WBGO Blog

  • IAJE Day 2 - Street Food

    January 10, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

    Add new comment | Filed under: Diversions, IAJE 2008

    Bozo’s dogs

    "Make me one with everything."

    That's the punchline, anyway. Of course, I'm not a practitioner of Zen. After eight years in New York, however, I've learned to appreciate the value of the city's best street food vendors. My first experience with the trade was in my hometown, where the Lucky Dog vendors rule the French Quarter (ever read Confederacy of Dunces?).

    When I'm at IAJE, I barely have time to tie my shoes. Or eat on a schedule. So when Bozo's Red Hots parked their truck in front of the Convention Center, they hit the jackpot. Take a look at the chow:

    Bozo dog

    That's a 12-inch sausage with a large helping of poutine, a dish that should have been invented in New Orleans. Take a mountain of chunky fries. Add mozzarella cheese, and make it all swim in a pool of rich, brown gravy. Have a defibrillator standing by.

    There's nothing quite like approaching a parked vehicle and asking two guys who look like Hell's Angels for meat products, while the boombox inside is blaring Canadian heavy metal. That, my friends, is the sweet taste of freedom... - Josh

    © 2008 WBGO

  • IAJE Day 2 - Esperanza Spalding

    January 10, 2008. Posted by Joshua Jackson.

    Add new comment | Filed under: attitudes, body and soul, different times, drums, emily dickinson, esperanza, fender rhodes, haddad, hope is the thing with feathers, IAJE 2008, Jazz Alive, joe lovano, leonardo, Live Music, love, moor, musicians, otis brown, percussion, quartet, scoop, spalding, two songs

    Esperanza Spaldin Photo

    "Esperanza."

    Hope is the thing with feathers. That's what Emily Dickinson wrote. Then again, Emily never left her bedroom, which sounds pretty hopeless. She never saw a moor, nor the sea. And she would not have gone to an Esperanza Spalding show, like I did this morning.

    I always ask musicians I know for the scoop on who's coming up. Joe Lovano told me about Esperanza. I checked out her MySpace page, but I had not seen her live.

    Her quartet featured Otis Brown Jr. on drums, Leonardo Genovese on piano and Fender Rhodes, and Jamie Haddad on percussion. Esperanza plays bass, and she sings.

    Here are two songs about lost love, from two very different times and attitudes.

    Esperanza Spalding Quartet - She Got to You

    Esperanza Spalding Quartet - Body and Soul

    Esperanza Spalding has a new recording coming out in May on Heads Up Records. - Josh

    © 2008 WBGO

  • IAJE - Day 2: NEA Jazzmaster Candido Camero

    January 10, 2008. Posted by David Tallacksen.

    Add new comment | Filed under: IAJE 2008

    Candido

    While it's turning cold here in Toronto, NEA Jazzmaster Candido Camero exudes warmth. His arthritis makes walking hard, but he makes short mention of it- saying instead that he's glad it doesn't affect his hands, so he can continue playing. His smile and laugh is infectious. And he's got stories - you wouldn't expect less from the man that revolutionized the conguero technique - from a single drum to two and three. Take a listen to Rhonda Hamilton's interview:

    Candido Camero interview

    © 2008 WBGO