Pandemic Listening

[Mike Rubin]

3 minutes ago, Jud said:

How many have seen notes, Facebook posts, etc., from musician friends talking about their gigs being cancelled? I've seen a bunch.

Here in San Francisco, all events at SFJazz, SF Symphony, and SF Performances are canceled into April.  In Santa Fe, the Lensic also is on hiatus.  In NYC, same for Jazz at Lincoln Center.  Coachella is reset for October.  I am sure there are a thousand more venues in this country shut down for weeks if not months, leading to a lot of canceled gigs.

 

Some artists are creative, though. I am not a huge fan of hers, but Cecile McLorin Salvant played a set for invited guests in Angela Davis’ living room.  The show must go on!

[Mike Rubin]

1 hour ago, Booster MPS said:

I am all in on music during these times.  I am an Aurender user so I don't have Roon.  I do enjoy having my laptop handy while listening to do Roon like research on artists.  I recently found Chris Dingman via Sasha Berliner who is a peer of hers.  Just glancing at Chris's recordings it became a no brainer for me to buy his stuff (his albums feature Linda May Han Oh, Ambrose Akinmusire, Fabian Almazan, and Justin Brown.  I love all of them).

 

Just take some time to see who your favorite musicians are either listening to, or performing with.  Pull that thread and explore.  With a lot of listening time potentially on our hands, it's a great time to do this.

Bravo.  Our tastes align.  Dingman's seemingly gone in a somewhat different direction lately, but "Waking Dreams" is one of the finest things in my collection. 

 

We in the Bay Area long ago lost Akinmusire and Brown to brighter lights elsewhere, but they continue to stretch boundaries. Akinmusire a few years ago came out against virtuosity and in favor of accessibility in a Downbeat cover story, a crime because he always shot the moon for the stars, but his career arc seemingly has benefited from that. 

 

We also lost Sasha Berliner to NYC, as she left here to attend the New School.  I think she may still be enrolled here.  When we saw her here in the SFJazz High School All-Stars program, I would never have guessed that she, out of that class, would be an emerging star, but her seriousness of purpose since then has become clear. Putting aside her considerable talent with the mallets, her "open letter" to Ethan Iverson about sexual harassment of female jazz musicians generally and her particularly made her a star of the #metoo movement. Google it if you haven't seen it; it is a sad but worthwhile read. 

 

The last time I saw Linda Han Oh, she played electric bass for two-thirds of the set.  My loss.