WBGO Blog

  • Dr. King 40 Years Later

    April 4, 2008. Posted by Angelika Beener.

    Add new comment | Filed under: Anniversaries, balcony, civil rights leaders, Discovery, dr king, dr martin luther, dr martin luther king, dr martin luther king jr, heart, heartbreak, hotel room, humanitarians, luther king jr, martin luther king, martin luther king jr, Masters, memphis tennessee, Notes, post time, rev dr, sanitation workers, time flies, wages, WBGO Community Events, working conditions

    mlk_jr_slaying.jpg

    Sigh...

    Today marks 40 years since one of the greatest civil rights leaders and humanitarians was gunned down and taken away from us.
    Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot on the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a march of sanitation workers protesting against low wages and poor working conditions.

    I wasn't even born when Dr. King was assassinated, but I can only imagine the heartbreak that people felt upon first getting that worst piece of news.
    It breaks my heart to think about it as I write this post. Time flies, and many people I talk to can hardly believe its been 40 years.

    For me, it's important to really think about and help others to realize that King was not a man who was a dreamer as the media loves to portray. Yes, he was a man of unparalleled vision, and hope. But he was also a leader through action, and the hardest of hard workers. I would ask that on this day, you would read or listen to Dr. King speak about opposition to war, or why it is important to vote, for example. Not only was he ahead of his time but he is timeless. Take the time to really dig into King - the man, not just the dream.

    © 2008 WBGO

  • Live Music Notes - Lee Konitz at Jazz Standard

    April 3, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

    Add new comment | Filed under: alto sax, bob haggart, bread crumbs, danilo perez, detriment, drums, funk groove, group improvisation, Jazz Alive, jazz blog, jazz repertory, jazz standard, lee konitz trio, matt wilson, melody, nod, Notes, rufus reid, sleep, stella by starlight, thelonious monk, tuesday evening, tuesday night, wbgo blog

    I've been going to see more and more music these days, much to the detriment of my need for sleep. Tuesday evening, I decided to check out the Lee Konitz Trio with very special guest, Danilo Perez. The early set, anyway. I know my limitations.

    Lee Konitz    , at 80, is still making some amazing music. And as much as I get tired of hearing jazz repertory, I never tire of hearing Konitz play standards. Four songs in one set, three of which I recognized. All of which I enjoyed. Konitz has this way of never really playing the melody outright. Instead, he basically smashed the loaf into bread crumbs, and sprinkles them over the course of a 15 minute group improvisation. It takes a while to find it. And by the time you DO find it, you realize that the treasure is not at the end of the trail. It was the crumbs!
    Kinda like that whole idea of jazz being more of a how than a what.

    Tuesday night, the group (Konitz on alto sax, Danilo on piano, Rufus Reid on bass, and Matt Wilson on drums) played a strange, intermittent funk under "Stella by Starlight," then a less than foolish nod to people time - "I'll remember April." During the last song, I kept wondering if I was hearing a version of Thelonious Monk's "Bemsha Swing..." I wasn't. I was hearing the band play Bob Haggart's "What's New?"
    If you want to find the answer to that question - what's new? - follow the bread crumbs to Jazz Standard.  This band beats creative loafing any day.
    -Josh

    © 2008 WBGO

  • About Last Night - SF Jazz Collective at SOPAC

    March 12, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

    Add new comment | Filed under: bias, caliber, collective performance, commissions, Jazz Alive, Jazz Community, jazz composer, modern jazz, musicians, new yorkers, newark, Notes, Places and Spaces, preconceptions, pride, saxophonist, seeing eye, set of circumstances, sf jazz, user viewprofile, wayne shorter, wbgo

    SF Jazz Collective - Live at SOPAC

    I am a city dweller, plagued by the New Yorker bias. That is, I very rarely go to New Jersey for anything other than to work at WBGO. However, I am not so entrenched that I won't shake my preconceptions for the right set of circumstances. So last night, I ventured to SOPAC for a performance from the SF Jazz Collective, a pride of eight musicians of the highest caliber.

    Each year, the collective features original commissions, as well as arrangements of a noted modern jazz composer. This season, the band turns their all-seeing eye on composer and saxophonist (and Newark native) Wayne Shorter.
    The end of time was the beginning of the set. Saxophonist Miguel Zenon's arrangement of Shorter's "Armegeddon" set us on the trailhead.
    Here's what followed:
    This That and the Other - a Joe Lovano original
    The Angel's Share - penned by Matt Penman, a New Zealand import
    Diana - from Shorter's Native Dancer, arranged by Renee Rosnes
    Go - Stefon Harris arranged this Shorter composition with some backbeat boom bap. Great way to end the first half.

    The second set pushed ahead into the abstract, modern aesthetic that makes the collective such a great band to hear. Drummer Eric Harland's "The Year 2008" set the tone, a composition built around a recorded vocal chant, Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and a reading of the Declaration of Independence. Rosnes' "Aurora Borealis" followed. Trumpeter Dave Douglas contributed "Secrets of the Code," an original work that used snippets of Wayne Shorter's music as source code embedded as a thread throughout the composition. Great stuff. The newest member of the collective, trombonist Robin Eubanks, ended the evening with his arrangement of Shorter's "Black Nile."

    Only two complaints. The piano monitor levels in the house made the trombone articulation inaudible. That's just the music nerd in me. The other issue is this: I could not hear all of the band's repertoire in a single night. The SF Jazz Collective had more music in the kitty, but I'll have to see them again to hear the rest. Will do.
    -Josh

    © 2008 WBGO