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strawbebehmod · 2 months

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Ok I've had enough of this "Alastor doesn't know about gay stuff" I keep seeing around. As a history nerd I honestly can't take it anymore.

Kiddos it's time to learn you a few things. First of all, compared to subsequent decades,

The 1920s were incredibly gay

Was it still illegal to perform homosexual acts, yes. Were gay people still abused and lost jobs for being gay, and were even socially excluded from cishet white society? Oh absolutely. Did most individuals have to stay closeted? Duh. But you know what wasn't a wide spread thing yet? The medicalization of homosexuality. Conversion therapy wasn't fully approved of by psychiatrists until the 40's. Crossdressing wasn't considered mental illness, scandalous, yes, but not mental illness. The haze codes were not implemented yet, and the combination of prohibition, the two decades prior of progressivism, and the horrors of world war one left the youngest generation with a rebellious spirit and a desire for breaking the law. And if you lived in a big city, being LGBT in the twenties was often better than being LGBT in the 30s, 40s, or even 50s.

Young rich kids would seek out queer cruising spots in cities as a form of tourism. Harlem was famous for it's yearly drag balls, and many of the most famous black artists at the time were infact lgbt. Broadway and Hollywood were full of individuals who people knew were not entirely straight. Hell, jazz was born in red light districts home to black queer people. In places like New York there were people famous for being openly gay and despite sodomy laws police would not care in the slightest about them.

And though the South was as fucked as it ever was with Jim Crow Laws and the race riots, New Orleans has always been one of the more progressive cities in the South and has always had a very large gay community. Between the inherit campiness and debauchery of Mardi gras to being the birth place of jazz, to new Orleans being the easiest place to get away with breaking prohibition laws in the south, Alastor as a mixed race black radio host playing jazz in New Orleans in the 20s ABSOLUTELY is familiar with the LGBT community of the time.

The thing is, the language used by the community at the time was so fundamentally different that alastor would not know what you are talking about if you spoke to him about modern LGBT issues. The pride flag did not even exist yet. Gay still meant happy to him in his age. "Bisexual" at the time was more akin to the term "trans" than being attracted to multiple genders, and transgender didn't exist yet as a word. But if you called yourself "a confirmed bachelor" he would understand you were a man who liked men. If you called yourself a "fairy" he would know you weren't cis. If you were a woman and told him you liked sapho or Peter pan, he'd know you liked women. And if you were wearing lavender, or a green carnation, a red bowtie, a violet (if you were a woman), or were a man with a peacock feather in your ensemble he would give you a knowing nod. He's not ignorant of the lgbtq. He's a man out of his time. He speaks a different language entirely to modern gay slang, so it seem he doesn't know anything about it. But he does. Gay and trans people have always been a thing and as a radio host, literally being on the forefront of mass media at it's beginnings, in arguably the best decade to be gay in the 20th century before the 60s, in a city so comfortable with what was considered debauchery that it gave birth to "devil music" and embraced it before anyone else, yes he knows what they are. He just doesn't have the modern language to express it.

#alastor hazbin hotel #1920s #lgbt history #rant #hazbin hotel #he would be confused as hell if you asked him where to find a gay bar to pick up twinks #but you ask him to take you to a saloon where all the fit young sailors hang out and he could instantly give you directions

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justforbooks · 2 months

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Iris Apfel was finally recognised as a great, original fashion stylist in her 80s, when the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum in New York had a sudden gap in its 2005 exhibition schedule. Many curators knew Apfel, who has died aged 102, as a collector stashing away clothes, especially costume jewellery, both couture-high and street-market-low, so the institute asked to borrow some of her thousands of pieces.

When Apfel wore them herself, dozens at a time in ensembles collaged fresh daily, they had zingy pzazz, so she was invited to set up the displays. There was no publicity budget, and her name was modestly known only in the interior decor trade, yet the show, Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Apfel Collection, became a huge success after visitors promoted it online. It toured other American museums, changing exhibits en route because Apfel wanted her stuff back so she could wear it.

Apfel’s grandfather had been a master tailor in Russia; her father, Samuel Barrel, supplied mirrors to smart decorators; her chic mother, Sadye (nee Asofsky), had a fashion shop. They lived out in rural Astoria, in the Queens borough of New York, where Iris was born.

As a child, her treat was a weekly subway trip to Manhattan to explore its shops, her favourites the junk emporia of Greenwich Village. She was short, plain and, until her teen years, plump, but she had style; and the owner of a Brooklyn department store picked her out of a crowd to tell her so. During the Depression all her family could sew, drape, glue, paint and otherwise create the look of a room, or a person, on a budget of cents – the best of educations.

She studied art history at New York University, then qualified to teach and did so briefly in Wisconsin before fleeing back to New York to work on Women’s Wear Daily. Furniture and fabrics were in short supply during and after the second world war, and Iris began to earn by sourcing antiques and textiles; if she could not find it, she could make or fake it cheaply.

In 1948 she married Carl Apfel, and they became a decorating team: he had the head for business and she the eye. Unable to find cloth appropriate to a period decor, Iris adapted a design from an old piece and had it woven in a friend’s family mill; she and Carl then set up Old World Weavers in 1952, commissioning traditional makers around the globe.

Photographs and home-movie footage from the next four decades showed Apfel, adorned with elan, haggling for one-off items in souks, flea markets and bric-a-brac shops. She is the most decorative sight in each shot, her ensembles put together with complex cadenzas atop an underlying, tailored, structure– they are like jazz – not a statement, but a conversation.

Apfel was the last of those 20th-century fashion exotics who presented themselves as installations. Although she wore a priest’s warm tunic to the White House (President Richard Nixon underheated the place), plus armfuls of cheap African bracelets and thigh-high boots, she was not an exhibitionist like the Marchesa Casati, and, with her vaudevillian comic timing, was far funnier than the imperious Vogue editor Diana Vreeland.

Also, she never ever bought full-price: her many rails and under-the-bed suitcases of couture were sale-price samples, chosen for their cut, fabric, skilled craftwork and colour dazzle (“Colour can raise the dead”). She might wear them over thrift shop pyjamas, or under a Peking Opera costume, with hawsers of necklaces atop. Money could not buy personal style, she said, prettiness withered, beauty could corrode the soul. All that really mattered was “attitude, attitude, attitude”.

Old World Weavers discreetly refurbished the White House under nine presidents, as well as grand hotels and private houses, before the Apfels sold the company in 1992. They retired to a quiet life in their apartment on Park Avenue, New York, its decor an extension of Apfel’s outfits (bad garment choices were cut up for cushions), and in a Palm Beach holiday home where the Christmas decoration collection stayed up all year round, along with cuddly toys and museum-class folk art. Clothes shopping, and the improvisation of an outfit, became Apfel’s daily ritual, as cooking might be to a gourmet.

But after the Met show, and a book, Rare Bird of Fashion (2007), Apfel was back in as much full-time employment as she could manage in her 80s and 90s (she had a hip replacement because she fell after stepping on an Oscar de la Renta gown). She was cover girl of Dazed and Confused, among many other publications, window display artist at Bergdorf Goodman, designer and design consultant – superb on eye-glasses; she wore large, owl-like, frames to stylise her aged face into a witty, unchanging, cartoon.

She took seriously her responsibilities to fashion students on her course at the University of Texas, teaching them about imagination, craft and tangible pleasures in a world of images.

Her career lasted – nothing was ever too late: in 2018, Iris Apfel: Accidental Icon, a book of memoir and sound style advice; in 2019, a contract with the model agency IMG; and last year, a beauty campaign for makeup with Ciaté London. The documentarian Albert Maysles trailed her for Iris (2014), filming this “geriatric starlet” – her term – as she dealt drolly with new high-fashion friends, or laughed at an “Iris” Halloween costume (glasses, a ton of bangles).

She watched as a storage loft of her antique treasures was listed in lots for sale, and as white-gloved assistants from museums that had begged a bequest boxed up her garments; she still had, and wore, the shoes from her wedding. All things, she said, were only on loan in this world, even to collectors. The point was to enjoy them to the full before bidding them good-bye.

Carl died in 2015.

🔔 Iris Barrel Apfel, decorator and fashion stylist, born 29 August 1921; died 1 March 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

#just for books #iris apfel #in memoriam

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doomandgloomfromthetomb · 4 months

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BOOTLEGS 2023

The year is winding down, so it's time to look back at the last 12 month's crop of live tapes. Crowd noise, tape hiss, distortion, murk ... and plenty of magic, people! As I do this year after year, I ask myself: "Why do I do this year after year?" I guess it's a habit I can't break. But I do love something about these cloudy recordings — the immediacy, the imperfections, the possibilities. Each bootleg, no matter how lo-fi, contains a glimmer of hope, a potential for beauty and transcendence. The fact that not all of them (few of them, in fact!) really deliver on that promise is part of the deal. The search continues!

Anyhoo, here's a sampling of the Doom & Gloom goods from 2023 to get you caught up ... thank you to the tapers, the archivists, the fans, the innocents.

Sonic Youth - #SonicSummer (Live 1981-2011)

Mazzy Star - The Mint, Los Angeles, California, July 15, 1993

Television - Max’s Kansas City, New York City, August 28, 1974

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Altamont Speedway, Tracy, California, December 6, 1969

Damon & Naomi - Best Video Film & Cultural Center, Hamden, Connecticut, May 12, 2023

Sandy Denny + John Martyn - Sundown Theatre, London, England, October 26, 1972

John Fahey - Carnegie Hall, New York City, Sept. 21, 1973

Neil Young with Booker T. & The MG’s - Los Angeles Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California, September 11, 1993

Prairiewolf - Paradise Found Records, Boulder, Colorado, July 1, 2023

The Band - Wollman Skating Rink, Central Park, New York City, June 30, 1971

PJ Harvey - McCabe’s Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, California, September 25, 1993

Van Morrison - Harvard Square Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 14, 1974

The Velvet Underground - The Playhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 1, 1993 (Soundcheck)

Loose Fur - The Double Door, Chicago, Illinois, May 14, 2000

Stephen Malkmus - Mr. T’s Bowl, Highland Park, California, August 13, 1998

Yo La Tengo - The Grotto, New Haven, Connecticut, October 23, 1987

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Town Hall, New York City, October 9, 1976

The Cramps - Toad’s Place, New Haven, Connecticut, February 20, 1992

The Dream Syndicate - Crystal Ballroom, Somerville, Massachusetts, September 18, 2022

Gram Parsons - Max’s Kansas City, New York City, March 9, 1973

Tom Verlaine - The Roxy, West Hollywood, California, October 17, 1981

Lou Reed & The Tots - Humpin’ Hannah’s, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, January 20, 1973

Elizabeth Cotten - Euphoria Tavern, Portland, Oregon, February 19, 1975

Sonny Rollins and his Jazz Ensemble - East River Park Amphitheatre, New York City, August 7, 1962

#bootlegs #live music

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cartermagazine · 6 months

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Today In History

The records by Louis Armstrong and His Five–and later, Hot Seven–are the most influential in jazz.

Armstrong’s improvised solos transformed jazz from an ensemble-based music into a soloist’s art, while his expressive vocals incorporated innovative bursts of scat singing and an underlying swing feel.

Armstrong recorded the first of his “Hot Five” and “Hot Seven” recordings on this date November 11, 1925.

By the end of the decade, the popularity of the Hot Fives and Sevens was enough to send Armstrong back to New York, where he appeared in the popular Broadway revue, “Hot Chocolates.”

These recordings greatly influenced the direction of jazz music.

CARTER™️ Magazine

#carter magazine #carter #historyandhiphop365 #wherehistoryandhiphopmeet #history #cartermagazine #today in history #staywoke #blackhistory #blackhistorymonth #louis armstrong

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burlveneer-music · 6 months

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David Wertman - Kara Suite - Finders Keepers reissue of 1976 LP from Steve Reid's Mustevic Sound label

As one of the three inaugural 1976 releases to ignite the mythical Mustevic Music catalogue, David Wertman’s elusive Kara Suite LP was the first record to turn jazz drummer Steve Reid’s vanity imprint into a bona fide cooperative record label with a multi-artist repertoire. Entrusting his own bass player with the limelight, Reid’s unlikely A&R decision would typify his oblique strategies and challenge the common perception of a soloist within jazz’s shifting landscape. Drawing few comparisons amongst independent label releases of the time, save for rare standalone LP by Ronnie Boykins (ESP 1975) and cellist Abdul Wadoud (Bisharra 1978), Wertman’s only solo album (preceding his work with Sun Ensemble and The New Life Trio) combined frenetic bow work, intricate spiritual exchanges and raucous rock solid cyclic riffage to underpin his own compositional complexities. Providing a platform for first-time players like Richard Schatzberg (French horn) and future avant jazz punk participant Ken Simon (tenor/soprano sax) Kara Suite provides an early indication of Wertman’s multilayered and non-conformist blueprint from which the hallowed New Life Trio would eventually illuminate. The album’s off-kilter commitment is further cemented by the inclusion of worldly free jazz luminary Charles Tyler (alto sax) and the naturalistic back-beat of Steve Reid himself to complete the dream team – albeit a sleepless one, on account of this one-off quintet’s wide-eyed innovation. Presented in four parts, Kara Suite documents Wertman’s very first musical directorial commitment to vinyl, preceded only by guest appearances, months earlier, on Steve Reid’s classic Rhythmatism and the ultra-rare The Universal Jazz Symphonette LP which chronicles Wertman’s deep-end New York baptism alongside Billy Bang and Earl Freeman before his relocation to Northampton forged this unique and oblique chapter in America’s independent jazz narrative. As one of the final pages to be turned in the Mustevic reappraisal legacy this album perhaps remains the best kept secret for aficionados who actively choose to blur the lines between spiritual jazz and free jazz with no discrimination against art rock and the genre that might soon be christened punk (but not as we know it). Finally resurrected via the Finders Keepers/Early Future unison, complete with full cooperation and sleeve note narration by David’s partner Lynne Meryl, it might come as little surprise that amongst these pillars of alternative, privately pressed jazz is a story that also intertwines names such as Alice Cooper, Archie Shepp, KISS and DJ Shadow and many mutating musical genres that have made this music so hard to pin down over the subsequent five decades.

#Bandcamp #David Wertman #jazz #free jazz #70s #1976 #reissue #finders keepers #spiritual jazz

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t-jfh · 17 days

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Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue

Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released on August 17, 1959, by Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22, 1959. The sessions featured Davis's ensemble sextet, with pianist Bill Evans, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. After the entry of Evans into his sextet, Davis followed up on the modal experimentations of Milestones (1958) by basing Kind of Blue entirely on modality, in contrast to his earlier work with the hard bop style of jazz.

Though precise figures have been disputed, Kind of Blue has been described by many music writers not only as Davis's best-selling album, but as the bestselling jazz record of all time. On October 7, 2008, it was certified quadruple platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It has been regarded by many critics as the greatest jazz album of all time and Davis's masterpiece.

Miles Davis … essentially kind of blue.

YouTube music video >> Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue (Full Album) [Released 22 July 2015 / 48mins.+44secs.]:

youtube

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#Music #Jazz #Experimental jazz #Musician: Miles Davis #‘Kind of Blue’ studio album by Miles Davis 1959 #Youtube

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jpbjazz · 1 month

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LÉGENDES DU JAZZ

SLAM STEWART, LE CONTREBASSISTE CHANTANT

“In the 40s, he was the most recorded jazz bass player of all time."

- Roger Luther

Initialement utilisée comme complément du tuba (ou sousaphone) et confinée à un rôle essentiellement rythmique, la contrebasse est progressivement devenue un instrument de jazz à part entière grâce à des pionniers comme Bill Johnson, Steve Brown et Wellman Braud dans les années 1920, Jimmy Blanton à la fin des années 1930, et Oscar Pettiford et Paul Chambers dans les années 1940 et 1950. Avec l’introduction de l’enregistrement électronique dans les années 1930, la contrebasse avait éventuellement supplanté le tuba. Lorsque la contrebasse avait commencé à sortir de l’ombre dans les années 1920, les contrebassistes jouaient rarement des solos. Une des seules exceptions à cett égard était Duke Ellington, qui avait écrit des solos pour Wellman Braud, notamment dans le cadre de la pièce de 1928 “The Blues With a Feelin’”.

Parmi les contrebassistes qui n’avaient jamais vraiment reçu la reconnaissance qu’ils méritaient, on remarquait Slam Stewart et Major Holley. Ironiquement, les deux musiciens partageaient plusieurs choses en commun, y compris le fait d’être des virtuoses de l’archet et de s’être accompagnés au chant tout en jouant de la contrebasse.

Les carrières de Stewart et Holley avaient d’ailleurs suivi des trajectoires passablement identiques. Même si les deux musiciens avaient joué avec sensiblement les mêmes formations et avaient accompagné Art Tatum et Benny Goodman, ils ne s’étaient pas rencontrés avant 1961 et n’avaient pas enregistré ensemble avant 1977. Leur album Shut Yo’ Mouth comprenait notamment une parodie de “Close Your Eyes”. Nous reviendrons éventuellement sur le cas de Holley, mais concentrons-nous d’abord sur la vie de Stewart.

Né le 21 septembre 1914 à Englewood, au New Jersey, Leroy Eliot "Slam" Stewart était le fils d’un majerdome. Stewart avait commencé à jouer de la contrebasse durant ses études au Dwight Morrow High School. Par la suite, Stewart avait étudié durant un an au conservatoire de Boston. Dans le cadre de ses études au conservatoire, Stewart avait entendu Ray Perry chanter tout en jouant du violon, ce qui lui avait donné l’idée de faire de même à la contrebasse. Tout en jouant de la contrebasse, Stewart avait commencé à chanter un octave plus haut, ce qui avait permis de créer un son assez particulier. Selon son ami et collègue Al Hamme, Stewart n’avait jamais terminé ses études au conservatoire parce Benny Goodman l’avait entendu jouer et l’avait aussitôt engagé avec son orchestre.

DÉBUTS DE CARRIÈRE

Dès son arrivée à New York en 1935, Stewart avait commencé à introduire sa technique avec les groupes avec lesquels il se produisait. C’est aussi à cette époque que Stewart s’était mérité le surnom de Slam. Il expliquait: ''At times, I slapped the bass when I played. It had the same sound as a slam. They gave me the name Slam, and I've been stuck with it ever since. But I'm very used to it and prefer it to Leroy.''

En 1937, Stewart avait formé le duo Slim and Slam avec le guitariste et chanteur Slim Gaillard. Le groupe avait remporté un grand succès dans les clubs de l’ouest de la 52e rue, mieux connue sous le nom de ''Swing Street.'' Lorsque Gaillard avait été mobilisé par l’armée en 1941, Stewart s’était joint au trio d’Art Tatum avant de former son propre trio avec le pianiste Erroll Garner, qui en était alors à ses débuts. Stewart avait joué par la suite avec le sextet et le big band de Benny Goodman.

Le plus grand succès du duo avait été la pièce "Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy)" en 1938. La chanson était devenue si populaire que Benny Goodman l’avait reprise sur son émission de radio ''The Camel Caravan.'' L’enregistrement de la chanson avait même été inséré dans une capsule temporelle lors de l’Exposition internationale de New York en 1939. L’enregistrement de Philip Sousa 'Washington Post March'' faisait également partie de la capsule.

Dans les années 1940, Stewart avait joué avec de grands noms du jazz comme Lester Young, Fats Waller, Coleman Hawkins, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum, Johnny Guarnieri, Red Norvo, Don Byas, Benny Goodman et Beryl Booker. Stewart avait participé à une des sessions les plus célèbres de sa carrière en accompagnant Dizzy Gillespie et Charlie Parker en 1945. Dans le cadre de ces sessions, Stewart avait participé à l’enregistrement de classiques du bebop comme "Groovin' High" et "Dizzy Atmosphere". Toujours en 1945, Stewart avait enregistré le standard “After You’ve Gone” avec le sextet de Benny Goodman. Il avait aussi enregistré la même année le classique “I Got Rhythm” avec le saxophoniste Don Byas.

Malgré tous ses accomplissements, Stewart s’était surtout fait connaître pour avoir chanté tout en s’accompagnant à l’archet à la contrebasse. Même si certains critiques avaient qualifié le procédé de ‘’gimmick’’, Stewart, qui avait toujours été très en demande comme contrebassiste plutôt traditionnel, l’avait toujours utilisé à des fins musicales plutôt que pour attirer l’attention. Cette technique était particulièrement mise en évidence sur la pièce ''Slam Slam Blues'', qui avait été enregistrée au milieu des années 1940 avec un groupe tout-étoile composé de Red Norvo, Teddy Wilson, Charlie Parker et Dizzy Gillespie.

DERNIÈRES ANNÉES

Également enseignant, Stewart avait été professeur à la Binghamton University de New York et à l’Université Yale. Stewart s’était installé à Binghamton en 1969. À l’époque, le Roberson Center avait décidé d’organiser un concert de jazz. Une des employées du centre, Claire Wood, connaissait Stewart et lui avait demandé de participer au concert. L’historien Roger Luther expliquait: “When he got here, he just fell in love with the area and also fell in love with the woman who invited him.’’ Stewart avait d’ailleurs épousé Claire quelque temps plus tard. La résidence du couple au 80, Chesnut Street, était éventuellement devenue le site de plusieurs jam sessions ainsi qu’un centre de regroupement de plusieurs musiciens locaux. Stewart avait d’ailleurs commémoré cette période de sa carrière dans le cadre de la pièce "80 Chestnut Street" qui faisait partie de son dernier album en carrière. L’album servait à amasser des fonds pour le Binghamton Sertoma Club. C’est le saxophoniste Al Hamme, qui avait rencontré Stuart dans les années 1970, qui avait produit l’album. Hamme avait toujours considéré Stewart comme un ‘’gentleman.’’ Hamme avait d’ailleurs enseigné avec Stewart à la Binghamton University. Hamme qui avait produit l’album.

Stewart est décédé d’une crise cardiaque à Binghamton le 10 décembre 1987. Il était âgé de soixante-treize ans. Stewart avait continué d’enregistrer et de se produire en concert jusqu’à sa mort. Hamme devait participer à une session d’enregistrement le lendemain de sa mort, mais la session n’avait jamais eu lieu. Hamme expliquait: “There were some places that he just didn’t get it correctly and we said, ‘it’s alright, we’ll do it in the next session,’ but we never got to the next session." Les amis de Stewart avaient éventuellement terminé l’album pour lui rendre hommage. On peut également voir Stewart jouer sur vidéo dans le cadre de l’Internationale Jazzwoche (International Jazz Week) de Burghausen, en Allemagne, en 1990, et dans une session de 1974 dans laquelle il interprétait la pièce ‘’Angel Eyes.’’

Stewart laissait dans le deuil son épouse Claire Wood ainsi que deux enfants.

Considéré comme un grand innovateur et voire même comme une véritable légende, Stewart était également très apprécié de ses collègues musiciens. Lors de son séjour à Binghamton, le saxophoniste Al Hamme avait été le directeur du Harpur Jazz Ensemble et du programme de jazz de l’université dont il était également le fondateur. Stewart s’était joint à la faculté afin de transmettre ses connaissances aux nouvelles générations de musiciens.

En 1984, l’université avait décerné à Stewart un diplôme à titre honorifique. C’est d’ailleurs Hamme qui lui avait remis son diplôme. Décrivant Stewart comme un homme de peu de mots, Hamme avait déclaré: “He didn’t talk about it much, but I picked up hints every once in a while from his friends that he was a son of a butler for a wealthy family down there." Hamme, qui avait accompagné Stewart lors de ses dernières tournées, avait ajouté que le contrebassiste était particulièrement populaire en France. Hamme avait précisé: "They treated him really well there. Me, not so much. They don't really like Americans, but they loved Slam."

Malgré toutes ses réalisations, Stewart était très peu connu. Comme l’expliquait l’historien de Broome County, Roger Luther: “A lot of people in this area don’t realize how famous he was." Luther avait ajouté: “In the 40s, he was the most recorded jazz bass player of all time."

Au cours de sa carrière, Stewart avait participé à plusieurs tournées mondiales. Il avait également été engagé comme ambassadeur de bonne volonté dans le cadre de plusieurs tournées organisées par le département d’État. Même s’il est courant de nos jours pour les contrebassistes de jazz de jouer à l’archet, aucun n’avait jamais réussi à surpasser la virtuosité de Stewart et Holley. Parmi les contrebassistes que Stewart et Holley avaient influencés, on remarquait Christian McBride, Edgar Meyer, Michael Moore, Rufus Reid, Ari Roland, Miroslav Vitous, Red Mitchell, Dave Holland, George Mraz et Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen. Le contrebassiste et compositeur Steve Provizer écrivait: ‘’Jazz has thrived and will continue to because it is capable of communicating the full range of human emotion. Time to give Slam Stewart and Major Holley the credit they deserve.’’

SOURCES:

‘‘One of the Greats: Famous Jazz Musician Slam Stewart Called Bingmanton Home.’’ Fox 40 WICZ TV, 9 février 2021.

PALMER, Robert. ‘’Slam Stewart, 73, a Jazz Bassist Known for Singing With His Solos.’’ New York Times, 11 décembre 1987.

PROVIZER, Steve. ‘’Slam Stewart and Major Holley: Jazz Bass Masters of the Bow.’’ The Syncopated Times, 29 mai 2020.

‘’Slam Stewart.’’ Wikipedia, 2024.

#jazz

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pierreism · 1 year

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A Bed and a Chair: A New York Love Affair (2013)

To honour the great Stephen Sondheim on what would have been his 93rd birthday, I present my remaster* of his unique 2013 revue, A Bed and a Chair, which debuted November 13th at New York City Center for an all-too-brief 5 day engagement.

Far from the usual songbook recital, the show was a new creative collaboration between Sondheim and jazz composer Wynton Marsalis, who reinterpreted each track especially for his 15-piece jazz ensemble. The resulting work casts these enduring showtunes in a new light; the gilded brass and velvet tones nods back to an era of Manhattan ballrooms and big band orchestras – the kind of lost urban elegance we search for in the records of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. In ways both good and sometimes contradictory, Sondheim’s New York neuroses has never sounded so luxe.

Let Jeremy Jordan effortlessly break your heart. Delight at Bernadette Peters’ left-field choices. Hear Norm Lewis somehow evoke every single member of the Rat Pack in his rendition of “Someone Is Waiting”. Try not to fall in love with French chanteuse Cyrille Aimée, a wildcard borrowed from the jazz world and the ace that makes the entire hand work. 90 minutes.

*mixed from two separate audio and video sources. While the video is 144p, to my knowledge it’s the highest quality recording of the entire show currently available. If anyone has a better looking or sounding copy, get in touch! Many thanks to the original recorders/preservationists.

#Stephen Sondheim #Wynton Marsalis #Bernadette Peters #Norm Lewis #Jeremy Jordan #Cyrille Aimée

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appalamutte · 1 year

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ok i literally was just planning out my own music au as well and oh my god this is the most comprehensive au i have seen holy shit. i seriously need to know more about the rest of the cast and how they fit in (bittysfoodbaby)

hi! i’m so sorry this took me *checks notes* two months and some days to answer. i don’t really have a reason besides school got the best of me and somehow i still feel like it should be valentine’s day, not the first week of may. omg.

anyway!! to make up for it i've pulled everyone i possibly could into this, because i like to flesh out alternate universes as much as possible, even if the character never makes an appearance:

(i already have a post/primer on jack and bitty in this au here! and here’s the other ask if you need a refresher)

shitty — shitty plays the viola, and it's solely because it's the instrument his father wanted him to play the least. the other country club fellows’ kids played the violin or the cello. shitty didn’t want none of that. (a small part of him loves the viola too, he just never says so)

lardo — percussionist. i just get strong mallet vibes from her, but i feel she wouldn’t limit herself to just the mallets either. she's not in the Founders ensemble or in the small group with everyone because she's not a string player, but she does live at the Haus, which is exactly the same as it is canonically except there's miscellaneous instruments and rosin and sheet music laying around everywhere on top of empty beer bottles and a lingering smell of dirty clothes/sweat

ransom — the cello. i feel it’s an obvious choice because he’s a d-man, and to me, the cello seems the most equivalent given it’s low voice that really supports the rest of the ensemble.

holster — cello (see above) but also for their small group, he plays the double bass. to be different.

as for how they fit in, ransom and holster complete the small group-slash-string quintet! so it goes bitty and jack on violins, shitty on viola, ransom on cello, and holster either on cello or double bass depending on what’s needed. i’m still figuring out the kinks on how they all meet since they’re not on a hockey team, so i can’t get you that far, but they are all the same ages/same personalities/same group dynamics etc etc

for the rest:

nursey / dex — see ransom’s explanation (can you tell i view d-men as cellists lmao). also they’re stand partners. that is not up for debate whatsoever

chowder — now he’s a tough one to pinpoint. i want to say percussionist since he’s a goalie (idk about anyone else, but in every ensemble i’ve been in, the percussionists had major goalie personalities. and ofc lardo is excluded from this parallel) but i also get very strong flute vibes too. this is in part because the flute is a very whimsical instrument and chowder is a very whimsical guy, and also because it just feels right when i picture it. so my tentative answer is the flute, but it’s still very much up for debate

whiskey — ideally he’s a trumpet player through and through. however, for the plot, he’s a clarinet player (i.e. the tadpole woodwind trio)

tango — bassoon. again it’s for the trio, but also bassoons to me are just so inquisitive. i can’t tell you why though

ford — flute and it’s again for the tadpole woodwind trio. also i went to school with a flute player who was also a huge theater lover, so it fits

kent — violin. he’s still jack’s ex-best-friend-slash-ex-boyfriend and they still have their fallout. but they also had planned to audition for julliard on the same day, like the nhl draft in canon, and as such kent does get into julliard and ends up becoming the concertmaster (principal violin) of the new york philharmonic

tater — double bass. yes, i said i think all d-men play the cello, but not tater. he takes it to another level. his height and wingspan makes the double bass cello-sized though so it checks out still. also he’s kent’s too-serious fwb

camilla — she gives me saxophone vibes. like jazz vibes (half of the saxophones in my school band played tennis btw)

#that’s all i’ve got!! really only the og 6 and frogs appear in the au but like i said. i love going all out haha #(also once you get past chowder i start going more with vibes than anything else)#omgcp #omgcheckplease #answered

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joemarta · 1 year

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A look at John Williams

John Williams. This name for many people paints a picture of soaring string melodies, brilliant brass fanfares, and vivid imagery coming alive through his music. For those of you who don't know who I am speaking of, John Williams is known for iconic soundtracks to many movies, including Star Wars, Jaws, Schindler's List, and many more classics. Now one may think that a musician of this classical caliber may have a certain type of upbringing or influences, but it may not be what you expect.

Williams grew up right across the river in Floral Park, New York, to a family filled with musical talent. Growing up in New York alone allows one to have access to some of the most incredible music scenes on the planet, but pair that with an already musical family, and you get one of the greatest film scorers and composers of the past 100 years. New York is home to some of the biggest orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic, and also home to famous jazz clubs such as Bigs and the Blue Note. Although he is currently known for his soundtracks and classical works, his familial talent lies in other fields. His father was a well known jazz percussionist, as well as some of his uncles. Growing up Williams learned trombone, trumpet, and piano. Coming from such a jazz oriented family, he studied a lot of jazz piano, and made a small ensemble of his own. When entering college, he decided to change his career choice towards becoming a classical pianist as well as a composer. This is where we start to see the John Williams we know. He’s changing from the jazz oriented musician, and shifting gears to a more classical focus. Like many music students, he suffered a bit from the sounds of a practice room. Imagine being in a building that has dozens of rooms, filled with the future Mozarts, Yo-Yo Ma’s and Kenny DeCarlo’s of the world. Hearing all these crazy future stars, he decided to really hone in on his composition and accompaniment piano skills. While in college at Julliard, he was drafted into the Air Force and given the responsibility of creating music for the military bands. Upon returning to the states he finished college and moved onto the next part of his life, where we get even closer to the Williams that we love and know today.

John Williams became what is called a studio musician. These individuals are highly talented musicians that perform for soundtracks and professional recordings of media. He played on films such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Peter Gunn. These opportunities presented him with the idea of composing music for films, which is where we have the Williams that we love and know today. His fame in the movie industry is almost unparalleled, but there is another side to him that not a lot of people know about. John Williams acknowledges that he is older, and unfortunately does not have a lot of time left with us, and decided to mostly retire as a film composer. In an interview with the New York Times, he states that “Six months of life at my age is a long time”, which is an unfortunate truth. But do not fret, the mastermind is still creating more music, but has shifted to a more classical scene with orchestral and solo works.

Personally, I am a huge fan of Williams' new works, but many people in the classical world are on the fence. This is where I am going to let out a little bit of my frustrations with the institution that is the classical music world. So many people and orchestras are stuck in the past and will not play new works. Many composers such as myself fight for very few chances to have your orchestral piece played once and then have it be lost to time. The ensembles would rather play old standards than try something new, in most cases. (Rutgers is pushing to have at least one newer orchestral piece per concert!). John Williams is writing incredible new works, such as his 2021 piece, Overture to the Oscars, a piece reminiscent of Gustav Holsts, Jupiter. But, this piece might only get played once, because of the culture in the orchestral world.

Another aspect working against him is that of the classical world having a lack of respect for the film world. I feel like a lot of composers want to push the boundaries of music and lack tonal centers, which quite frankly makes the music less friendly to the ear. There is a reason why classical music progressively faded out of popularity, and it is because it stopped lacking a singable theme. The songs that stay popular and at the forefront of society are ones that people can sing. Find a random person on the street and ask them to sing Jaws, or Star Wars, or Hooked on a Feeling. They can do it because it has a discernable and memorable melody. John Williams does this so much. He represents characters and places with themes, so when that music comes on, the viewer subconsciously knows what is going to happen. For whatever reason, this is looked down upon in the classical world, including some of our very own professors at Rutgers. They would argue that their music has themes and patterns, and which yes it does. But the music and patterns they follow are not particularly memorable, or singable, which is the key difference here. Now I would like to expand upon that this is mostly happening in the orchestral world. In band music, new works are encouraged and are preferred. We have the standards that are played, but many new pieces are also played. There is a reason why I am having 5 different band pieces premieres this semester, and literally no new orchestral pieces being played. I would really like to see Williams venture into the band world, because I think that bands would eat it up and love it.

Overall, I think that John Williams is making a good move by just writing music to write music and not worrying about deadlines. It allows his true voice to show, and we can see how he developed from where he once was as a jazz pianist to the composer he is now. I think that the culture of the orchestral music world will have to change for Williams concert music to thrive.

#john williams #music #classical music #star wars

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dustedmagazine · 7 months

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Kris Davis — Diatom Ribbons Live At The Village Vanguard (Pyroclastic)

Photo by Peter Gannushkin

The bio on Kris Davis’ website borrows a line from the New York Times which described the Canadian pianist as the beacon that told listeners where in New York City one should go on any given night. Diatom Ribbons Live At The Village Vanguard proposes a more expansive understanding of her relationship to jazz, because the ensemble’s music is a zone where Davis’s notions about was worth hearing in the 20th century gets processed and beamed out into the 21st.

The first project’s first, self-titled iteration wasn’t really the work of a band as much as it was the manifestation of a concept. The musicians at its core were Davis on piano, Trevor Dunn on electric bass, Terri Lynne Carrington on drums and Val Jeanty wielding turntables as a source of sampled speech, natural sounds and scratches. They were supplemented by six other musicians playing electric guitar, saxophones, vibes and voice, who enabled Davis to incorporate blues, rock, hip-hop and classical elements into her already-inclusive vision of the jazz continuum. The two-disc Diatom Ribbons was ambitious, but also a bit exhausting to negotiate.

This similarly dimensioned successor comes from a weekend engagement at the Village Vanguard. The latest material, which hinges around a three-part “Bird Suite,” and the ensemble’s lack of augmentation — besides the core group, there are no horns and just one guitarist, Julian Lage — results in a more cohesive statement of Davis’s thesis, which echoes a point that Charles Mingus already made a long, long time ago; you do Charlie Parker no honor by trying to play like him. He is the namesake of the three-part “Bird Suite,” which is the album’s center of gravity. Buttressed by Jeanty’s snatches of speeches by Sun Ra, Stockhausen, and other visionaries, as well as liberally reinterpreted tunes by Wayne Shorter, Ronald Shannon Jackson, and Geri Allen, the music seems to be arguing that today’s jazz musician, like Bird, need to deal with everything that’s happened, and then come up with something personal.

To that end, Davis makes a hash of old, dualistic notions like inside/outside, improvised/composed or jazz + (one other genre) hybrids. Properly prepared, hash is pretty tasty, and that’s the case with this overflowing platter of pristine lyricism, bebop-to-free structural abstractions, shifting rhythmic matrices and multi-signal broadcasts of sound and voice. This is the good stuff, Davis seems to be saying, and a music maker following a jazz trajectory needs to deal with it all. But, while the music of the Diatom Ribbons ensemble is way more creatively inclusive than all those bebop copycats Mingus used to rail against, it’s a highly personal reordering of what is known, not a total paradigm shift into the new. Come to think of it, however, Mingus’ own undeniably magnificent accomplishments were more on the order of what Davis is doing here than Charlie Parker’s transformation of the music of his time.

Bill Meyer

#kris davis #diatom ribbons live at the village vanguard #pyroclastic #bill meyer #albumreview #dusted magazine #jazz #Bandcamp

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theimpossiblescheme · 1 year

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and that’s what makes a gumbie cat! - a playlist for jennyanydots (for @the-cat-at-the-theatre-door)

01. a spoonful of sugar - julie andrews | 02. evolution of tap dance - postmodern jukebox feat. sarah reich | 03. one is a bird - shirley jones | 04. it’s today - angela lansbury | 05. takin’ care of business - bachman-turner overdrive | 06. i don’t care - judy garland | 07. paris nights / new york mornings - corinne bailey rae | 08. orange-colored sky - nat king cole | 09. big spender - valerie pettiford and ensemble | 10. just like a doll’s house - frank churchill and paul j. smith | 11. it’s a lovely day today - doris day | 12. obla-di, obla-da - hannah milchak | 13. superwoman - gladys knight, dionne warwick, and patti labelle | 14. shine on harvest moon - ruth etting | 15. no time at all - irene ryan | 16. la stravaganza, i. allegro - antonio vivaldi | 17. remember my name – mitski | 18. strangers in the starlight - eartha kitt | 19. make your own kind of music - cass elliot | 20. ain’t misbehavin’ - billie holliday | 21. fit as a fiddle - tatiana eva-marie and avalon jazz band | 22. dolores - adrien chevalier and charlie roman | 23. if i didn’t care - the ink spots | 24. the glory of love - benny goodman | 25. before the parade passes by - pearl bailey [listen]

#I've got at least one more of these queued up--these are so much fun to make you have no idea. :D #cats the musical #oldiesweek #jenyanydots #if music be the food of love play on

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bignybass · 1 year

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Bassist, composer, band leader and Billboard #1 national recording artist Christian de Mesones returns to the Birchmere with his new show, “You Only Live Twice,” celebrating music from his forthcoming 2023 release of the same name. This dynamic show features Christian’s uniquely hybrid sound that continues to wow fans around the country, highlighting his love for his Latin roots, with smooth jazz, funk, R&B, soul and rock influences apparent throughout the setlist. He is joined by a stellar ensemble consisting of ten national recording artists and showcasing triple horns, double keyboards and two of the most talented vocalists in the DMV. This year’s lineup includes Craig Alston, Carl Anderson, Eddie Baccus, Jr., Greg Boyer, Mike Gamble, Elliot Levine, Rob Maletick, Eddie Montalvo, Desiree Roots, and Nia Simmons. 2021 was a breakout year for Christian. His debut solo album, “They Call Me Big New York”, which features 25 national recording artists, garnered multiple top ten singles and has surpassed 2 million streams on Spotify. His 2020 single, “Big Tall Wish”, was featured on the Dave Koz Lounge show on Sirius XM Watercolors and reached #6 on the Groove Jazz/RadioWave chart. Jazziz Magazine featured a fan favorite from the album, “Year of the Dragon”, in its World Music edition, and the song reached #1 on the Radio Guitar One network. His single “Hispanica (Instrumental)” featuring legendary pianist Bob James delivered de Mesones his greatest chart success to date, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Smooth Jazz Airplay chart and landing solidly near or at the top of MediaBase, RadioWave, SmoothJazz.com, and Groove Jazz charts. de Mesones also reached #1 on Alan Kepler’s Smooth Jazz Network Top 100 chart and was one of their Breakout Artist nominees for 2021. Last year yielded continued success for de Mesones with the release of his latest single, “In His Vision”, his Birchmere debut, a special guest appearance at Spaghettini in California, and his performance at the 35th Annual Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival. Christian was also nominated as Instrumentalist of the Year on SoulTracks.com for the third year. https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/15005E32F8645E (at The Birchmere) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpiE586LAbR/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#1 #6

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