Category: AJBlogs

Svend Asmussen, 100
Today is the 100th birthday of the great Danish violinist Svend Asmussen. Without going into the details of Asmussen’s long, varied and influential career, let us simply recognize him as one of the handful (or… … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2016-02-28

Mavis Staples’ HBO doc hits relevant Civil Rights notes
“I’m not as frisky as I used to be but I feel like I am,” Mavis Staples speaks the truth with a grin and a twinkle in Mavis!, an endearingly upbeat bio doc premiering on… … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond JazzPublished 2016-02-28

Who Said That? Artistic Inspirations
I happened to be in Florida recently, where I visited the Norton Museum of Art, where there’s a lot going on. Just now I want to mention one delightful little touch. Along the staircases between … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-02-25

Black History Month (3) — “And They Lynched Him on a Tree”
An oratorio about lynching! About one of the great horrors of American history. Premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1940. And now, as far as I can see, largely forgotten, though there’s a … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-02-25

Javon Jackson On Coltrane At PDX
With the 2016 Portland Jazz Festival built around the legacy of John Coltrane (1926-1967), Javon Jackson’s appearances were reminders of his tenor saxophone hero’s lasting impact on the music. In a Winningstad Theatre concert, Jackson … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-02-25

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Internships and Privilege
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Someone says, “[X historically disenfranchised group] should stop complaining. They have way more privileges than I do.” When thus confronted, I have had to resist the visceral impulse … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2016-02-23

Obama Finally Axes Librarian of Congress
It took more than six years, but President Obama got his way today, appointing the first African-American as Librarian of Congress: Carla D. Hayden, head of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore’s public library. I should say “nominating,” because … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-02-24

Interactive Hijinks: Putting the Viewer in the Picture
For some, it seems, it’s not enough to inhabit an artwork in their imaginations. They want to enter it physically. I’m embarrassed to own up to my own “living in a painting” experience: It occurred … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-02-24

Gary Bartz At The PDX Festival
Alto saxophonist Gary Bartz opened his Portland Jazz Festival concert singing a slow blues. He wasn’t lamenting his or anyone else’s troubles. The main message of his lyric was, “Sadness gotta leave this room.” … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-02-24

The Rampant Generation of Audio Files Continues
It’s remotely conceivable that you’re sitting around with nothing to do, and in case you’re in that enviable position, I have two hours’ worth of new recordings of my music up to entertain you. … read more
AJBlog: PostClassic Published 2016-02-24

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Emerging, emergent, emerged?
One of the best arts conferences I attend each year is only steps away from my office door. This is convenient, and also completely awesome. TheEmerging Arts Leaders Symposium, which will be held … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2016-02-23

What Texas City is a National Cultural Showcase?
For the past decade I have enjoyed the privilege of regularly collaborating in “Dvorak and America” festivals with Kevin Deas, one of the supreme African-American concert artists of our day. … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2016-02-23

Change the world, one hero at a time
From dude to dodo is a trick of vowels and imagination. Maybe, if we’re tired of seeing men dominate our stages, we need to exercise our imaginations, especially when it comes to casting. … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2016-02-23

Chicagoans’ albums reviewed, author’s edition
My reviews of recordings  by Chicago pianists Larry Novak, Laurence Hobgood and Robert Irving III, percussionist Art “Turk” Burton, and saxophonists Caroline Davis and Roy McGrath appeared in DownBeat‘s January issue, but the print edition … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2016-02-23

Griffin/Geffen & the Art Institute of Chicago’s Edlis Misstep
Last year, while he was chair and curator of modern and contemporary art at the Art Institute of Chicago, the museum’s new director, James Rondeau, made a Faustian bargain that could come back to haunt him.  … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-02-22

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Pat Martino And Kenny Barron At The Portland Festival
Pat Martino and Kenny Barron, two of the many Philadelphians appearing at the 2016 Portland Jazz Festival, led their groups in a concert at the Winningstad Theatre. First up, guitarist Martino’s trio with organist  … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-02-23

Misprision
In performing Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life,” some singers deliver the subtle, and possibly difficult to pronounce word combination “distingué traces” as “distant gay traces.” A British lawyer or Harold Bloom might call this a “misprision.” … read more
AJBlog: PianoMorphosis Published 2016-02-22

Charles Lloyd & Gary Peacock In Portland
Rather than the electrified two-guitar quintet he calls the Marvels, the saxophonist CharlesLloyd brought his traditional quartet to the Portland Jazz Festival. They played a memorable concert. Supported by players decades younger, the … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-02-22

Swingin’ with Mezz and Menck
Mezz Mezzrow is one of those fascinating, exceedingly odd figures in jazz history about whom I could write instructively and at length if I felt so moved. Alas, I don’t, at least not today, so … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-02-22

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The Met versus The Met–At Least People Care
I am, of course, talking about the Metropolitan Museum* and the Metropolitan Opera. Since I last posted, on the Met Museum’s new logo, many people have weighed in both here and on other sites as… … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear ArtsPublished 2016-02-21

Shakespeare Wisely Shaken Up
John Scott and Valda Setterfield’s Lear. King Lear (Setterfield) besieged by a storm: Kevin Coquelard (L) and Marcus Bellamy. Photo: Maria Baranova “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! howls Shakespeare’s King Lear, defying the storm… … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2016-02-20

Ecolalia

When the hall’s half empty…
Or, worse,  if it has more empty seats than people, as appeared to be the case at the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s concert at the Kennedy Center on Monday. … But wait! … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-02-18

Interview: The Skinny on the Beats
Hilary Holladay: How would you size up the significance of the Beats as writers rather than as personalities? Jan Herman: Kerouac has had a huge influence on readers worldwide. I’m sure that more people have … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-02-18

So you want to see a show?
Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2016-02-18

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Aesthetic attention
Arts organizations are in the business of aesthetic experience. I hope this isn’t a radical statement, but an obvious point. Whether the organization is fostering work by artists, connecting that work to audiences, or preserving … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2016-02-17

Black History Week (2) — Black Classical Musicians in Philadelphia
Here’s an indispensable book — Black Classical Musicians in Philadelphia: Oral Histories Covering Four Generations, by Elaine Mack. It brings to life what once was a thriving community of classical musicians in the Philadelphia black … read more
AJBlog: Sandow Published 2016-02-17

The Met’s New Logo
It’s a disaster, as I predicted here last June in “The Met’s Coming Rebranding: A Puzzlement.” In fact, it’s worst than I had heard. Justin Davidson posted this image on New York magazine’s Vulture site… … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-02-17

Buried Child Surfaces in New Revival
Sam Shepard recently referred to Buried Child as “the same clunky play” it always was, rewrites notwithstanding. That’s Shepard being candid. That’s Shepard being Shepard. Never mind that awkward dramaturgy and a little too much… … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-02-17

Vigée Le Brun: Flattery Got Her Everywhere, Including the Met (with video)
At about the halfway point in the 80-work Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum (to May 15), I ran into the museum’s new president, Daniel Weiss, who asked me the dreaded … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2016-02-17

Portland Bound
Shortly, I am going to head south, turn right, drive west through the Columbia River Gorge – shown above – and spend the next few days in one of my favorite former hometowns at the Portland Jazz Festival … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-02-17

Fire and Ice Mate – Can That End Well?
The Kathryn Posin Dance Company performs at 92Y. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-02-17

Nelson Algren’s Walk Through Appalachia
I have always loved the way A Walk on the Wild Side begins. Show me a more perceptive opening of an American novel with its historical tracing of an Appalachian clan  … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2016-02-17

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Funding Is Not an “Issue” Title got your attention, didn’t it? Recently Doug McLennan wrote about ArtsJournal’s survey of readers about issues in the field: We Asked: What’s the Biggest Challenge Facing the Arts? By far the most cited was… …read more

The Arts: By The (National) Numbers
A few years ago, when the National Endowment for the Arts said it would join with the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to determine how much the arts contributed to the economy, I applauded. When the … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-02-16

Bill Evans And Camera Three
Last month’s Rifftides post titled “Evans After LaFaro” included video of the Bill Evans Trio in a 1962 performance that I credited to Italian television because of its imprint RAI DUE, the name of an Italian … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-02-15

Maillot’s Botchy Look at American Dance in Choré
Though inspired by and decorated with 20th century American dance styles, Jean-Christophe Maillot’s 2013 work Choré for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, shows integrity only … read more
AJBlog: Fresh Pencil Published 2016-02-16

The “One New Thing” Rule
Adam Grant, in his new book, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World writes about the necessity of anchoring new ideas in familiar things. To generate creative ideas, it’s important to start from an unusual place. But … read more
AJBlog: diacritical/Douglas McLennan Published 2016-02-15

Editors’ Choice: Some ArtsJournal Stories You Shouldn’t Miss From The Past Week
1. This week in What-Does-The-Audience-Want?Cheaper tickets, for sure. Or at least the opportunity to pay what they want.  One theatre converted its season to pay-as-you-want and saw a 50% increase in audience. But perhaps it’s… … read more
AJBlog: DiacriticalPublished 2016-02-14

Coming into land
Shouldn’t ballet have previews? Wouldn’t it help dancers and choreographers alike? As with most bad things, the money says no. Ballets have short runs, so you slap ’em on stage and get reviews and… … read more
AJBlog: Performance MonkeyPublished 2016-02-14

From Palestine via Belgium
Badke, a Belgian-Palestinian dance production, comes to New York Live Arts. Badke. Maalii Maali (L) and Samer Samahnah; visible at back: Mohammed Samahnah (L) and Ameer Sabra. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu There is no light in… … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2016-02-14

The Old Catchup Game (Part II): Geller, Magris, Washington, Diehl, Wheeler
Not to make too big a deal of it; I know I’ve mentioned it once or twice before. But it’s impossible to keep up with the torrential flow of jazz releases. All we can do… … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2016-02-14

Is there a Canadian cultural policy crisis?
At the Globe and Mail, Kate Taylor writes: The policy tools that have protected and nurtured Canada’s cultural industries since the 1970s are unknown to transnational distributors of foreign content – that would be… … read more
AJBlog: For What it’s WorthPublished 2016-02-13

Celebrating Bernard Herrmann
A towering figure in twentieth century American music,Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) has long been pigeon-holed as a “Hollywood composer.” Though he is widely acknowledged the supreme American composer for film (Citizen… … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered QuestionPublished 2016-02-12

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