The piano. It is unique: the piano is melodic like no other instrument is and plays us heavy loud and even sometimes fast, producing sounds that momentarily…
Opinionated Piano: Jason Moran, Sullivan Fortner, Aaron Diehl
Author: Adolf Alzuphar
I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face
Listening to Spotify shuffle Cassandra Wilson songs, I stumbled upon a song that I believe spoke to me in a political way: “I’ve Grown Accustomed To His…
This Is Where I Live by William Bell
William Bell’s new release This Is Where I Live on revived Stax Records keeps the same spirit, and purpose (or telos to quote the ancient…
Mirror by Lalah Hathaway
Lalah Hathaway has released a new video for her neo-soul song “Mirror.” The video burns slowly as the song does also. Its lyrics are straight…
There’s A Light by Liz Vice
Liz Vice is a singer of neo-gospel: music that sounds pretty close to the gospel of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Tharpe used the blues and invented…
Everything’s Beautiful by Miles Davis & Robert Glasper
John Coltrane has made life after death difficult for Miles Davis. John Coltrane’s late period has so influenced contemporary Jazz musicians that we have lost…
Continental Garden: Gilberto Gil, Mini-Jazz
Gilberto Gil’s song on the album Expresso 2222 ‘Qui Nem Jilo’, originally written by Luiz Gonzaga, sounds very similar to a certain Haitian mini jazz…
In order to rear a beautiful child: Rhiannon Giddens, Mermaid Avenue
On the road to eternal rest, perhaps one of the greatest challenges that a person can face is how to raise a child. The answer…
Balladeers: John Coltrane, Charles Lloyd
Central to the African American musical tradition is the writing of black ballads – an even more fitting way of understanding black music than simply…
American Troubadour: Charles Bradley, Charles Caldwell, RL Burnside
In the 20th century, a wonderful thing happened to American poetry. The recordings of musical troubadours, a singer of vernacular poetry, became very important to…