Robbie Robertson: The Man in the Band
When it comes to The Band, I've always been inflexible in my opinion that their best work was entirely a team effort, the sum greater than the considerable brilliance of…
When it comes to The Band, I've always been inflexible in my opinion that their best work was entirely a team effort, the sum greater than the considerable brilliance of…
She was brave. She was beautiful. She was brilliant. We all found our lives enriched thanks to her gift and, as is so often the case with our most fragile…
Sun Ra's music sounds like it was intercepted from another world. Thirty years ago, today, Herman Poole Blount, aka Sonny Blount, aka Le Sony'r Ra, aka SUN RA, left these…
Never heard of him? Don't worry, you've heard him, nevertheless. Unless you've managed to go your entire life without listening to Cream, and if you've never heard "Sunshine of Your…
Wow. Another irreplaceable icon has departed a planet that could scarcely contain her. Tina Turner: what a goddess, an inspiration, a river deep & mountain high human being and a…
Fall '83 and, as if weekly church services weren't insufferable enough, the Sacrament of Confirmation required mandatory tutelage, also once a week, on Sundays, which meant our soccer games (and…
Perfection is impossible (if fun) to try defining; you know it when you see it or hear it. "Sundown" requires little analysis: it's perfect. Every word, every sound, every second:…
Charles Mingus had many things to say, and he used his mouth, his pen, his fists, and mostly his music to say them. Of the myriad words that describe Mingus, passionate would…
Eric Dolphy’s Avowal* Eric Dolphy’s alto is less a solo than an announcement: not unlike a boisterous child acting out in the rear pew, where everyone gradually comprehends, he is…
I was aware (and in awe) of John Goodman before I reviewed his book (10 years ago!) Mingus Speaks -- an indispensable document of the great Charles Mingus (a lot…