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Articles in the music Category

Laughin’ Louis Laughin’ Louis

In the first half of the 20th century, Louis Armstrong and Sugar Ray Robinson both rose to greatness that reached across racial divides. Two new books look at the prices they had to pay.

Seger Unsettled Seger Unsettled

Midwest Rock icon Bob Seger’s former tour manager gives us a behind the scenes look at old time rock & roll; John G. Rodwan, Jr. turns the page.

Cosmic Gobbledygook
By Marc Vincenz – Sep 2009 | No Comment
Cosmic Gobbledygook

Did it all start with Bjork, or was she riding an inevitable wave? The world of Icelandic pop is weird, wild, and disarmingly wonderful – let Marc Vincenz be your guide.

‘You Gotta Get the First Beat Right’
By Brad Jones – Sep 2009 | No Comment
‘You Gotta Get the First Beat Right’

If you don’t know The Jazz Book, then as Miles Davis would say, ‘you ain’t never gonna know.’ Brad Jones shows us the groove.

Jazz Festivals and What They Play There Jazz Festivals and What They Play There

Self-appointed jazz authorities like Wynton Warsalis weigh in on jazz festivals and the musicians who love them, and their listeners. John G. Rodwan, Jr., devoted listener, sorts the noise.

Carmen ex Machina
By Phillip A. Lobo – Sep 2009 | No Comment
Carmen ex Machina

The blips and whistles of Mario’s soundtrack have evolved into grand strings and horns. Phillip A. Lobo assays how real music has come to video games, and vice versa.

Primordial Sounds of Lost Islands
By Marc Vincenz – Sep 2009 | No Comment
Primordial Sounds of Lost Islands

Music correspondent Marc Vincenz voyages to the end of the world – the windswept Faeroe Islands – and reports back on the entrancing music they make there. And the parties.

Cracking the Music Genome
By Steve Brachmann – Sep 2009 | No Comment
Cracking the Music Genome

Your father’s FM radio can close up shop, as far as Steve Brachman’s concerned; the music you want is at your fingertips, and you hear it the way you like it, on your computer.

Marimo Balls, Midnight Sun, and the Water of Life
By Marc Vincenz – Jul 2009 | No Comment
Marimo Balls, Midnight Sun, and the Water of Life

Quick: What’s Iceland like? Faint idea? Marc Vincenz reassures—your knowledge of Japan will do just fine.

The Crowing of Corncrakes
By Lianne Habinek – May 2009 | No Comment
The Crowing of Corncrakes

The Decemberists seem benign enough, but their songs are blood-dimmed with rape, drownings, and even cannibalism. The body count rises on their new release The Hazards of Love, but Lianne Habinek also discovers fresh wellsprings of feeling.

Joshua Redman Makes His Move Joshua Redman Makes His Move

Joshua Redman’s new album Compass makes some daring allusions to the all-time titans of jazz; John G. Rodwan, Jr. listens to hear how Redman borrows from those pastmasters and how he departs from them.

Grace
By Nivedita Gunturi – May 2009 | No Comment
Grace

Jeff Buckley’s famous father and early death insured him a cult status in the pop culture pantheon. Nivedita Gunturi uncovers the music behind the myths.

The Last Train for the Coast
By Brad Jones – May 2009 | No Comment
The Last Train for the Coast

The advent of the CD threw the retail music business into a disarray from which it hasn’t recovered. Brad Jones, a veteran of that disarray, reads Steve Knopper’s account of the industry’s Appetite for Self-Destruction.

Big Kid
By Andrew Martin – Mar 2009 | No Comment
Big Kid

Thug or genius? Artist or gangster? In his brief, troubled life – and now in the new movie Notorious – The Notorious B.I.G. was an enigma. Andrew Martin sorts myth from legend.

Blue Music Blue Music

The one jazz album even hardened jazz haters own – Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue – turns fifty this year. John G. Rodwan, Jr. plays out the tracks of its long, strange life.

One More, Please?
By Greg Waldmann – Jan 2009 | No Comment
One More, Please?

It’s been years—too long!—since Martha Argerich has preformed solo. Greg Waldmann eagerly pours thorugh her new DVD and the history of her brilliant career for clues to her reclusiveness and for glimmers of hope.

Ugly on Purpose Ugly on Purpose

Saxophone legend John Coltrane took jazz further from its traditional sound than any artist of his day. Philip Larkin kept traditional rhyme and meter alive in English verse. Richard Palmer’s new study, Such Deliberate Disguises, attempts to make the case for one influencing the other. John G. Rodwan Jr. puts the emphasis on “attempts.”

World-Famous Feelings
By Michael Adams – Dec 2008 | No Comment
World-Famous Feelings

For decades, Oscar Hammerstein transformed the world of musical theater, writing the lyrics for such blockbusters as Showboat, Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music. Michael Adams gives us front row seats for a tour through the master’s many moods.

Pinnacle
By Lianne Habinek – Aug 2008 | No Comment
Pinnacle

Lianne Habinek reviews Katie Hafner’s A Romance on Three Legs and gives up all the gossip on one of the most strange and successful relationships in music history, the ménage a trois among Glenn Gould, a blind piano tuner, and a one-of-a-kind Steinway concert grand.

Life Is Our Cause
By Laura Tanenbaum – Jun 2008 | No Comment
Life Is Our Cause

Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon sonically reshaped a generation, and Sheila Weller has talked to almost everyone who saw them do it. Laura Tanenbaum, reviewing Girls Like Us, assesses the job Weller does in letting these women roar.

One Encounter: Thank You and Goodbye
By Greg Waldmann – Mar 2008 | No Comment
One Encounter: Thank You and Goodbye

In February, the great pianist Alfred Brendel gave his final performance in New York City. Greg Waldmann was in Carnegie Hall to see it and in this regular feature he shares the experience.

Gladly Possessed Gladly Possessed

Joy Division was post-punk at its ecstatic, abrasive best. Peter Law reviews Control, the soundtrack to the documentary that briefly brought the emblematic band back on the stage.

Quiet Storm
By David Meadow – Oct 2007 | No Comment
Quiet Storm

Jazz composer Terence Blanchard’s score movingly complemented Spike Lee’s documentary When the Levees Broke. David Meadow evaluates whether the music stands alone in the album A Tale of God’s Will: A Requiem for Katrina.

Second Glance: Do You Know Squarepusher?
By Adam Golaski – Sep 2007 | No Comment
Second Glance: Do You Know Squarepusher?

In this regular feature, Adam Golaski revisits Intelligent Dance (or “laptop”) Music, discovering unity and poise in a Squarepusher album which critics have short-sightedly misfiled.

Who Are the Smashing Pumpkins?
By Adam Golaski – Aug 2007 | No Comment
Who Are the Smashing Pumpkins?

Adam Golaski reviews Zeitgeist, the newest from the iconic band whose members are always changing and whose bickering and misery is our gain.