It is seldom that a musician can captivate my ears to the point that I do not want to stop listening to the recordings I have of his music. This is true of pianist and composer, Dave Burrell. A while ago, I wrote about a his performance with his new Trio featuring William Parker and Andrew Cyrille. Now I want to write about Dave, and only Dave. The opening track of RECITAL (a 2000 CIMP recording with bassist, Tyrone Brown), NEVER LET ME GO, reveals more about Burrell in 8 minutes 50 seconds t …

This is the second time I have seen Laurie Anderson perform. But when I see her, I feel as though I have known her for years. The reason is that her performance ethic is rich with the material that the avant-garde has been made of since the late sixties. Her work displays the crux of all that art which was based deeply in conceptualism. How her work developed out of that began in the same manner, which was verbal, refined to as close to the non-object as possible, and concerned with life situati …

In 1964, Susan Sontag wrote an essay that rocked the cultural world. It is called AGAINST INTERPRETATION. It is my opinion that this had more to say directly to the art, music and literary world than did the seemingly more noteworthy, NOTES ON CAMP, of a year earlier. I am writing about her ‘64 essay because it laid the foundation of fundamentals for the way in which art, music, and literature would be perceived thereafter. And those fundamentals still hold true. They are a set of fundamental …

Improvised music is the music to which I am beholden. Beholden, because all I have heard has bolstered my inner self, has reminded me that I am alive, has taught me that the creative process extends beyond the immediate result. The process is the key. Those moments when the music touches me are glorious renewing moments. Like being in the night and gazing at billions of stars over head, as meteors streak across the sky, unannounced. To recognize the significance of "the music", about w …

In Chicago, at the Empty Bottle, on October 24, 2001, there will be a CD release Party for a new release on European label , émouvance, VOICES & DREAMS by Joe McPhee and Raymond Boni. A review of the this CD appeared on this site in Jazz at a Glance. The review was written by Lyn Horton.... …