’ lesser-known yet enormously gifted sidemen: tenor saxophonist John Stubblefield, trumpeter Joe Gardner,...
But what looks marginal on paper turns out to be sheer joy coming out of the speakers, thanks in large part to Mingus’ lesser-known yet enormously gifted sidemen: tenor saxophonist John Stubblefield, trumpeter Joe Gardner,...
- 11/2/2018
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
No one makes noise quite like Empath. On Liberating Guilt and Fear, the excellent four-song Ep they released this spring, the Philadelphia quartet whirl psychedelic guitar, found sounds, New Age drones and more into an exhilarating 16-minute blur. In concert, they sound as much like a cosmic jazz combo as a screamingly loud punk band. Empath’s songs are about melody and feedback, rage and bliss, chaos and transcendence. Then there’s the birdsong – tiny, bright samples of the natural world that chirp in and out of the mix like jokes with no punchlines.
- 7/26/2018
- by Simon Vozick-Levinson
- Rollingstone.com
The 40th edition of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, which runs from July 6 to 15, featured a truly impressive range of music with approximately 100 venues hosting over 1400 performing acts. The citywide celebration relies on a loose consortium of independent promoters, producers, programmers, musicians and club owners to book an array of talent showcasing Danish artists, elder journeymen, new talent and international stars from the world over — all with a healthy respect for the history and traditions of jazz.
Marquee acts like Jeff Beck, The Roots, and the Brad Mehldau Trio all had big nights early in the festival, while saxophone icon Pharoah Sanders (pictured) took the stage for two sold-out shows at the intimate Brorson’s Church. Veteran drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath enjoyed the support of a decidedly international band, as did Boston saxophonists George Garzone and Jerry Bergonzi, both of whom have been coming to the festival for years, each playing...
Marquee acts like Jeff Beck, The Roots, and the Brad Mehldau Trio all had big nights early in the festival, while saxophone icon Pharoah Sanders (pictured) took the stage for two sold-out shows at the intimate Brorson’s Church. Veteran drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath enjoyed the support of a decidedly international band, as did Boston saxophonists George Garzone and Jerry Bergonzi, both of whom have been coming to the festival for years, each playing...
- 7/10/2018
- by Mitch Myers
- Variety Film + TV
Whatever faults you find in Roman J. Israel, Esq as a movie – it tends to meander – there is no disputing the start-to-finish excellence of Denzel Washington in the title role. You may think you know Washington as an actor, but you've never seen him like this. He is riveting as Roman J. Israel, Esq. – he likes the formality of the name – a Los Angeles-based lawyer whose ideals (and three-inch Afro) are stuck in the social-activist 1960s that formed him. A silent partner in a law firm specializing in pro bono cases,...
- 11/16/2017
- Rollingstone.com
Today being international jazz day, there will be much celebrating of the greatness of its history. I’ve done that in the past; it is a great history. But it is not all back in historical times; jazz lives, and evolves, and continues to be great. Yet how many lists of the greatest jazz albums include anything from the current century?
That they do not is no indictment of them; only sixteen percent of the years when recorded jazz has existed (not counting the present year yet) are in the twenty-first century, after all, and some prefer to bestow the label of greatness after more perspective has been achieved than sixteen (or fewer, for newer releases) years.
Nonetheless, if people are to respect jazz as a living art form, a look back at the best of its more recent releases seems worthwhile. Here’s one man’s “baker’s dozen...
That they do not is no indictment of them; only sixteen percent of the years when recorded jazz has existed (not counting the present year yet) are in the twenty-first century, after all, and some prefer to bestow the label of greatness after more perspective has been achieved than sixteen (or fewer, for newer releases) years.
Nonetheless, if people are to respect jazz as a living art form, a look back at the best of its more recent releases seems worthwhile. Here’s one man’s “baker’s dozen...
- 4/30/2016
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
1. William Parker: For Those Who Are, Still (Aum Fidelity/Centering)
I have been an admirer and observer of William Parker for a quarter century, but nothing prepared me for the impact of this three-disc set's final CD, which features an orchestral composition, Ceremonies for Those Who Are Still, which ranks high among the best orchestral music of the 21st century, and I'm including classical composers. In other words, don't cringe while imagining the usual jazz-with-strings hack job. There are moments in Ceremonies for Those Who Are Still -- particularly when the choir is singing Parker's poems of life and loss and creation -- when the grandeur of the year's most fashionable jazz album, Kamasi Washington's The Epic (also a three-cd set) comes to mind, but the difference -- the reason Parker's set ranks much higher -- is that his orchestrations are vastly more contrapuntal, colorful, individual, and just plain daring.
I have been an admirer and observer of William Parker for a quarter century, but nothing prepared me for the impact of this three-disc set's final CD, which features an orchestral composition, Ceremonies for Those Who Are Still, which ranks high among the best orchestral music of the 21st century, and I'm including classical composers. In other words, don't cringe while imagining the usual jazz-with-strings hack job. There are moments in Ceremonies for Those Who Are Still -- particularly when the choir is singing Parker's poems of life and loss and creation -- when the grandeur of the year's most fashionable jazz album, Kamasi Washington's The Epic (also a three-cd set) comes to mind, but the difference -- the reason Parker's set ranks much higher -- is that his orchestrations are vastly more contrapuntal, colorful, individual, and just plain daring.
- 1/3/2016
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
John Coltrane Offering: Live at Temple University (Resonance/Impulse!)
The question is not whether this album is good. It's freakin' John Coltrane, of course it's good (though my expectation of your agreement with that assumes that you appreciate him in free-jazz mode). It's a matter of setting up your expectations properly and prioritizing. So, although this is "the first official release struck from the original master tapes," as opposed to dingy-sounding bootlegs, you still have to be prepared for sub-par sound. This concert was recorded by the Temple radio station, apparently using one microphone up front, so the horns dominate -- though even they come and go.
And whoever was recording it didn't get every minute; he missed the very beginning, and with just one machine at his disposal, missed the end of "Leo" when he had to change tape reels. So allowances must be made, and if you don't...
The question is not whether this album is good. It's freakin' John Coltrane, of course it's good (though my expectation of your agreement with that assumes that you appreciate him in free-jazz mode). It's a matter of setting up your expectations properly and prioritizing. So, although this is "the first official release struck from the original master tapes," as opposed to dingy-sounding bootlegs, you still have to be prepared for sub-par sound. This concert was recorded by the Temple radio station, apparently using one microphone up front, so the horns dominate -- though even they come and go.
And whoever was recording it didn't get every minute; he missed the very beginning, and with just one machine at his disposal, missed the end of "Leo" when he had to change tape reels. So allowances must be made, and if you don't...
- 10/18/2014
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Alain Corneau passed away in August 2010, two days after his final film, Love Crime (Crime d'amour), opened in France and just before it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. I didn't get a chance to see it in Toronto that year, but finally had a chance to watch it last night, knowing I wanted to watch it before seeing Brian De Palma's remake, titled Passion, which will be playing the Venice Film Festival at the end of August. Starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier, the story begins as the age-old tale of a mentor (Thomas) using the ingenue (Sagnier) for professional gain. While Thomas, as Christine, uses the accomplished work of Isabelle to rise to the top. Isabelle, upset with Christine's two-faced approach to their relationship, is struggling between the idea of remaining a loyal employee and the voice of her co-worker (Guillaume Marquet) in her ear,...
- 7/30/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Marzette Watts: Marzette Watts & Company (Esp-Disk')
In the brief period when I did a little work for Esp-Disk', this was the album the most people (especially record store owners and musicians) enthusiastically nominated for reissue. And now, here it is!
This album is distinguished by a number of factors, not least the fact that this is its first issue on CD in the U.S. (a few European reissues are in inferior sound). Recorded on December 8, 1966, it was Watts's first session as a leader (though, not released until 1971, it was his second album to appear, following a now-rare Savoy LP). Watts (1938-1998) never made any more albums after those two, alas, nor did he record as a sideman, though he appears in the credits on some albums from the free jazz scene as the engineer.
Watts is heard here on tenor and soprano saxophones and on bass clarinet; Byard Lancaster (b.
In the brief period when I did a little work for Esp-Disk', this was the album the most people (especially record store owners and musicians) enthusiastically nominated for reissue. And now, here it is!
This album is distinguished by a number of factors, not least the fact that this is its first issue on CD in the U.S. (a few European reissues are in inferior sound). Recorded on December 8, 1966, it was Watts's first session as a leader (though, not released until 1971, it was his second album to appear, following a now-rare Savoy LP). Watts (1938-1998) never made any more albums after those two, alas, nor did he record as a sideman, though he appears in the credits on some albums from the free jazz scene as the engineer.
Watts is heard here on tenor and soprano saxophones and on bass clarinet; Byard Lancaster (b.
- 7/12/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
On the occasion of Joseph Nechvatal's upcoming exhibition at Galerie Richard in New York (April 12 through May 26), the recent publication of his new book Immersion into Noise, and a concert of his remastered viral symphOny in surround sound. Taney Roniger is an artist and writer who lives and works in Brooklyn.
Bradley Rubenstein: We really want to get into the new book, as well as the upcoming show, but can you take a minute and give us a little backstory? You have always slipped in and out of categories: actions, painting, sound art, writing....
Joseph Nechvatal: Well, when I was going to undergraduate art school at Southern Illinois University (Siu), I was making drawings and little gouaches and smaller-type paintings on paper, generally. And they were well-received. I was not so interested in painting on canvas at the time. You have to put it in the perspective of the...
Bradley Rubenstein: We really want to get into the new book, as well as the upcoming show, but can you take a minute and give us a little backstory? You have always slipped in and out of categories: actions, painting, sound art, writing....
Joseph Nechvatal: Well, when I was going to undergraduate art school at Southern Illinois University (Siu), I was making drawings and little gouaches and smaller-type paintings on paper, generally. And they were well-received. I was not so interested in painting on canvas at the time. You have to put it in the perspective of the...
- 3/29/2012
- by bradleyrubenstein
- www.culturecatch.com
Charles Gayle Trio: Streets (Northern Spy)
There was a time, two decades ago, when a dedicated cult regularly went to the old Knitting Factory (on Houston Street, when it was still mostly a jazz club) on Mondays, because for months at a time the club would have Charles Gayle play two sets every Monday night. If you were a fan of hardcore free jazz, that was The regular gig in New York in the early '90s.
Born in Buffalo in 1939, Gayle had hit New York City by the early '70s. He almost made his mark with an album on venerable avant-garde label Esp-Disk in 1974, but the label shut down before it came out (revived last decade, it once again has plans to release that album -- keep your fingers crossed!).
When he next recorded in 1988, he had been homeless for a while, sheltering in an empty Brooklyn storefront.
There was a time, two decades ago, when a dedicated cult regularly went to the old Knitting Factory (on Houston Street, when it was still mostly a jazz club) on Mondays, because for months at a time the club would have Charles Gayle play two sets every Monday night. If you were a fan of hardcore free jazz, that was The regular gig in New York in the early '90s.
Born in Buffalo in 1939, Gayle had hit New York City by the early '70s. He almost made his mark with an album on venerable avant-garde label Esp-Disk in 1974, but the label shut down before it came out (revived last decade, it once again has plans to release that album -- keep your fingers crossed!).
When he next recorded in 1988, he had been homeless for a while, sheltering in an empty Brooklyn storefront.
- 2/15/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
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