Music
Michael Nesmith’s proto-Americana songs had aged the least—listen to the jangly guitar and stream-of-conscious lyric on “Tapioca Tundra” and you’d swear that was where R.E.M. got the idea.
The big “destination” jazz festivals are major events, but aficionados making vacation plans will be missing out if they don’t at least take a look at the musical offerings of the smaller festivals.
The tunes on Joey Pizza Slice’s new LP are personal enough to leave many listeners scratching their heads, asking “Is this guy for real?”
Howard Hersh hails from northern California, and, as in John Adams’ “City Noir,” the music on Hersh’s album, “Angels and Watermarks,” embraces polyglot West Coast culture in various ways.
While 1962’s Symphony owes a clear debt to Stravinsky and Britten (especially its last movement), it sounds like nobody but Irving Fine. This is a score that orchestras ought to be lining up to play.
Having glittery, Bettie Page-y young women clad in leather and thongs undulate to music by Tom Waits is pretty much guaranteed to work.
Ken Schaphorst and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts made the case for Sun Ra as an egyptologist (who claimed to be from Saturn).
Whether it was intended or not, Searching for Sugar Man did more than delve into the past of Sixto Rodriguez; it created his future.
Music Commentary: Looking for the Real at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Mostly, I’m looking for that most elusive and hard-to-define quality — authenticity.
Read More about Music Commentary: Looking for the Real at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival