AS A SECOND GENERATION GREEK, I UNDERSTAND RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA’S CULTURAL SITUATION. AS THOMAS SOWELL WRITES IN HIS CLASSIC BOOK ETHNIC AMERICA, IT TAKES ABOUT FOUR GENERATIONS FOR A GROUP OF PEOPLE FROM ANOTHER CULTURE OR COUNTRY TO COMPLETELY ASSIMILATE INTO…
Category: Interviews
VIJAY IYER: MUSIC IN ALL LANGUAGES
CS LEWIS FAMOUSLY WROTE THAT ‘FRIENDSHIP IS BORN AT THE MOMENT WHEN ONE MAN SAYS TO ANOTHER “WHAT! YOU TOO?” USUALLY WHEN WE THINK OF MUSICIANS FORMING GROUPS AND TOURING, IT’S BASED ON A MUSICAL AFFINITY.WE ALL HAVE VISIONS OF…
KURT ROSENWINKEL’S BETTER ANGELS
I DON’T THINK THERE WAS A SINGLE PERSON THAT WASN’T SURPRISED AND AMAZED BY THE “NEW” SOUNDS THAT GUITARIST KURT ROSENWINKEL DELIVERED ON THE GROUNDBREAKING ALBUM HEARTCORE BACK IN 2003. THE MIX OF ELECTRONIC PULSES WITH A UNIQUE MIX OF…
WOLFGANG MUTHSPIEL: VIENNA’S ANGULAR BLUES
WHEN YOU THINK OF THE BLUES, VIENNA, THE LAND OF MOZART AND BRAHMS, IS NOT WHAT FIRST COMES TO YOUR MIND. BUT AUSTRIAN GUITARIST WOLFGANG MUTHSPIEL’S LAST COUPLE OF ALBUMS HAVE HAD HIM THE HEAVY COMPANY OF BRAD MEHLDAU, AMBROSE…
THE FOUR EXILES OF SONNY ROLLINS-PART TWO
“It’s a toss-up when you decide to leave the beaten path. Many are called, few are chosen” THE RAZOR’S EDGE IN THIS SECOND PART, WE FIND SONNY ROLLINS TAKING HIS SECOND SABBATICAL, THIS TIME TO INDIA FOR FINALLY FINDING…
THE FOUR EXILES OF SONNY ROLLINS-PART ONE
“It’s a long, arduous road he’s starting to travel, but it may be that at the end of it he’ll find what he’s seeking” THE RAZOR’S EDGE Somerset Maugham’s classic novel The Razor’s Edge is about a man, who…
DEREK SHULMAN INTERVIEW: LAND OF THE GENTLE GIANT
IT’S HARD TO CONCEIVE, BUT IT WAS A HALF CENTURY AGO THAT THE LAST TRULY ‘NEW’ GENRE IN ROCK AND JAZZ WAS BORN. EVEN MORE AMAZING, THE MUSIC, INITIALLY CALLED ‘JAZZ-ROCK’ BUT EVENTUALLY TERMED ‘FUSION’, WAS POPULAR! BANDS LIKE RETURN…
DAVID CROSS: CRIMSON AND CROSSING OVER WITH BANKS
DURING THE 1970s, JAZZ-ROCK, OR “FUSION”, WAS THE UNIQUELY CREATIVE VANGUARD OF THE MUSIC CULTURE, THE YIN TO DISCO’S YANG. COMPLEX AND INTRICATE RHYTHMS, SOLOS OF VIRTUOSITY, MIXTURES OF JAZZ, CLASSICAL AND ROCK ALL COMBINED TO FORM THE VERITABLE MOUNTAIN…
MARK EGAN: ELECTRIC, BLUE AND TWO
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on” St. Paul, letter to the Philipians. THERE’S NOTHING AS INSPIRING AS FOLLOWING A SEEKER ON A QUEST. LITERATURE IS FILLED WITH…
ROXY COSS: ROXY’S CAUSE
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWER VOICES ON THE TENOR AND SOPRANO SAX, ROXY COSS USES HER MUSIC TO GIVE INSPIRATION TO OTHER BY ADDRESSING LIFE AND SOCIAL ISSUES. THE TITLES OF SOME OF HER ALBUMS ( RESTLESS IDEALISM AND…