seeline

Have you heard her Valsa Brasileira? Really nice album, with great song choices.

I have a suspicion that we all want our heroes and heroines to be flawless - and of course, they never are. Apart from that, I don't want to come across as carrying a grudge against Miles (let alone any musicians who collaborated with either Sekou Toure or the Nazis), but I guess some of my skepticism about him comes from the fact that the Miles "cult" stuff can go pretty over the top (at least it did when he was still living), also because I have every sympathy for women like Pearl Cleage, who wrote a book about domestic abuse titled Mad at Miles. (Not that she personally had anything to do with Miles Davis, but she felt that he worked quite well as a public figure who was excused by many on account of his genius, etc.) For me right now, uncritical adulation heaped on the late Sekou Toure is (kinda) problematic in the real world, for reasons I mentioned in my post (about him) on page 1.

You're way out of line, chauncey. I don't appreciate the slur(s) at all. / Maybe we could get back on topic now?

I think there's a big divide here between "art" and what's perceived to be popular or mass culture. And even though we've never had the kind of class system you've fought against, the arts are associated with wealthy people here, too... with those who have enough money to be patrons. I doubt most blue-collar workers here in the States would see themselves attending ballet or opera performances. That said, ticket prices are horrendously high, and few can afford them. The arts are great, and "art" is wonderful - for those who have the money. Sometimes the breakdown goes like this: 1. Free performance 2. Must drive in due to interminable wait for subway/Metro + parking fees and fare 3. The parking garage fee for a gig starts at 15.00 and can go higher 4. I might have to take a shuttle from garage to, say, the Kennedy Center 5. I go to pick up my ticket and pay additional box office fees - Even if the show is free (and many are), I've still spent something in the neighborhood of 30-50 USD for all of the above for just one gig. And that's no bargain!

Actually, you want to be looking for Juçara Marçal (with K. Dinucci). Here's the CD cover -

This is a really tough one, too - and I have to admit to having very mixed feelings about artists who persist in praising Toure. (Salif Keita still performs "Mandjou," which is about Toure, even though most of his friends and colleagues feel diffferently...) Recently I've found myself struggling with this once more, due to the fact that i'm taking lessons in Guinea-style percussion (djembe/dundun ensemble). Some of the Guinean teachers who've emigrated to the US and Europe are still heaping adulation on him for founding national folkloric dance/drum ensembles during the early part of his regime. They never seem to mention why they - or their friends and families - had cause to leave Guinea, or when. I think Miriam Makeba got disgusted with Toure, but her ex (Stokeley Carmichael) was very cozy with him, as far as I've read, anyway....

It really is a difficult question. For me, Miles Davis was the dealbreaker. I found it very hard to listen to his music while he was still living, due to 2 things - 1. his long history of domestic violence 2. the unqualified adulation that he received from so many jazz fans (regardless of whether they knew about his abuse of women or not). After he died, I found myself wanting to listen to a lot of his work - for me, the ghost had been laid to rest, but I suspect that might not be true if I had experienced domestic violence myself. Even now, there's that shadow in the back of my mind, along with the awareness that he did copyright some other peoples' compositions under his own name, etc. etc. I have little sympathy or tolerance for him as a person, but I do like a lot of his music. The thing is - his tender interpretations of many ballads can make me cringe a bit at times. I guess some of the more prominent artists who were Nazi collaborators strike me in much the same way. And so on... No, you're absolutely right. I once tried to read his Judaism in Music and after scanning the opening graphs, threw the book across the room, hard. (I've put the link here so that you can get a sense of how truly awful he could be.) But yet, I have this strong bent toward the kinds of German Romanticism (in painting, movies and books) that were later taken over and exploited by the Nazis... so I'm in conflict, too. I guess the bottom line is that the stuff prior to Nazi influence was OK in and of itself, but what they did with it is another thing entirely. Edited to add: I have no desire to listen to Art Pepper, or Chet Baker, or Frank Sinatra - but Bird and Bill Evans and a slew of other people who did questionable things don't bother me. Maybe it's because Pepper wrote that book...

We *know* you'll do an extra-cool show; that's why we want to listen.

Don't give up, it's worth waiting for. My favorite recent purchase is Pade, a release by Kiko Dinucci and Jucara Marcal. You can check out some of the tracks on Jucara Marcal's myspace page - great writing, stripped down arrangements, and I think Marcal's singing is divine. I got my copy from a seller on ebay in Brazil - I think it's available from CD Universe and Amazon now. I'm looking forward to finding Kiko Dinucci's forthcoming disc with his AfroMacarrônico band. I'm unclear whether it's available now or not, but it should be released soon if it's not. Ooh, I'm listening to some cuts on their MySpace page and am thinking that I have to get this. Thanks so much for the heads-up! * Really like the percussion arrangements, too. The album has a very northeastern flavor, and I wonder if that's where Juçara came from. (She lives in São Paulo now.) Edited to add: per this blogger, she's working with a lot of rhythms (Afro-Brazilian) from the interior of São Paulo state. Very cool!

This album (came out last fall) is a gem - there are a couple of cuts from it on my blog: their version of Baden's "Berimbau" and "Devagar com a Louca," which is a total recasting of "Crazy He Calls Me." (Though I had to translate the title to be absolutely sure. ) It's all samba-jazz. Really wonderful! [crosses fingers and wishes hard for Joyce & Tutty to come to the US again]

What time zone are you in?

Yes, they're great. I found this site, in case anyone's interested: http://www.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/literatu...goose/menu.html The Wiki entry on this rhyme claims that it's "about" the bubonic plague in London, but that sounds apocryphal to me. (Kinda like the Snopes entry on Sing a Song of Sixpence, which is their own nod and wink toward the creation of urban legends.) Wiki doesn't sound very convinced about that, however. The one that's generally believed to have originated with the Black Death is "Ring around the roses". MG Yeah - I think it's pretty plausible (Ring Around the Rosey, that is - US variant). The Snopes spoof page on Sing as Song of Sixpence has actually been reported as fact. I have to say that I fell for it myself when I 1st saw it. They're very convincing!

Same for those of us who are on the same continent!

Yes, they're great. I found this site, in case anyone's interested: http://www.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/literatu...goose/menu.html The Wiki entry on this rhyme claims that it's "about" the bubonic plague in London, but that sounds apocryphal to me. (Kinda like the Snopes entry on Sing a Song of Sixpence, which is their own nod and wink toward the creation of urban legends.)

I've been listening to some of Edu Lobo's early recordings over the past few days. This one - Cantiga de Longe - is a must! (has Hermeto Pascoal, Airto and Claudio Slon on it, too.)

Agreed!

Thanks Seeline for this! Familiar with Excavated Shallac (everyone should check out the post on broken records that have come his way), but Haji Maji is a wonderful surprise! Thanks again! R~~ My pleasure - and I found Haji Maji via the links at Excavated Shellac. He's moved them to the very bottom of the page, so you have to scroll and scroll and scroll - but they're worth the effort.

Absolutely! The staff will help with recommendations, hunting down obscure recordings, and much more. Very nice people!

Hi Jaffa, You might want to try asking at Haji Maji, a blog dedicated to old 78s from China and other parts of East Asia. Also check at Excavated Shellac, which is similar to Haji Maji, but has a broader focus. I'd be interested in hearing what you find out! all the best, seeline

I think my favorite thing from the "old" New Yorker was the "There Will Always Be an England" series. The press quotes they used were just amazing - absurd/silly humor at its best.

Thanks!

Evan, do you have some album recommendations? I've heard some of her early work (50s-early 60s), but haven't really decided on purchases. She recorded so much, and now there are so many different compilations that I'm finding it hard to choose. (Ditto for some other French singers - Barbara, for example.) It's a shame that the US is such a difficult market for vocal music that doesn't have English lyrics.

it took me a while to start liking Ravel's solo piano works (being more of a Debussy fan), but now I'm sold. And I really like his work with older forms, making them new and fresh. Am also a fan of his chamber music and many of his songs - like the Chansons Madecasses.

Their music is fun. Forrester did a solo piano album (partly, I think, due to the fact that Terri Gross and Francis Davis promoted his work). It was also on Koch. Very nice, though his liner notes were pretty over the top.

Most of Document's releases are available on Emusic.com - and at high bitrates. It might be easier just to browse there and purchase tracks you'd like to have, rather than buying actual CDs.