Photo: Alan Ferber
A Blog Supreme will be on vacation until after Labor Day. Until then, we are periodically leaving you with some photographs from The NPR Jazz Photography Pool, like the one below. Reuben Radding/Flickr Alan Ferber.
Paul Metzger: Angular, Ungainly Beauty
Enlarge courtesy of the artist Minneapolis guitarist Paul Metzger showcases a tinkerer’s sense of adventure in the rambling, percussive “II.” courtesy of the artist Minneapolis guitarist Paul Metzger showcases a tinkerer’s sense of adventure in the rambling, percussive “II.” Minneapolis guitarist Paul Metzger showcases a maximalist aesthetic and a tinkerer’s sense of adventure in his rambling, percussive solo works.
Squirrel Nut Zippers On Mountain Stage
Squirrel Nut Zippers came to prominence in the mid-1990s with a retro mix of big-band, Harlem hard-bop and Deep South roots music. Soaring in popularity with its sophomore album Hot, the band performed at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, in the Clinton White House and at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. After a long hiatus, the group has just released its first-ever live recording, Lost at Sea, seven years after the release of its Best Of compilation. With ...
Turtle Island Quartet Re-Imagine Jimi Hendrix, With Strings
Enlarge Jay Blakesburg The Turtle Island Quartet effortlessly avoid genre classification. Jay Blakesburg The Turtle Island Quartet effortlessly avoid genre classification. The Turtle Island Quartet has earned rave reviews for their jazzy take on traditional chamber music and their classical take on traditional jazz.
Around The Jazz Internet: Aug. 27, 2010
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Eight Things You Need To Know Before You Start A Music Festival
Diana Wong for NPR The crowd at Bonnaroo, a festival held in a field in Manchester, Tenn., on June 13, 2010. St. Louis is home to two brand-new music festivals this weekend. So we thought we had ask their organizers about what they had to do to launch such events from scratch. Brian Cohen is putting on LouFest, a gathering of indie stars including She & Him, Broken Social Scene and Jeff Tweedy.
When Boom-Bap Meets Ding Ding Di-Ding
Today on A Blog Supreme, we will be exploring some of the intersections between jazz and hip-hop. Soon, we will post a conversation with pianist Robert Glasper — the jazz musician who also happens to play with Mos Def and Q-Tip — where we played five rap records for him. Later, we will post part of our interview with the folks behind the innovative concert presenters Revive da Live about getting the hip-hop generation into jazz. As prologue to all ...
Ebène Quartet: Genre-Bending At WNYC
Enlarge The Paris-based Ebène Quartet mixes pop and jazz pieces into its straight-ahead classical concerts. The Paris-based Ebène Quartet mixes pop and jazz pieces into its straight-ahead classical concerts. Ebene Quartet at WNYC Pierre Colombet & Gabriel Magadure, violins; Mathieu Herzog, viola; Raphael Merlin, cello Not too long ago, it seemed like the string quartet might have had an image problem: fusty, starched and mired in tradition.
Japan Is A Funny Place
A recent swing through New York brought this author into the Village Vanguard — the famed jazz club where NPR Music and WBGO broadcasts monthly. Idly, I was searching Twitter to see if anyone other Internet-enabled fans made it in to see Guillermo Klein’s rather astonishing Base de Nave band last night, where I discovered that the Village Vanguard was releasing a colorful line of affordably-priced folding bicycles. That would be Japanese novelty emporium Village/Vanguard, whose wonderfully Engrish motto is ...
Brian Wilson Takes On George Gershwin
courtesy of the artist Brian Wilson has just released a new album paying tribute to George Gershwin. Imagine the opening chords of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” sung by an ethereal chorus of spot-on Beach Boys-style harmonies. Or do not imagine it: Just play the new disc by the impresario behind The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, who recently joined Weekend All Things Considered guest host Audie Cornish to speak about his new album, Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin.
Around The Jazz Internet: Aug. 21, 2010
Comments Please note that all comments must adhere to the NPR.org discussion rules and terms of use. See also the Community FAQ. You must be logged in to leave a comment. Login / Register More information is required for you to participate in the NPR on-line community. Add this information NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its Web site or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive.
Widespread Panic On World Cafe
What a long, strange road it’s been for Widespread Panic. The members of the Athens, Ga., jam band met in a dorm room in 1981, formed the band five years later and now find themselves 11 albums into a career that is spanned four decades and sold more than three million records. The band’s new album, Dirty Side Down, came out in May on Dave Matthews’ ATO record label. Widespread Panic co-founder John Bell recently spoke with World Cafe host ...
Laura Marling: Unsettling And Unexpected
Laura Marling was visibly nervous and chain-smoking when I first saw her shivering outside of the Sidewalk Cafe in January 2008, right before her first U.S. gig. Onstage, the shy 17-year-old singer struggled with a misbehaving acoustic guitar; it slipped out of tune frequently and she fussed with it apologetically. But when she slipped ethereally into a song from her not-yet-released debut album, Alas, I Cannot Swim, Marling preternaturally channeled a woman far beyond her years. This lithe girl, brushing ...
A Modern Jazz Music Video (And It’s Not Lame, Either)
Featuring a mid-winter mime in DUMBO, steampunk mad science and Maurice Brown’s mini-me surrogate. (The song is pretty hip too.) The tune is “Time Tick Tock,” by the Maurice Brown Effect, off The Cycle Of Love. Brown plays trumpet; Derek Douget takes the tenor solo; Chris Rob, Solomon Dorsey, Joe Blaxx are the rhythm section: piano, bass, drums. Unlike this guy, I slept on this record when it came out earlier this year — my loss.
The Novelist’s Advantage: Great Books About Music
Jennifer Egan’s new novel A Visit From the Goon Squad has been high on my must-read list since I started seeing review duplicates floating into NPR’s offices in D.C. in the spring. Then last week Nick Sylvester posted an interview with Egan on his column Riff City, on New York Public Media’s Thirteen website, and it went right to the top. “Egan might be better than every music critic ever at describing both how music is made and what listening ...
China Food, Maluca’s New Mixtape
Courtesy of the artist Maluca Ever since I heard her single “El Tigeraso”, i have been hungry for more from Dominican-American rapper Maluca. She’s been discussed at length on Alt.Latino. Last weekend, I finally got what i’d hoped for: A brand spankin’ new Maluca mixtape, presented at her record label Mad Decent’s bloc party in Los Angeles. I was not disappointed.
Abbey Lincoln, Singular Jazz Vocalist And Songwriter, Dies
Enlarge Jean-Marc Lubrano Abbey Lincoln, photographed for her 2007 album Abbey Sings Abbey. Jean-Marc Lubrano Abbey Lincoln, photographed for her 2007 album Abbey Sings Abbey.