Returning Summer 2013

School has kept me inactive, but that ends in June, whereupon I'll revive this here blog (maybe under a new name, maybe not). I've listened to so little jazz that it's kinda embarrassing to admit. (I did love new work from Vijay Iyer, The Bad Plus, Robert Glasper, and ERIMAJ, though).

Here are a few things that I'll be listening to in the meantime. See you in six months.

Happy Birthday Miles

See also: 

• Breaking down the first great Miles Davis Quintet
• My favorite tracks from the second great Miles Davis Quintet
• Blue in Green four ways
• A quick word about A Tribute to Jack Johnson
• Miles remembers one of his most celebrated performances
• Miles' 1959 arrest in NYC
• A Miles Davis radio interview before he lost his voice
• Visualizing Flamenco Sketches

Marion Brown in 1967

Robert Glasper on Bullseye

"I'm playing jazz that's 2012."

Bullseye

tUnE-yArDs at Coachella

Not quite jazz, but I love the way Merrill Garbus incorporates improvisation into her live performances.

Ornette

Ornette Coleman Trio Performing The Soundtrack (1966):

Via @destinationout

Esperanza Plays The Daily Show

Part 1:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Esperanza Spalding - "Black Gold"
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Part 2:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Esperanza Spalding - "Crowned & Kissed"
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Happy Birthday Herbie

Jazz and Baseball

How Baseball Gave Us Jazz:

One hundred years ago, a hard-throwing but erratic minor league pitcher named Ben Henderson was getting ready for his opening day start for the Portland Beavers against the Los Angeles Angels. Henderson had pitched well for the Beavers the previous year, but he began the 1912 season with a well-earned reputation as an unreliable drunk.

Henderson gave a Los Angeles Times reporter a preview of what he had planned for the game. "I got a new curve this year," he explained, "and I'm goin' to pitch one or two of them tomorrow. I call it the Jazz ball because it wobbles and you simply can't do anything with it." The headline for the item, from April 2, 1912, was simply "Ben's Jazz Curve."

Be sure to read the whole thing.

Also, an interesting point on virality: A few jazz blogs linked this story about three weeks ago, but it wasn't until yesterday when I saw any baseball blogs link it. The long-tail theory does not account for bimodality, but considering the overlapping interest clusters that comprise the internet, perhaps it should.

Photo of Louis Armstrong baseball tam via Uni Watch

Spring

1. Bill Frisell - Winter Always Turns into Spring
2. Emily Remler - Mocha Spice
3. The Wee Trio - Avril 14th
4. Medeski Martin & Wood - Down on Me
5. The Bad Plus - Never Stop
6. Duke Ellington - Lotus Blossom
7. Ambrose Akinmusire - The Walls of Lechuguilla
8. Vijay Iyer Trio - Mmhmm
9. Jack DeJohnette and Bill Frisell - After the Rain
10. Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - United

Listen to this playlist in Spotify

Rudresh Mahanthappa's Tiny Desk Concert

I totally slept on Rudresh's last album (Samdhi), must catch up.

Via NPR Music

Eric Harland makes ruins sound like a drum kit

Via NPR Music. Eric Harland sounds like I think I do when I drum on my desk with pens, except a million times better. 

Accelerando

Vijay Iyer's latest, Accelerando, was released earlier this week. He and trio-mates Stephan Crump and Marcus Gilmore have produced a worthy follow-up to 2009's masterful Historicity. As with Historicity, Accelerando is informed by a strong rhythmic sense that hypnotic sometimes, jarring others. I've been playing it on a constant loop for the past few days, and this should persist for awhile. As with Historicity, this one will probably be at or near the top of a slew of year-end best-of lists.

Actions Speak (recorded at Winter Jazzfest 2012 in NYC):

Mmhmm:

EPK:

Image via.

Hipness and its Discontents

Via.