7 From McCoy Tyner For His 75th
Sean MurphyMcCoy Tyner turns 75 years young today. In a saner and more soulful world, Tyner would be a household name. As it is, he remains an American treasure, a remarkable…
Life in the Key of Song: Strawberry Fields Forever
Living is easy with eyes closed/Misunderstanding all you see, It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out/It doesn't matter much to me. Those aren't just defining lines…
The Day The Music Died, Redux (Revisited)
(12/9/2010) It was thirty years ago today... Where were you? I was in my mother's bedroom, kissing her goodbye before I caught the school bus, and I heard the horrible…
Five by Frank Zappa @ 20 Years
December 4, 1993: impossible as it is (at least for me) to believe, Frank Zappa passed away (yet another casualty of the Big C.) twenty years ago, today. Zappa, to…
Let Us Give Thanks for the Guitar Solo (Revisited)
Let us give thanks for the guitar solo. This excercise is equal parts pointless and onanistic, which, of course, is the entire point. (Quick: what was your favorite orgasm? Thought…
The Intersection of Art & Innovation, cont’d: A Conversation with Kevin Calabro
Yesterday we wrapped another conversation for CEA's ongoing series "The Intersection of Art & Innovation." (Previous discussions can be found HERE, HERE HERE and HERE.) Kevin founded the record label The…
The Whiteness of the Whale: Remembering The White Album (Revisited)
Therefore, in his other moods, symbolize whatever grand or gracious thing he will by whiteness, no man can deny that in its profoundest idealized significance it calls up a peculiar…
The Intersection of Art & Innovation, cont’d: A Conversation with Aram Bajakian
Yesterday we wrapped another conversation for CEA's ongoing series "The Intersection of Art & Innovation." (Previous discussions can be found HERE, HERE and HERE.) It was my pleasure to speak with…
Pete La Roca, R.I.P. (One Year Later)
It will be an ongoing, and very somber, progression, watching so many old-school jazz musicians (many of whom recorded on the epic Blue Note label during the glory years of…
The Holy Trinity, Part Two: Jethro Tull
I, like too many prog-rock fanatics to count, was delighted when Rush received their overdue induction into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. I still hold out hope that…