Music
Author Ethan Mordden serves up plenty of entertaining yarns, sometimes as exaggerated as the genre to which they pay homage.
Unpacking Felicia Angeja Viator’s work on the history of Gangsta Rap leads to some trenchant observations about American culture — past, present, and under the pandemic.
To Live & Defy in LA sees Gangsta Rap as an important way to understand how systemic racism has worked (and works) in America today.
This cover album is a pretty wild ride, yes, but Molly Tuttle navigates the course with supreme cool.
Arts Fuse jazz critics offer their favorite performances from the Bird.
Falle Nioke has evolved into a kind of cultural ambassador. In the English coastal town of Margate, Kent, he has been praised for his performances of original and traditional compositions on West African instruments.
Percussionist Syd Smart is a Boston treasure to whom we will soon have to say farewell. But his talent, spirit, and energy will remain with those fortunate enough to see him play.
In Limbo, Aminé’s become more reflective, yet he never loses sight his boisterous mischievousness.
Doja Cat offers a glaring example of why the music industry’s new (albeit Big Brother-inspired) way of doing digital business is here to stay.
Jazz Commentary: Charlie Parker — The Eternal Radical at 100
I’m still not sure I heard what’s revolutionary about Charlie Parker’s recordings — they’re very old news by now. But I warm to the expressions of unique genius, a beauty that in itself is radical.
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