Tie a Bow Not a Knot

FIRST NYC CONCERTS OF 2010 Harris Eisenstadt and Canada Day

2010-02-13T10:52:00.002-05:00

photo by Peter Gannuskhin

FIRST NYC CONCERTS OF 2010

Harris Eisenstadt and Canada Day

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY FEBRUARY 26-27 2010

Ibeam Studios
168 7th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215

930 PM, $10

Subway Directions:
Take the F or R trains to 4th Ave & 9th Street. Walk down 4th ave to 7th street. Make a left on 7th
and walk past 3rd ave. ground floor, the grey doors to the right of the stairs of #168.
http://ibeambrooklyn.com

featuring:
Nate Wooley –Trumpet
Chris Hoffman –Cello
Chris Dingman – Vibraphone
Eivind Opsvik – Bass
Harris Eisenstadt – Drum Set, Compositions

For its first concerts of 2010, Harris Eisenstadt and Canada Day settle into Ibeam for two nights to premier new compositions. Canada Day’s 2009 debut on Clean Feed appeared on several best of 2009 lists, including the Village Voice, All About Jazz New York, Jazzhouse, WFMU, Ni Kantu, CKUT, and Dusted.

Web Pages:
http://www.harriseisenstadt.com/
www.harriseisenstadt.wordpress.com/canadaday

Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/jaliba

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Harris-Eisenstadt/52300389542?ref=share

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/harriseisenstadt

REVIEWS OF CANADA DAY’S DEBUT RECORDING (CLEAN FEED, 2009):

“...a batch of smartly interrogatory new pieces.”
- Nate Chinen, New York Times

“ Canada Day is a welcome addition to the burgeoning discography
of one of the new generation’s leading composers.”
- Troy Collins, All About Jazz

“...four stars... superb.”
- Peter Margasak, Downbeat

Live at TONY: Harris Eisenstadt’s stripped-down avant-jazz

2009-10-23T08:16:00.003-05:00

Live performance on Time Out New York's Blog The Volume with Nate Wooley. We played a rousing 10am version of "Kategeeper," one of the tracks on the new record.

Hosting WKCR Musicians Show Tonight October 21 2009 6-9pm

2009-10-21T15:31:00.004-05:00

Hosting Columbia University's WKCR Musicians Show tonight to promote Canada Day. Tune in from 6pm-9pm est at 89.9 if you're in NYC or online.

Canada Day on BBC Jazz on 3 until next Monday October 26

2009-10-21T09:25:00.003-05:00

Excited to report that the song "Kategeeper" from my new record Canada Day aired on BBC Jazz on 3 with Jez Nelson. You can listen to the podcast here until next Monday October 26.

Long interview just posted at All About Jazz

2009-10-05T14:47:00.006-05:00

Clifford Allen did a nice long interview with me recently and just posted it .

October Gigs in New York and Canada Day East Coast Tour

2009-09-30T18:39:00.005-05:00

october 5 new york, ny, 7pm trio with jonathan goldberger and trevor dunn local 269

october 6 new york, ny, 10am mini canada day with nate wooley Time Out New York The Volume

october 6 new york, ny, 9pm trio with kyoko kitamura and yayoi ikawa local 269

october 9 new york, ny, 9pm quartet with dave ballou, ben gerstein, james ilgenfritz ibeam

october 10 new york, ny, 9pm steve morley/ursel slicht quintet with brian drye, adam lane ibeam

october 12 new york, ny, 8:30pm adam rudolph's organic orchestra roulette

october 19 new york, ny, 8:30pm adam rudolph's organic orchestra roulette

october 21 new york, ny, 6-9pm wkcr musicians show

october 22 new york, ny, 7pm saris brooklyn conservatory

harris eisenstadt and canada day cd release tour (nate wooley, matt bauder, chris dingman, eivind opsvik

october 24-25 new york, ny cornelia street cafe

october 27 toronto, on, 12:30pm york university

october 27 toronto, on, 10pm, double bill with nick fraser quartet tranzac

october 28 buffalo, ny hallwalls

october 29 rochester, ny the bop shop

Sugar - a sweet little movie

2009-09-28T09:16:00.002-05:00

Sweet little movie. Meta reviews here.

2009-09-28T08:47:00.003-05:00

September is always a month for extended re-visiting of Coltrane's work, it being his birthday and all. Been enjoying Lewis Porter's thoroughly researched and chock-full-of-musical-analysis tome John Coltrane, His Life and Music. Recommended reading for any month.

Happy Birthday John Coltrane

2009-09-23T21:20:00.001-05:00

Tyson - incredible and spooky

2009-09-11T10:09:00.004-05:00

Saw James Toback's Tyson last night. Strong, deserving reviews at Meta. That guy was a mofo in the 80s/early 90s. Was it really that long ago? So incredible, everything he achieved as a teenager and very-early 20s marauder. Kind of like Tony Wiliams but I guess Tony wasn't such a loose cannon.

Thomas Perry - more Pelecanos than Price

2009-08-28T09:30:00.007-05:00

Burned through Thomas Perry's expertly-assembled thriller Silence recently and meant to post about it. NY Times review here. Perry writes concisely, moving through scenes briskly - not without attention to detail - but on the Hemingway side of things rather than Proust....or, to put it another way, more Pelecanos than Price.

RIP JOE MANERI

2009-08-25T12:16:00.000-05:00

Drew Gress' Irrational Numbers = great music

2009-08-21T14:33:00.002-05:00

True Blood Season 1... top of the second tier

2009-08-15T08:47:00.006-05:00

Good stuff, this show. Not 1st tier HBO, but sad to say those shows - The Wire, Deadwood, The Sopranos - just don't seem to be getting made anymore. Not enough sex, maybe? True Blood, on the other hand... vampies + southern gothic + sex = greenlit second season, third, and beyond no doubt...

RIP Rashied Ali

2009-08-13T22:27:00.001-05:00

Harvie Krumpet... wow!

2009-08-13T22:05:00.005-05:00

Well, Wallace and Gromit it ain't, but dare I say Harvie Krumpit is equally original. Dark but uplifting, peculiar and unlike anything else.

link to facebook fan page

2009-08-10T16:24:00.001-05:00

Harris Eisenstadt on Facebook

Richard Price, why'd ya let it happen?

2009-08-10T16:05:00.007-05:00

Another in a series of fantastic books

that turned into a (I don't even have the nerve to see it to confirm that it's a) terrible movie.

Phillip Pullman... why'd ya let em do it?

2009-08-04T17:17:00.004-05:00

Yet another example of a wonderful book

turned into a

horrible movie.

Thick as Thieves... pretty hilarious

2009-08-03T22:04:00.006-05:00

Thick as Thieves, some classic midseventies British humor. Bob Hoskins plays a petty criminal who comes back from three years "in the nick" to find his wife Annie shacked up with his former conman partner and best mate Stan (Inspector Morse John Thaw). A sadly-only 8-episode threesome ensues. Worth searching out...

Frank Langella as Nixon... wow!

2009-07-21T16:03:00.007-05:00

"Generally favorable" reviews for Frost/Nixon at Metacritic. For me the film was basically carried by the incredible Frank Langella. If there is such a phrase as ronhowarding a film, that is definitely what happened here. Somehow a semi-faithful adaptation of a play became a fast-paced, slick but entertaining view. All I can say is... smart move hiring Langella to reprise his role from the original play. He lent it some serious weight.

Waltz with Bashir

2009-07-13T09:05:00.004-05:00

Great film. Incredible (mostly) real stories dramatized and made all the more powerful through some of the most original animation I've seen since Triplets of Belleville.

Rising Star, Composer, 2009 Downbeat Critics Poll

2009-07-11T21:57:00.002-05:00

Very honored to be included in the category of Rising Star, Composer, in the August issue of Downbeat's 2009 Critics Poll.

the good crack

2009-07-03T09:23:00.005-05:00

Not that I have much time since the birth of our son Owen Eric Eisenstadt, but once he's down for the night (well, at least for a couple hours) I have been cracking out on The Shield season 7. Halfway through and I just accidently read the season synopsis on wiki in trying to figure out whether there would be a season 8 or not. Oops. Oh well... with crack like this, it's better to know how much you've got left, run through it as quick as possible, and be done with it! Great, engrossing TV. Perfect for a blissfully exhausted dad.

OWEN ERIC EISENSTADT

2009-06-17T17:52:00.004-05:00

Announcing the arrival into the world of

OWEN ERIC EISENSTADT

Born June 13 330 am in Brooklyn, weighing 7 lbs 3 oz measuring 21 inches.

Sara and Owen are happy and healthy and we are all in a deep state of bliss!!!!

Much thanks to the incredible midwives at the brooklyn birthing center: Kathryn, Asya, Andrea and Yulia!

Much thanks to our wonderful doula Lucy!

Much thanks to the poised and gentle attending physician Dr Sol Neuhoff and helpful, considerate nurses at Maimonides hospital.

Ricky Gervais meets Christopher Guest pt.1

2009-06-08T20:10:00.001-05:00

Hillarious!

Momma's Man

2009-06-06T09:22:00.011-05:00

Strong reviews here for Momma's Man, Azazel Jacobs' touching film about a thirtysomething who comes to New York for a business trip, stays with his parents, then extends his stay indefinitely rather than returning home to his wife, young daughter and dreary office job. He finally goes home at the end, but it's not the narrative that I found so beautiful. It was the cinematography - the light coming through the windows of the filmmaker's real-life parents Flo and Ken Jacobs' Tribeca loft, the slow moving shots of the thirtysomething stuck on the A train making his way to JFK, the silent, troubled, understated expressions on the parents' faces as they watch their son struggle with his life.

Strange timing watching this movie just as we're expecting our first child. I have absolutely no feelings of running away from the situation we're about to get ourselves into. I cannot wait for the challenges that are coming. In fact that was the one thing about the film that didn't quite work for me. Jacobs' "protagonist" is paralyzed by responsibility, and fumbles around his parents' loft nostalgically reading old comic books and playing homemade punk tunes on a broken jr-sized guitar. But this gets old quickly. I found myself thinking "get your act together and go home to your young family" even as I was mesmerized by the the camera following him around as he lingered in the apartment. Worth a look.

Up -a sweet little movie

2009-06-05T10:14:00.010-05:00

Well, there I was in the movie theater last night around the corner while Sara was at pre-natal yoga. There was a couple with their 3 year-old daughter, an adult with a pile of 7 or 8 year-olds, and me. That's right, I went to see Up. Maybe it's because Sara is 41 weeks tomorrow and we're expecting our son any day. Maybe I've got a a little soft spot for (fairly) intelligent Pixar animated films. Whatever it is, there I was laughing and (yep) crying a little... It's not as good as The Incredibles, but it's pretty witty.

Dull Flame of Desire

2009-06-03T15:37:00.000-05:00

Bjork and Antony, killin it.

Still somewhat engrossing

2009-06-01T23:05:00.005-05:00

100 pages in and not as happening as Conde's earlier saga which I blogged about enthusiastically before, but I am a sucker for West African historical fiction, so I'll keep on.

Harold and Kumar... pretty hilarious as it turns out

2009-05-31T10:03:00.004-05:00

Rotten Tomatoes reviews for Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. Had resisted seeing this for some reason - not consciously, just didn't think it'd be particularly funny.... but Sara and I definitely thought it was hilarious and pretty out i.e. the whole animated hamburger sequence....?!?

Happy belated Mothers Day

2009-05-15T12:16:00.001-05:00

This is hilarious.

Nominated for Up and Coming Artist of the Year by the JJA!

2009-05-04T18:17:00.005-05:00

I'm very honored to be nominated in the category of Up and Coming Artist of the year by the Jazz Journalists Association. The awards ceremony takes place in New York june 19. More info here.

Early Austerities

2009-04-20T08:41:00.009-05:00

Nice NY Times feature from 1999 on Paul Auster here. Found it on this amazingly comprehensive Auster site. Been making my way through The New York Trilogy, a collection of three early Auster novellas. Don't know if I enjoyed the first story, City of Glass, as much as another early Auster story it reminded me of, and actually haven't read the middle story, Ghosts, yet. I am most enthralled by the third story, The Locked Room, which reminds me of Leviathan, an Auster book that came soon after this trilogy was published, and placed very high on my top ten books read in 2008. As the Times feature alludes to, Auster became such a hit in Europe early on because of his allegiance to European existentialists, something European readers aren't used to in American authors. At the same time, his books are full of references to Poe, Hawthorne, baseball and Brooklyn. He manages to cover both sides of the pond.

Greenbelt Conservancy... Who knew?

2009-04-13T22:17:00.009-05:00

Our friend Jonathan Goldberger recommended Staten Island as a destination for a day hike. So Sara and I spent a few hours today at High Point Park today, on of the many areas part of the 2800 acre Greenbelt Conservancy. I gotta say, it exceeded expectations. New Yorkers... if anyone is looking for beautiful (almost) pristine nature a few steps wilder than Central Park or Prospect Park and an hour less travel than the beautiful options upstate (at least if you're living in Brooklyn or lower Manhattan), the Greenbelt Conservacy is the place for you. Staten Island. Who knew?

Mad Men

2009-04-10T11:55:00.003-05:00

A nice long article from last summer in The New York Times Margazine about the TV show Mad Men. Sara and I have been cracking out on it pretty hard.

I love this description of actors on the set:

"They’re all expert practitioners of the current flavor of show-biz persona: the down-to-earth, up-with-people next-door neighbor who soft-sells his or her obsession with stardust and self-interest with chitchat about, say, the kids, the brilliantine smile buttressed by the unspoken prayer, 'Don’t write me out!'"

April Goings On

2009-04-02T11:55:00.006-05:00

From Improvised Communications:

"After a four-week residency in March at IBeam with his nonet, Woodblock Prints, drummer/composer Harris Eisenstandt is taking a break from leading his own bands in April, but you can still catch him performing in New York with others throughout the month.

04/03: Saris, The Stone
04/05: Korea 21: Music Here and Now, Symphony Space
04/10: Jeremiah Cymerman Ensemble, Roulette
04/11: Aram Shelton Quartet, Chocolate Factory
04/18: Macroquarktet, The Stone
04/20: City of the World: Korean Traditional Music & Change, CUNY Graduate Center

April will also find Eisenstadt hosting The Musician’s Show on WKCR on April 8th and embarking on an extended UK tour with The Convergence Quartet."

"How About that Guy!"

2009-04-01T20:51:00.006-05:00

My bro Jeremiah just told me our friend Chris Hoffman was on Letterman last night playing with Marianne Faithful. Killin' tune, killin' band - Greg Cohen, Joey Baron, Marc Ribot, Chris a.o. At the end Letterman points to Joey Baron and exclaims "How about that guy!" Check it out.

Religulous: funny.... and kinda scary!

2009-03-27T09:09:00.002-05:00

Metacritic reviews of Bill Maher's Religulous here.

Happy-Go-Lucky

2009-03-24T09:06:00.003-05:00

On the topic of small good things, Mike Leigh's slightly disturbing/mostly endearing comedrama Happy-Go-Lucky is a sweet little film as well. Took me a while to get into it, though Sara loved it from the start.

Azur and Asmar

2009-03-22T14:16:00.004-05:00

Visual splendor abounds in Azur and Asmar; The Prince's Quest.

Pretty acerbic review here.

The final sentences of of the review are illuminating:

"Only a special sort of parent would take their kid to see Azur and Asmar: the type that taught them how to read before their first day of kindergarten. They should have let it play the States as a “foreign” film."

I think this is true. Lack of story and cheesy dialogue notwithstanding, this is seriously wonderful eye candy, worth a look.

A Small, Good Thing

2009-03-18T08:08:00.003-05:00

The Band's Last Visit, a sweet little movie.

Woodblock Prints tonight Saturday March 14 at Ibeam

2009-03-14T09:15:00.003-05:00

Second of a four Saturday residency for Woodblock Prints tonight at Ibeam in Brooklyn. Come on down if you're free.

***

"Mr. Eisenstadt, a restlessly creative drummer, is presiding over a promising new nonet, Woodblock Prints, every Saturday this month."
- NY Times

"Harris Eisenstadt produced one of 2008’s most memorable avant-jazz releases, the African-inspired Guewel. Tonight the highly imaginative drummer-composer performs with a new nonet inspired by Japanese woodblock prints."
- Time Out New York

Happy 79th Birthday Ornette!

2009-03-09T10:16:00.002-05:00

Cocktail Chatter: Check out Slate's Political Gabfest

2009-03-07T10:10:00.006-05:00

Fourth short plug for a podcast I've been enjoyably consuming. Slate.com's Political Gabfest is pretty great. John Dickerson, David Plotz and Emily Bazelon are all very intelligent and manage to get to a lively level of barely moderated banter each week. The format here is three people talking about three main topicsfor half an hour and each throwing in a last-couple-minutes segment of cocktail chatter i.e. something interesting to talk about while you're sipping a drink at a party on the weekend. Nice for a change instead of the usual and unusual suspects of pundits making the rounds through the various other programs I tune into. Worth listening to.

Woodblock Prints starting this Saturday March 7 at Ibeam

2009-03-03T10:32:00.002-05:00

Wooblock Prints Residency starting up this Saturday, March 7. Ibeam website here.

Something Else!

2009-03-01T11:34:00.002-05:00

Just spent the evening with Ornette at his loft yesterday. What a treat! He is such a generous spirit! We had some fantastic soul food, talked about creativity and all kinds of other stuff. WOW!

I Served the King of England

2009-02-28T10:39:00.006-05:00

I Served the King of England, a movie carried on the diminutive shoulders of its Baryshnikov junior-looking star Ivan Barnev through beautiful 20-40s Prague and environs. Sweet, absurdist little movie from 60s new wave Czech director Jiri Winzel. Bordered on offensive later in the film, but whimsy and naivete carried it through. Rotten Tomatoes reviews here.

Comic genius Phil Hartman's mid80s SNL audition

2009-02-25T19:59:00.006-05:00

Found this on Huffington Post.

Reminder: Woodblock Prints March Residency at Ibeam

2009-02-20T17:33:00.002-05:00

From Improvised Communications.

Segu Rules

2009-02-19T09:48:00.004-05:00

NY Time review of the incredible book Segu by Maryse Conde here. Just started it yesterday and am totally engrossed. My friend Adam hipped me to it. Danny Dawson, a professor at Columbia and an incredible resource of all things African and diaspora-related, hipped him to it. Glad to have it passed down the chain! I've never come across this kind of historical fiction that deals with 18th/19th century West Africa so thoroughly and so poetically. The best news of all; there's a sequel after I get through these five hundred pages. Best reading of the year so far.

Check this guy out

2009-02-18T22:56:00.002-05:00

Ethnic Minority Music of North Vietnam

Lush Life; Price, not Strayhorn

2009-02-13T10:01:00.007-05:00

Been making my way through Richard Price's engrossing "Lush Life" of late. Interesting sort of non-book review here. "I’ve always been interested in when the hyphen disappears — you know, actor-waiter, cabdriver-writer — and you have to settle for who you are,” Price says. His protagonist Eric Cash is not so much a hero or anti-hero; he lives the 20something-30something hyphenated, floundering existence Price alludes to above. Price evokes in loving and disenchanted detail the vastly changed Lower East Side of New York with investigative obsession. The linked review above asks if any other middle-aged white man can convincingly write in the dialect spoken in the projects - the PJ's as they're referred to here. Price's Wire screenwriting colleague George Pelecanos is the only other one I've come across. If anyone knows of someone else who can, please let me know. In the meantime, check both of these writers out.

Bill Moyers, doing it to you in your earhole

2009-02-11T11:01:00.005-05:00

Third in a series of quick posts about informative podcasts. Bill Moyers has been doing it to us in our ear holes, as it were, for a very long time. His gentle southern lilt is endearing, his humanism is for real, and his pointed questions are definitely in the same echelon as Warren Alney, who I blogged about recently.

Harris Eisenstadt's Woodblock Prints Saturdays in March at Ibeam in Brooklyn

2009-02-07T09:58:00.003-05:00

Press release here:

Harris Eisenstadt At Brooklyn’s Ibeam In March

Drummer/composer Harris Eisenstadt will be in residence at Brooklyn’s Ibeam Music Studio every Saturday night in March.

This series of four concerts will feature the first-ever performances of his new nonet, Harris Eisenstadt’s Woodblock Prints, featuring Mike McGinnis (clarinet), Jason Mears (alto saxophone), Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon), Mark Taylor (French horn), Brian Drye (trombone), Jose Davila (tuba), Jonathan Goldberger (electric guitar) and Garth Stevenson (bass).

The group’s music is inspired by depictions of nature found in Japanese woodblock prints, an ancient form of relief printing created from intricately carved wood.

“Eisenstadt is strong proof that jazz is still young and growing,” declared L.A. Weekly’s Greg Burk. Critics have called him “a rising presence as a composer of note” (Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com), “vital and increasingly influential” (Glenn Astarita, jazzreview.com) and “one of the most creative and skilled musician/composers incorporating traditional material to create new and vital improvised music” (Robert Iannapollo, AllAboutJazz-New York).

The Village Voice’s Jim Macnie adds, “He’s perpetually building new ensembles to suit the variety of music he hears in his head—that’s what composers do.”

One of only a handful of drummers equally well-known for his work as a composer, Eisenstadt is among the most versatile and prolific musicians of his generation. His eclectic resume includes studies with some of the most respected names in both improvised music and West African drumming, and performances in genres ranging from film and theater to poetry and dance to contemporary classical and opera.

Most active in jazz and improvised music, as both an in-demand sideman and a bandleader, he has performed all over the globe, earned commissions from organizations such as Meet The Composer and the American Composers Forum, and appeared on more than 35 recordings over the past decade. His latest, Guewel (Clean Feed, 2008), was named one of the year’s best in publications such as AllAboutJazz.com, Time Out New York and the Village Voice.

Moving Forward with Improvised Communications

2009-02-05T11:03:00.004-05:00

The short press release here:

Improvised Communications is pleased to announce it has been retained by drummer/composer Harris Eisenstadt as his media contact and to promote various upcoming projects in 2009, including the March debut of his newest ensemble, Woodblock Prints, at Brooklyn’s Ibeam Music Studio.

Eisenstadt, a Toronto native currently based in Brooklyn, is known as “one of the most creative and skilled musician/composers incorporating traditional material to create new and vital improvised music” (Robert Iannapollo, AllAboutJazz-New York).

He has performed around the world, earned numerous accolades and commissions for work in a wide variety of musical genres, and appeared on more than 35 recordings. His latest release as a leader, Guewel (Clean Feed, 2008), was named one of the year’s best in publications such as AllAboutJazz.com, Time Out New York and the Village Voice.

Recording of WFMU interview

2009-01-29T10:01:00.007-05:00

Here is a link to a recording of my interview with Scott MDowell on his show "The Longest Rally" last night on WFMU. Playlist was:

1. Harris Eisenstadt Kaolak/N'Wolof Guewel Clean Feed
2. Orchestre Baobab N'Wolof live mini disc recording
3. Sing Sing Juniors Barambiye live minidisc recording 2007
4. Harris Eisenstadt Dayourabine/Thiolena Guewel Clean Feed
5. Youssou N'Dour Li Ma Wessu Bercy 2004 Live DVD
6. Canada Day Don't Gild the Lilly Canada Day

Check out my lo-fi but more-than-audible minidisc recordings of Orchestra Baobab and more! Also, here's a link to a vid I made of Baobob the same night as the MD recording.

Tune into WFMU Wed Jan28 11pm-2am

2009-01-27T09:55:00.006-05:00

Tune into the singular WFMU Wednesday, January 28th from 11pm - 2am EST if you're in the New York/New Jersey area or on-line. I'll be joining Scott McDowell on his excellent show "The Long Rally."

Scott's preview of the evening here:

"Harris Eisenstadt is a drummer/composer known for his exquisite melding of West African music and free jazz, as heard on his amazing 2008 Clean Feed release, Guewel, He'll be bringing along a clutch of records from his travels. In addition to some of his own music, expect mbalax, sabar and other West African sounds to float from your speakers, interspersed with personal stories and chat."

It's been gratifying to get lots of positive response to Guewel. I hope its brought Senegambian music to the attention of some listeners who hadn't checked it out much. There's an amazing tapestry of musical history even just in the last 30 years in Senegal and Gambia - where Guewel draws its inspiration from - and sorting out the history can be a labyrinthian task since its so under-documented.

Oh ya, its a Boy!

2009-01-25T10:24:00.004-05:00

Fascinating doc about birthing here. Go Ricki Lake! Ok, in the interest of full disclosure, Sara and I are having a boy!!!!!!!! She's due May 30!

Every day is Obama Day

2009-01-20T12:46:00.002-05:00

Link to a 1964 BBC interview with Martin Luther King predicting a black president in less than 40 years. Pretty close... here we are!

Every Day is Dr. King's Day

2009-01-19T10:29:00.001-05:00

Left, Right, and Center

2009-01-17T10:50:00.005-05:00

KCRW has another excellent program available as a podcast that I highly recommend. Left, Right, and Center is a great listen, especially since the much more coherent Tony Blankley took over on the right from David Frum (yep, not a typo) a few years back. Bob Scheer sounds a little over-offended at times way over on the left (but do check out his excellent blog truthdig.com), and Blankley's Washingtonian via brit public school (?) accent is a tad distracting at times, but props to the show's excellent host Matt Miller for keeping everyone pretty much on task and mad props to the darling of intellectual independents Arianna Huffington. Check it out.

To the Point is it

2009-01-09T19:10:00.009-05:00

Been getting into podcasts alot of late, and the LA-based NPR station KCRW's program To the Point with Warren Olney is one radio program that I'm happy to download and listen to as much as time allows. Its even on the AM NPR station in New York but I guess I'm just digging on podcasts in general. More on these I have a feeling in future posts. I used to listen to Warren Olney a bunch during the 6 or so years and thousands of miles driven while I lived in LA 1999-2006. It was on at a very convenient 1pm time and I somehow often caught it. But tuning into podcasts when I want rather than when they're broadcast is the way.

ps For what its worth, I will say that To the Point is so strong precisely because of Warren Olney, and when he takes a (deserved!) break from time to time the show is the weaker for it. His interviewing style, demeanor and improvisational proficiency is deep.

The Century Club

2009-01-04T22:05:00.001-05:00

Link to Alex Ross' excellent New Yorker article on concerts celebrating the centenaries of Elliot Carter and Olivier Messiaen. Ross writes wonderfully. So do Carter and Messiaen!

Musicians should write about what they do

2008-12-26T10:58:00.005-05:00

Seriously illuminating interview with the Ronald Reagan of jazz, Wynton Marsalis, here. The Bad Plus' blog Do the Math is an incredible repository of writings. Always inspiring reading, because it's journalism of the highest order written by a musician. I remember struggling as an undergrad with the seemingly irreconcilable problem of wanting to play jazz and write about it. I pretty much gave up on writing about it (and presumably, according to Wynton...). A quick look at the length of most of my blog posts will confirm that. So kudos to Ethan Iverson for taking the time to balance the scales. Musicians should write about what they do.

A Powerful Story

2008-12-25T10:19:00.004-05:00

My mom gave Sara and I a copy of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's powerful memoir Infidel a couple weeks ago. Sara tore through it and I'm about 3/4 of the way into it now. Generally favorable reviews at Metacritic. Fascinating account of Somali life and life in exile in Saudi Arabia, Kenya and the Netherlands. In a seemingly unlikely match, Ali is a now a fellow at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute. Amazing story and definitely recommended holiday reading.

Top Ten Heard, Read, Seen in 2008

2008-12-12T20:36:00.017-05:00

Here they are folks. My Top 10 of 2008 heard, read, and seen. Of course many of the films, TV shows, and books weren't created this year. I just happened to encounter them in 2008. The concerts all happened in the last twelve months. Feels a little weird to be home on a Friday evening compiling these lists and not at the concert of Elliot Carter's music at Carnegie Hall going on RIGHT NOW, but I need a night off, yo! The photo included is from his Boston Symphony Orch at Carnegie Hall centenary celebration last night. Wish I could have been there. Had a gig. Can't do everything. So it goes in New York.

CONCERTS:
1. Messiaen Turangalila at Carnegie Hall Feb
2. Messiaen organ concerts at St Thomas Church Oct/Nov
3. Elliot Carter Focus Festival concerts at Juilliard Jan
4. Smith/Abrams/Lewis AACM event May
5. Angelique Kidjo private party at ABC furniture Nov
6. AACM mini-fest at the Kitchen Oct
7. Gagaku Winds at Japan Society Oct
8. Cecil Taylor/Tony Oxley at the Village Vanguard Nov
9. The Engines at Union Hall Jan
10. Aram Shelton’s Arrive at Zebulon Aug

BOOKS:
1. “Power Stronger than Itself” George E. Lewis
2. “A Fine Balance” Rohinton Mistry
3. “Leviathan” Paul Auster
4. “King Suckerman” George Pelecanos
5. “Bridge of Sighs” Richard Russo
6. “The Rest is Noise” Alex Ross
7. “Oracle Nights” Paul Auster
8. “The Big Blowdown” George Pelecanos
9. “Single and Single” John Le Carre
10. “The Road to Wellness” T.C. Boyle

TV:
1. The Wire season 5
2. State of Play
3. Foyle’s War season 5
4. The Shield season 5
5. The Shield season 6
6. Flight of the Conchords season 1
7. Foyles War season 6
8. Prime Suspect season 1
9. John Adams
10. Prime Suspect season 2

FILMS:
1. The Fall
2. Ashes of Time Redux
3. Persepolis
4. Days of Heaven
5. Eastern Promises
6. The Counterfeiters
7. War Dance
8. Molaade
9. Tai Chi Master
10. Step Brothers

Canada Day this Wednesday 12/3 Friday 12/5

2008-12-02T15:10:00.003-05:00

Folks

If any are free this Wednesday or Friday night, please come on down to
Canada Day's final two gigs of 2008 in preparation for a Clean Feed
recording December 6.

This band has played regularly for a year and a half and the material is
sounding great.

***

Wednesday, December 3rd 2008 @ Monkeytown
Canada Day at Monkeytown
Admission: $5, $10 minimum
Showtime: 8:00pm

Friday December 5th 2008 @ Cornelia Street Café
Canada Day at Cornelia St Cafe
Admission: $10
Showtimes: 9pm, 10:30pm

***

Harris Eisenstadt's Canada Day

Nate Wooley (trumpet)
Matt Bauder (tenor saxophone)
Chris Dingman (vibraphone)
Eivind Opsvik (bass)
Harris Eisenstadt (drums, compositions)

***

"Eisenstadt's Canada Day is a striking blend of spacious groove and textural
intimacy." - Time Out New York

"He's perpetually building new ensembles to suit the variety of music he
hears in his head — that's what composers do. That music is just abstract
enough to fall on the avant side of the tracks, but there are usually
cohesive threads and kinetic triggers guiding the action. This quintet with
vibes, reeds, and brass up front should suit his not-so-hidden yen for
textural splendor." Village Voice

Guewel #1 on JJA Top 10 of 2008 List

2008-11-23T14:46:00.008-05:00

Thanks to Hank Shteamer for making Guewel #1 on his Jazz Journalist Association Top 10 of 2008 List.

Angelique Live... around the corner

2008-11-14T15:23:00.005-05:00

Amazing New York moment: played for a sabar class the other night at Djoniba in Union Square with a bunch of Senegalese guys as I often do when I'm in town and can get over there. One particular badass dropped in for a few minutes, played his ass off, and left. I wondered why he ran out, but things are mercurial over there so I didn't think much about it. I saw him at the end of class downstairs and it turned out he was playing around the corner with Angelique Kidjo at a $15,000 couch-kinda furniture store called ABC Furniture. She was playing for a donor's private party. They were already playing so my friend couldn't spirit us in, but another friend randomly showed up just as Sara and I were going to leave who happened to be on the list for the night. He got us in and there we were, listening to Angelique in a fancy furniture store with 200 or so ritzie folks, eating tuna tartare hors d'oeuvres... Only in NYC?

RIP Miriam Makeba and Mitch Mitchell

2008-11-14T10:01:00.003-05:00

The world lost two great artists this week, Miriam Makeba

and Mitch Mitchell.

Prime Time

2008-11-10T09:49:00.005-05:00

Watched the fourth season of Prime Suspect this weekend. Couple 2-hour episodes. Synopses here for anyone not up on the excellent British police drama. Go Helen Mirren! Mirren has said in interviews that her character Detective Chief Superintendent Jane Tennyson is not someone she particularly would like to pal around with, but you've got to give it to Tennyson, she gets results. She's job-obsessed, relationship-challenged, and so good at what she does that her superiors can't help but promote her after each success, despite their usual efforts to stymie her investigations. Each season is 2-4 two hour episodes, and bravo again to British television for their quality-over-quantity paradigm that seems to escape most American television programs.

Two Elders, Playing

2008-11-07T11:14:00.005-05:00

This isn't a photo from last night, but its pretty much how things looked at night 3 of the second run of Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley Duo at the Village Vanguard. I sat right up near Tony's drums during the first night, and amazingly enough had a hard time hearing Cecil! Never had that happen before. Due to a modest turnout the club let first set customers stay for the second, which was great. I sat in the back of the room at the bar, and the balance was much better. Bravo to Cecil for the rhapsodic moments that populated both sets. And bravo to Oxley for never being swept under the carpet by Taylor. He more than held his own, and while the music wasn't life-changing, it was definitely life-affirming.

Today's the Day

2008-11-04T09:28:00.000-05:00

Ashes of Time Redux!!!!

2008-11-03T11:29:00.010-05:00

If ever there was a film that NEEDED to be seen on the biggest screen possible, this is it. The same over-indulgence that you'll find in Wong Kar-Wai's head-scratching narrative and saccharine score is also his greatest asset visually. I blogged about another visual stunner recently, The Fall. But I unfortunately saw that one on the small screen. It held up though I knew it would have been infinitely better on the big screen. Not sure "...Redux" would work on the small screen at all. The colors, the long, luscious lingering shots... it was like watching a 10,000 photograph slide show. I felt like a deer who found the headlights and refused to budge. FWIW, Wai keeps it to an (admirably) brisk 90 minutes. See it in a theater. Trust me.

Starmelodics

2008-10-30T23:16:00.002-05:00

Starmelodics is here.

Seven Moments of Substance

2008-10-19T20:06:00.003-05:00

A "transformational figure" indeed.

Austere Music

2008-10-17T09:37:00.003-05:00

Blew threw Paul Auster's The Music of Chance. NYTimes reviewer Michiko Kakutani's nails it by describing this quick, tense read "as a chilling little story that's entertaining and provocative, resonant without being overly derivative." Auster simultaneously presents an existential wasteland and a riveting what-happens-next narrative. No small feat.

Welcome to The Fall

2008-10-14T10:25:00.004-05:00

Serious love/hate at Metacritic for Tarsem Singh's The Fall. We loved it! What an incredible oft-improvised-apparently performance by 5 year-old Catinca Untaru. Singh's audacious use of 24 countries and no CGI apparently places the film in the lineage of other visual jawdroppers/fables like Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, and The Princess Bride. See it for yourself. You probably won't have a lukewarm reaction.

The Glorious Bodies

2008-10-12T10:26:00.004-05:00

Caught the second of six Saturdays of Olivier Messiaen's organ music yesterday afternoon. My old boss when I interned at Knitting Factory eleven years ago Steve Smith reviews the first concert here. What incredible music, played with equal parts stoic calm and religious fervor by organist John Scott. I can't make the next one but I will be back in November. I won't say that I had a Christian epiphany or anything like that ('cause thats just not how I roll), but listening to the fourth movement of "Les Corps Glorieux," "Combat de la Mort et de la Vie," (check the Youtube link included in this post) definitely induced some religulous ecstasy.

Sho nuff

2008-10-11T09:42:00.002-05:00

What a beautiful concert last night of traditional and new music for gagaku winds at the Japan Society around the corner from the UN. Amazing to hear such virtuosi sho, ryuteki and hichiriki players. Much thanks to my friend flutist Kaoru Watanabe who hooked up a... um... more affordable ticket. What a treat! There were three premieres plus a couple other pieces by contemporary composers, but for me the highlights were the five traditional pieces they played.

Happy Belated Birthday, Thelonious

2008-10-11T09:37:00.004-05:00

Meant to do this yesterday, but the day got away. Happy birthday Monk! The man would be 91.

Amina, seriously

2008-10-10T08:34:00.007-05:00

An elegant evening of music last night at the kitchen. Personal highlights included an epic piano duo (duel? no... wrong word) between Amina Claudine Myers and Muhal Richard Abrams, and a gorgeous, lush, tonal (?!?) piece for string quintet and voice by Roscoe Mitchell. Looking forward to the second of these evenings Saturday when Sara plays contrabassoon on George Lewis' piece.

Foolish, in Brooklyn

2008-10-09T09:58:00.004-05:00

Surprisingly mixed reviews here for Paul Auster's engrossing read "The Brooklyn Follies." Maybe its our Slope-adjacent zip code, but from page one's evocations of early90s pre-millions-of-dollars Prospect Park-facing brownstones, I was sucked in and am zooming on through. Nice to finally read Auster, who everybody always lauds and maybe thats why I hadn't got to him yet. But I'll read more of him; he's a fantastic storyteller.

Canada Day vid#2 - "And When to Come Back"

2008-09-28T23:58:00.003-05:00

"And When To Come Back" by Canada Day ( w/ Nate Wooley, Matt Bauder, Chris Dingman, Eivind Opsvik), Le Grand Dakar, Brooklyn, June 2008 (thanks to Chris Lazinski for filming and Eivind for camera loanage).

Guewel Release and Canada Day Vid#1

2008-09-26T15:17:00.006-05:00

Guewel is out on Clean Feed!

Thanks to Hank Shteamer for the thoughtful CD review/ release gig preview in Time Out New York here.

Also, a vid (thanks Chris Lazinski) of "Every Day is Canada Day" by my band Canada Day (Nate Wooley, Matt Bauder, Chris DIngman, Eivind Opsvik) from a gig in June. We record for Clean Feed in December.

It's not The Wire, but it is The Shield

2008-09-12T09:40:00.004-05:00

What can I say? Is it just post-partum from The Wire that makes me feel lukewarm about season 6 of The Shield so far? Its entertaining, make no mistake. I guess its nostalgia from living in LA for six years, because it's nice to see the streets of "Farmington," the fabricated LA neighborhood that's really some kind of conglomerate of Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, downtown LA, Echo Park, Glassell Park, and a dozen other east side neighborhoods, in action. The hand-held camera-work is riveting, the storylines complex and fairly virtuosic. The acting is mixed, some of the writing is great and some is so-so. Not that it'll stop me from making my way thru the season. Is there anyone out there who can really say they prefer it to The Wire? No way....

What the F-ck did I do?

2008-09-10T20:55:00.004-05:00

So long, The Wire. Just finished Season 5. It hurts me to know that there are no more episodes out there. Drag. The greatest television series I have ever watched, I'd say. Typically sardonic journalistic IM back-and-forth on whether Season 5 flopped (no way!) and general life with (and now without) the show here.

Wellness

2008-09-10T09:15:00.005-05:00

Just finished T.C. Boyle's the Road to Welville. Jane Smiley's insightful review is here. I must admit, Boyle's dazzling virtuosity actually slowed me down at times. His story of early 20th century health nuts is superbly researched and both hilarious and sad. I do admire that Boyle never settles for simple protagonist-antagonist paradigms. His ensemble cast all have positive and negative attributes, and his command of language is staggering. Its just that you get the feeling that he's kind of showing off that incredible prowess sometimes. Recommended reading nonetheless. Having said that, though its been awhile (I read it in undergrad in 1994), I'd recommend starting with his wonderful collection Greasy Lake and Other Stories.

The Counterfeiters

2008-08-20T09:15:00.005-05:00

An interesting review here about the wonderful Austrian film The Counterfeiters. My folks had mentioned it to me a few months ago, I think I put it in the ol' Netflix cue, forgot about it, and it showed up in the mail last week. The Times review rightly points out the difficulties directors face in making Holocaust films: they "either try to take the full, horrible measure of the subject, at the risk of overwhelming or alienating a modern audience, or else, in trying to make the story bearable, they subvert its truth." The opening and closing post-camps scenes in Monte Carlo reminded me for just an instant of Life is Beautiful, the Benigni WWII farce from a few years ago, but that is a far more glaring and problematic example of subverting reality and horror. The Counterfeiters is a much humbler film, and its greatest asset in the end is probably its remarkable lead actor, the incredibly-named Karl Markovics.

War Dance

2008-08-11T10:08:00.013-05:00

An interesting range of reviews here for the recent doc War Dance by fellow Colby alum Andrea Nix Fine and her partner Sean Fine. Beautifully shot, though many reviews rightly take issue with the Hollywood-esque depiction of some of the landscapes. Critics complain that these kind of slickified montages at least partly airbrush some reality out of the picture. I'm just glad the film was made, as it illuminates the Acholi's plight at the hands of the INSANE LRA. Well worth watching, regardless. Sara feels like the montages gave her a chance to reflect on the unbelievable stories these children went through and allows the viewer to see how beautiful northern Uganda is. She makes good points. One thing we both took issue was that the deleted scenes were poignant and should have been part of the regular feature. Glad we watched them.

Reminded me at times of the fascinating but too-glossy National Geographic Africa DVD set.

Single and Single; not Singular, but not bad at all

2008-08-06T11:07:00.004-05:00

An interesting take on Single and Single here. I don't entirely disagree with the assessment that this may not be Le Carre's strongest showing, but as I've blogged about here and here, I'm a sucker for post cold war Le Carre. I've never had much luck actually getting through his classics (Tinker Tailor et al), and I'm not quite sure why. There seem to be endless "well it's not bad but it's not Smiley" reviews for anything written after the mid90s, but what can I say. Anyways, recommended.

Playlist for a Rainy Sunday

2008-07-27T21:44:00.006-05:00

3 blog posts in a day, 4 in 2 days. Haven't blogged this much since Senegal Spring 07.

Playlist for a rainy Sunday in Brooklyn hanging with Sara and Jason Mears... selections from the following CDs:

1) The Four Bags "The Four Bags"
2) Mike McGinnis and Between Green "Tangents"
3) Chris Heenan/Michael Vorfeld "Half Cloud, Half Plain"
4) Jordan McLean "Piano Music and Song Trio"
5) Pascal Gallois "Kurtag - Schoeller - Boulez"
6) Peggy Lee Band "New Code"
7) Rhodri Davies "TREM"
8) Kraig Grady "The Creation of the Worlds"
9) The Lost Trio "Boxcar Samovar"
10) Team Up "Team Up"
11) Atomic/School Days "Nuclear Assembly Hall"
12) Paul Smoker "Duocity in Brass and Wood"
13) Carl Ludwig Hubsch "Tuba Solo"

One for the Time Capsule

2008-07-27T20:58:00.003-05:00

Pretty mixed reviews here, but I laughed out loud through much of Step Brothers, whereas I was forced to turn this lemon off almost immediately.

The Bounties of Halifax

2008-07-27T09:29:00.008-05:00

Caught an episode of Trailer Park Boys in the hotel room while in Halifax playing at the Atlantic Jazz Fest last week (lovely gig, btw, thank you jazzeast). Hadn't seen it in some years and it still cracked us up. We watched a couple old episodes last night just to see how the early seasons held up over time, and in small doses, Ricky, Julian, Bubbles, et al are pretty hilarious. There are few half hour comedy shows I could watch episode after episode, and this might not be one of them, but it comes pretty close. Anyone recommend a half hour funny that you could watch more than 4 episodes of in a row, I'd be interested to hear. Ricky's hairdo hasn't changed, Julian still has a rum and coke in hand at all times, and Bubbles' accent and glasses are thick as ever. If you've never seen it, take TPB for a spin, and let me know what you think.

Bridge of Sighs

2008-07-22T08:40:00.005-05:00

I was lucky to be an English Major, Music Minor at Colby College from 1994-98. I had some great fiction and poetry teachers during that time, but unfortunately Richard Russo had just stopped teaching the year before I got to Maine.

I've enjoyed his books in the past, and 100 pages or so into Bridge of Sighs I can recommend this one too. Not sure if its quite as nonchalantly epic as Empire Falls or as unputdownable as Nobody's Fool, but it has drawn me in right away. Another beautiful depiction of a smal northeast town and the people whose lives spiral in and out of it.

In Bruges

2008-07-19T11:26:00.002-05:00

I must admit, I quite enjoyed In Bruges. Not an earth-shattering film, but a clever narrative with strong performances and beautiful cinematography of a fairytale town. Recommended.

Persepolis

2008-07-11T10:29:00.003-05:00

What a fantastic movie! The drawings are beautiful, the narrative is excellent, and its sheer uniqueness made me think of another wonderful recent animated film.

A Fine Balance

2008-07-09T10:37:00.006-05:00

About two thirds into A Fine Balance, and its picking up steam as it goes. Mistry's exposition is slow and lush, and it becomes clear that his characters' back stories are a sort of literary history of 20th century India. An engrossing and lyrical book.

"You see, you cannot draw lines and compartments, and refuse to budge beyond them. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair." He paused, considering what he had just said. "In the end, it's all a question of balance." - p.228-229

One Likes One's BBC

2008-06-17T18:05:00.005-05:00

Just started the excellent BBC miniseries State of Play. Riveting so far...

Bravo to casting director Wendy Brazington, who included some of my favourite British actors, including Bill Nighy and Kelly MacDonald, both fantastic in the small but wonderful film The Girl in the Cafe, and Polly Walker, who played the wicked Atia of the Julii on the also-undersung HBO drama Rome, which I've blogged about before (Feb 3/07).