Jazz Won’t Save Your Life
Sean MurphySome Thoughts on International Jazz Day i. A drowning man can be pulled from the water, and who wouldn’t celebrate that act of compassion, that gesture, that gift of life?…
David Bowie: 10 Years On
(From 2016.) ONLY THE BEATLES. That’s the sole comparison that comes to mind when compelled to name a musical act with similar impact and importance. The Beatles, as we all…
December 8, 1980
I am he as you are he, as you are me and we are all together… It's impossible to properly describe the delightful (and disorienting) effect this song had on…
Deliver Me From Nowhere: Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’
(Damn right I came up with the title of the movie first. Actually, Bruce did—and it’s one of his best lines, from one of his best songs from an album…
Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here at 50
It isn’t that Pink Floyd made some of the best albums of the ‘70s (they did), or that Pink Floyd moved the art form forward (they did); it’s that Pink…
Wayne Shorter on Thelonious Monk & More…
Wayne Shorter performs with his quartet at the 2008 Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival in Basque Country, Spain. Insights into music, mental illness, iconoclasm, and a particular American Genius i. First off,…
When Bruce Became Boss: Born To Run at 50
In a rather counterintuitive turn of events, the fact that the first two albums didn’t make as much noise as they could (or should) have ended up being the best…
Big Shot: Making a Case for Billy Joel
Five hours is a lot of time to spend with Billy Joel. But it’s worth it. And he deserves it. He’s earned that, as far as I’m concerned. For all…
Never Say Die: Ozzy into the Void
He accomplished everything he was put here to do. And more. He didn't merely change music, and the world, for the better, he shifted history, like a cultural tectonic plate:…
F with the Formula: Brian Wilson as Antidote for Cynicism
Brian Wilson could hear everything. The miraculous sounds in his mind. The sound of history being made in real time: a recording studio the laboratory where he worked on his…