Wasn't just the nickname of a First Lady.
It was the title of this composition.
Now that you know: listen and enjoy.
Showing posts with label jazz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jazz. Show all posts
22 October 2010
17 December 2009
Grover Washington
Grover Washington Jr., a renowned jazz saxophonist, died on this day, twenty years ago.
If you want to know more about GW, you can listen to him on this podcast on the WGBH website, with interviewer Eric Jackson in 1994.
Why is this worth mentioning? Because I've been using a "today in music history" calender all year, and sporadically mining tidbits therefrom for blog entries. I won't have such a calender for 2010, so this will be my last entry with that source of inspiration.
If you want to know more about GW, you can listen to him on this podcast on the WGBH website, with interviewer Eric Jackson in 1994.
Why is this worth mentioning? Because I've been using a "today in music history" calender all year, and sporadically mining tidbits therefrom for blog entries. I won't have such a calender for 2010, so this will be my last entry with that source of inspiration.
13 December 2008
Anita O'Day
A couple of weeks ago I saw a documentary on the life of jazz vocalist Anita O'Day, at the Real Art Ways theater in Hartford, Conn.
I heartily recommend it to lovers of jazz -- or, for that matter, to anyone with an interest in recent American cultural history -- where "recent" includes the 1940s and '50s.
Personally, I'm fascinated both by jazz and by that history. Also, I'm intrigued by the documentary film as a genre.
If you want to know more about the movie follow that link.
I heartily recommend it to lovers of jazz -- or, for that matter, to anyone with an interest in recent American cultural history -- where "recent" includes the 1940s and '50s.
Personally, I'm fascinated both by jazz and by that history. Also, I'm intrigued by the documentary film as a genre.
If you want to know more about the movie follow that link.
22 August 2007
Writing about music
Elvis Costello said, "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture, it's a really stupid thing to want to do."
That sort of comment is cute, but not especially perceptive. After all, in principle a dance could as easily be about architecture as it can be about, say, a children's Christmas Party or a beautiful maiden magically transformed into a swan.
People in Mr. Costello's line of work would presumably like to see "writing about music" limited to, say, press releases advertising their gigs. Its critical writing about music about which they get grumpy.
That is, of course, the set-up to the wonderful movie "Almost Famous," where an adolescent boy learns how to write about music, and how to get an interview.
What about jazz music? Writing on that subject seems especially difficult, since the content is uniquely slippery, jazz musicians being perhaps uniquely wedded to extemporaneous creation.
Here, though, is a forum on the subject:
http://www.jazzhouse.org/nlib/index.php3?read=writing1
My point? Don't ask. I'm thinking aloud, you're just listening in.
That sort of comment is cute, but not especially perceptive. After all, in principle a dance could as easily be about architecture as it can be about, say, a children's Christmas Party or a beautiful maiden magically transformed into a swan.
People in Mr. Costello's line of work would presumably like to see "writing about music" limited to, say, press releases advertising their gigs. Its critical writing about music about which they get grumpy.
That is, of course, the set-up to the wonderful movie "Almost Famous," where an adolescent boy learns how to write about music, and how to get an interview.
What about jazz music? Writing on that subject seems especially difficult, since the content is uniquely slippery, jazz musicians being perhaps uniquely wedded to extemporaneous creation.
Here, though, is a forum on the subject:
http://www.jazzhouse.org/nlib/index.php3?read=writing1
My point? Don't ask. I'm thinking aloud, you're just listening in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
