By Richard PatonEvery fall, millions of Americans listen to Electronic Dance Music.
They may not label it as such. Some, when asked, might well say they don’t really like that kind of music.
But listen, they do, as “Sandstorm” by Darude blasts through the PA systems at NFL and college football stadiums around the country. Read More
By Fritz ByersCharles Llloyd Photo Album Credit: Photo and Design by Dorothy Darr
By Fritz Byers At the end of the 1950s, John Coltrane surveyed the departing decade and its admixture of swing, bebop, cool (and its sibling/cousin/offspring, West Coast jazz), hard bop, and whatever Miles Davis was up to that week, and thought it was time to say goodbye to all that (even to Miles’s modal masterwork, Kind of Blue, to which Coltrane contributed indispensably.) So he wrote “Giant Steps,” a tune whose chord structure and harmonic invitations are so dense, complex, and hectic that it would be difficult to play even if ‘Trane hadn’t chosen the br Read More
Read this week's Jazz Spectrum blogs on Ornette Coleman by Fritz Byers and contributing writer, Kim Kleinman. Read More
By Fritz ByersLast night, a friend and I saw the trumpeter Dave Douglas perform with the Bowling Green State University Lab Band. Read More
By Fritz ByersA few weeks ago, Kim Kleinman wrote, elucidatingly, about his struggle, not easy but ultimately successful, to pierce the often-overwhelming image of The Great John Coltrane and to hear Trane’s music – “as music,” in Kim’s characteristic phrasing. Kim’s right – that’s the best way to hear music. But now we’re back at the shrine – the centerpiece of this week’s show is the Master’s A Love Supreme, the suite he recorded with his Classic Quartet in one inspired session on December 9, 1964. Read More
By Fritz ByersThe first version I heard of “The Days of Wine and Roses” was Perry Como’s. For some reason, one of my parents – I’m being discreet here – decided the household had heard enough of Frank Sinatra, and it was time to diversify. A quick check reveals that Perry’s album, The Songs I Love, was released in 1963. So that’s probably when this downgrade occurred. Read More
