On Holocaust Day we remember the incomprehensible persecution suffered by Moldovan/Polish/Russian Jewish composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919–1996) at the hands of both the Nazis and the Soviets.
Continue reading...Song Of the week
080: Tim Ries w. Norah Jones, ‘Wild Horses’
A fetching beauty with a catchy rock song in a first-rate jazz context. What more could one ask for?
Saxophonist Tim Ries toured extensively with The Stones, who sponsored his very fine, very varied Rolling Stones Project.
044: Paul Robeson, ‘Go Down, Moses’
It’s Passover! Let’s sing a song of slavery!
Paul Robeson brought the Spiritual to the concert hall, singing the suffering and indignity of his own father in slavery. A remarkable life any standards.
106: Joni Mitchell, ‘Cactus Tree’
Most of the little I understand of the female psyche I’ve learned from Joni Mitchell.
Continue reading...176: Chuck Berry, ‘Too Much Monkey Business’ (Bob Dylan, ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’)
Who da daddy of rap?
Who da grandaddy?
084: Dmitri Shostakovich, Prelude & Fugue No 16 in B-flat Minor (Tatiana Nikolaeva)
As our hearts weep with the innocent Ukrainian victims of Russian aggression, our thoughts turn to Dmitri Shostakovich, a courageous human being and a great composer who lived and worked under the shadow of Soviet oppression.
Continue reading...295: Rita Payés, ‘Nunca Vas a Comprender’/Nils Landgren, ‘Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight’
Watch this clip and tell me you didn’t love it. I dare you.
Continue reading...079: Miles Davis, ‘So What’ (“Kind of Blue”)
THE masterpiece, universally acknowledged . By rockers, by rappers, by jazzists, by aficionados and cognoscenti, by layfolk and by elevator riders. A monolith of lyric beauty and depth.
It is perfect.