music

Like with La La Land a few months back, here we have a jazz-themed documentary that I haven't seen yet but have read an awful lot about. Unlike La La Land, I actually intend to see Chasing Trane and actually have tickets to see an upcoming showing at a Toronto theatre. The reviews seem fantastic, with more or less unanimous opinion that the film does justice to Coltrane both as a person and as a musician. Some of what I've been reading... Q&A with “Chasing Trane” Filmmaker John Scheinfeld / Down Beat 'Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary' serves the jazz legend well by Noel…

Why music ownership matters Forgetting What I’ve Heard: Why I Miss Buying Music Henry Rollins: Will I Be Able to Finish Listening to All My Records Before I Die? Beyond Jazz’s Boys Club The Forgotten Architects of Jazz — And the New York Women Bringing Them Back Beyond the boys club: Striving for diversity and inclusion in experimental music Sexism In The Music Industry - When Women Lean In, Others Need To Listen Up Almost Famous, Almost Broke: How Does a Jazz Musician Make It in New York Now? Be a good girls or play like a man: Why women aren't getting into jazz 10 Women Instrumentalists…

To all those who come here regularly for a dose of Insolence, Respectful or otherwise, skepticism and science, best holiday wishes for whatever end-of-year holidays you might celebrate. I'll probably be on a less intensive blogging schedule until after the New Year, depending on things go (sometimes, even between Christmas and New Years, something happens that demands some Insolence, and I have a hard time resisting the call), but I'll definitely be back after Boxing Day. In the meantime...one of my all time favorite Christmas performances, and, yes, heathen that I've become, I still enjoy it…

Another annual obsession to add to the list, along with the listings of best science books? Look like it, if last year and this year are anything to judge by. This particular post collects lists of "best of the year" jazz albums I've found across various websites. For the purposes of this project, I'm not giving each list its own post and showcasing the albums that are part of the list. That's an awful lot of work, which I'm reserving for the science books project which is more core to the mission of this blog. Note: I've included a few not-exclusively-jazz lists if they've happened to…

Old fart that I am, I’ve been a fan of The Rolling Stones since the mid-1970s, when I was in junior high school. Over the years, I’ve accumulated pretty close to all of their studio albums—and even bought multiple remastered versions of classics like Exile on Main Street and Beggar’s Banquet—and got access to the rest when I discovered the joy of streaming through Apple Music. Granted, the Stones went through a rough patch, creatively speaking, in the 1980s (the less said about Under Cover and Dirty Work, for instance, the better) and nothing they’ve done since the late 1970s has lived up to…

The jazz of physics, the physics of jazz, the chemistry of jazz, the jazz of chemistry, the jazz of computer science, the computer science of jazz, the math of jazz, the jazz of math, the jazz of biology, the biology of jazz, the jazz of engineering, the engineering of jazz. And why not the jazz of history and the history of jazz? The sociology of jazz and the jazz of sociology? The jazz of political science, the political science of jazz. The jazz of philosophy, the philosophy of jazz, the literature of jazz, the jazz of literature. And why not the jazz of religion, the religion of jazz,…

100 Greatest Music Books of All Time Does the music business need musicianship not to speak ill of the dead.. but.. on the demise of other music What It Takes for an Independent Record Store to Survive Now Why record stores mattered How Miles Davis remade jazz over and over again The Electric Surge of Miles Davis The Classic Cool of Miles Davis Brilliant Corners: Approaches to Jazz and Comics How New York City Became the Epicenter of Jazz new york’s free jazz loft scene, with tom marcello’s photos from studio rivbea How Canada's Philanthropic Pop Industrial Complex Took Over The World Don't…

I never in a million years thought I’d be writing a blog post involving Selena Gomez. Gomez, as many, if not most, of you are probably aware is currently a young pop star and actress who got her start as a child actress. Oddly enough, she was on Barney & Friends with Demi Lovato. These days, Gomez specializes in the variety of overproduced, lightweight pop that I don’t really listen to, although, ever since I subscribed to Apple Music, I’ve been known to listen to songs by performers like Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato just to see if I could figure out why they’re so popular. So far, I…

Basia Bulat Here's some good tunes written and sung by women that I've come across recently. Broen – Boy (2015) Basia Bulat – Fool (2016) Feist – Mushaboom (2004) Florence and the Machine – Dog Days Are Over (2008) Imogen Heap – Hide And Seek (2005) Julia Holter – Betsy On The Roof (2015) Lucius – Turn It Around (2013) PAUW – Memories (2015)

The record exec, his massive record collection and a future where records won’t matter What an opera review spiked by the National Post really tells us Open Letter to YouTube, “Pushers” of Piracy I’ve sold all my CDs. Can I live without those cracked plastic cases of magic and memories? Apple Terminating Music Downloads ‘Within 2 Years’ Apple Stole My Music. No, Seriously. I Remember: The Music of the Holocaust Revolutionary Eruption: The Violent Sound of Magma and Musical Fusion in 1970s France MAGMA’S CHEERFULLY INSANE BRAND OF SCI-FI AVANT GARDE MAKE THEM PROG ROCK’S WEIRDEST OUTLIERS Why…

I heard the news yesterday morning. I was in clinic seeing patients. It was a bit of a slow morning; there was time between patients. So I spent it, as is my wont when clinic is a bit slow, signing charts (OK, signing off on charts in the electronic medical record; I haven’t actually physically signed a chart in a while) and idly checking Facebook and Twitter when finished with that. Then I saw it: Authorities Respond to a Medical Call at Paisley Park, with a comment that Prince was dead. I read the article; it said that someone had been found dead at Prince’s estate in Minneapolis and that…

Space Whale The past two weekends were a lot of fun. The Royal Technical College's orchestra and several combined student choirs from Sweden and Finland performed Giuseppe Verdi's 1874 Requiem, an intricate and operatic farewell to fellow composer Gioachino Rossini and poet Alessandro Manzoni. Hallwyl House: carving in the doorway between the ladies' drawing room and the Golden Salon. Gig with King Khan and the Shrines. Imagine a tall, psychedelic, semi-nude, portly, Canadian Wilson Pickett of Indian extraction belting out soul rock with a band consisting of extremely enthusiastic…

One of four grotesque male faces on a 17th century object in the Tre Kronor castle museum. The piece looks like a little baptismal font, but the label says "possibly a kitchen mortar". Neither function seems likely. Had some quality fun this past weekend. Dinner at Tbilisis Hörna, a Georgian + Greek + Italian restaurant. Service was slow and unsynched but the food was great. The deep green tarragon soda in a bottle with almost exclusively Georgian script on the labels added to the sense of not being anywhere near Stockholm. Gig at the Globe Arena's annexe with psychedelic Australian…

I've been a big fan of David Bowie ever since high school. True, I didn't appreciate his less mainstream stuff as intensely as I do now until I had been in college a couple of years, but it's not an inaccurate to characterize the effect of David Bowie's art on my life as significant. Basically, I own pretty much everything he ever committed to CD or vinyl and have seen him in concert every time he's toured, starting with his Serious Moonlight Tour in 1983 and ending with his appearance at Madison Square Garden during his Reality Tour in December 2003. I saw him with Trent Reznor in 1995, and…

I couldn't believe it when I woke up this morning to the news that David Bowie had passed away. Because there had been so many celebrity death hoaxes, I started checking other news outlets. Not good. Then I checked the official David Bowie Facebook page and Twitter feed. Oh, no. No hoax: January 10 2016 - David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle... https://t.co/ENRSiT43Zy — David Bowie Official (@DavidBowieReal) January 11, 2016 And on his son Duncan Jones' Twitter feed: Very sorry and sad to say it's true. I'll be offline for a while.…

(OK, Music Monday one day late...) Science books are an abiding, long term passion, one which has been reflected here on the blog by my compulsive listing of the Best Science Books of the year, 2015 included. This year I'm expanding the obsessive listing franchise to include another abiding passion, jazz music. But I won't be listing individual jazz albums, just other people's year end lists. As for my own year-end list of best jazz album, I'm afraid I don't really buy enough new ones every year to make a list practical. Here goes. These lists are as at mid-day December 22, 2015. I'm mostly…

A buddy of mine tagged me on Facebook to post a good song every day for a week. Here's what I came up with. 2000s. Robert Plant's (once of Led Zep) beautiful 2002 cover of ”Song To The Siren”. The original was first performed by Tim Buckley (Jeff's dad) in 1968. Pay attention to the lyrics by Larry Beckett. Plant butchers them slightly, singing “unfold” for the actual “enfold”, and obscuring the fact that the lyrics are a dialogue between the poet and the Siren. She's an unpredictable yes-then-no-then-yes woman who leaves poor 20-y-o Beckett “a foolish ship … broken lovelorn on your rocks”.…

Scientists and journalists constantly look for fresh ways to communicate the impacts of climate change. Visualisation of data is now well-known and widely practised. But a new project is doing something a little out of the ordinary: it’s turning climate data into sound. The idea behind ‘Climate symphony’ is to translate hard data on climate change into a musical composition that engages the public — encouraging people to question their feelings and the stories behind the data, and create a conversation. In this audio interview we speak to Katharine Round and Leah Borromeo of Disobedient Film…

I hadn't planned on writing about this again today. (How many times have I started a post with that phrase? I forget, but a lot. Sadly, developments frequently make me change my plans about blogging.) Here's what made me change my plans It was a pair of Facebook posts on hip-hop and fashion mogul Russell Simmons' Facebook page. Here's post #1: And here's post #2: This, of course, is the news report regurgitating antivaccine talking points broadcast in Atlanta late last week by Ben Swann, an all-purpose conspiracy theorist and, apparently, now antivaccinationist, who is anchor for the…

I'm just back from an extended sabbatical work/vacation trip to Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin -- yes, I did meet with some science publishers while I was in Europe! -- and while in Europe a couple of the true icons of my childhood died: BB King and Christopher Lee. As well, jazz icon Ornette Coleman also died while I was in Europe and while he wasn't an icon from my childhood years I do respect and understand the impact he had on the world of jazz. Quebec science fiction writer also passed away Joël Champetier. I thought I'd use this post to remember a thing or two about each of these greats…