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
Category: Articles
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…
Artist Profiles: Rasbawa
Beninese singer-songwriter Rasbawa is the son of a businessman and a traditional music singer. Very early, he became interested in music. While in Abidjan (Ivory…
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…
The Expressionists: Adele, Seu Jorge, Kamasi Washington
The impressionists produced a massive boom of cultural significance and so did the nationalists and their affect on society lingers but no aesthetic has had…
Bel Ochan for Michel Lamartiniere Honorat
In the history of Haitian dance, and thus of Haitian music, there is a name that few people know but that signifies conviction: Michel Lamartiniere Honorat.…
Evora Sightseeing During EXIB 2016
During my recent stay in Evora, Portugal, for the 2016 Ibero-American Music Expo (EXIB), I had the opportunity to visit some of the monuments in…