Posted under Popdose
My latest “Jazz Don’t Hurt” column for Popdose.com takes a look at jazz musicians who’ve taken a political or social stand with their music. From Billie Holiday and Max Roach to Chris Washburne and Vijay Iyer, the essay offers a brief overview of 50 years of political jazz. Here ’tis: Taking A Stand With ‘Conscious Jazz’.
Posted under Drummers & Podcast
Ben Perowsky’s newest recording, Moodswing Orchestra (El Destructo, 2009), is an experiment is ambient improvisation. Perowsky has assembled an all-star cast of instrumentalists and vocalists, including everyone from Cibo Matto’s Miho Hatori and Brazilian vocalist Bebel Gilberto to turntable/laptop artist Markus Miller and tuba player Marcus Rojas. In this interview, Perowsky talks about his desire to embrace the spirit of jazz but avoid “jazz language”; and how the process of the recording was as much about improvisation as was the content. Learn more at perowsky.com and see the band live on Nov. 9 at 10 p.m. at the Nublu Jazz Festival.
Read my poetry at jasoncrane.org.
