Category: AJBlogs

New Musical Venues for a New National Moment
With classical music under siege, many are rethinking audiences and venues. Here in Manhattan, Geffen Hall – previously Fisher Hall, and before that Philharmonic Hall – has never been an inviting place in which … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered QuestionPublished 2017-07-15

Pears, Satie And A Phil Woods Story
Today’s early morning cycling expedition took me past a magnificent pear orchard in the hills west of town. Here is the orchard… …and here are pears taking on color and that lovely … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-07-14

My back pages
This blog is my diary, the only one I’ve ever managed to keep for more than a couple of months. It is, to be sure, a specifically public diary: there are any number of important … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-14

Bible Bumble: The Befuddled Build-Up to the New Museum of the Bible
How is the ambitious, soon-to-open Museum of the Bible hoping to repair the collateral damage to its reputation, now that Hobby Lobby – the crafts and home decor company led by the museum’s founder, chairman and … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-07-13

 

Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday Lives on in London
In her photographs, the multiple Tony-winner Audra McDonald looks nothing like Billie Holiday. But when she appears at Wyndham’s Theatre in Lanie Robertson’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2017-07-12

Social Silos
“I don’t know anyone who … ”
Recently, a colleague presented a workshop on nonprofit financial management to a group of board members of and volunteers for very small grassroots social service organizations. In the course of … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-07-11

A Bit Of Moscow Music
Our occasional Rifftides Russian correspondent, Svetlana Ilicheva, writes that one of her favorite listening spots in Moscow is the Zhurfac café. Not far from the Kropotkinskaya metro stop on Gogol Boulevard … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-07-11

 

The problem with ranking cities’ cultural vibrancy
Two recent publications derive indices to rank different cities according to their cultural vibrancy … The problem is not with the quality of the data. Many of the raw data series will be of interest. The problem is in the very nature of the exercise.  … read more
AJBlog: For What It’s Worth Published 2017-07-10

Shifting Power in American Orchestras
I have become more worried about what happens when [our students in Play On Philly] leave our “bubble” that is filled with peers, teachers, administrators and board members that truly understand their circumstances and enter a field that is dominated by white supremacy and unconscious bias. … read more
AJBlog: Orchestras Everywhere Published 2017-07-10

How To Create An Art-Lover
While at the Guggenheim Museum yesterday, seeing Visionaries: Creating A Modern Guggenheim, I witnessed an awesome sight – but it wasn’t the art. It was a little girl, still in a stroller, with a sketchbook in hand, … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-07-10

Monday Recommendation: Another Bill Evans Discovery
Bill Evans, Another Time (Resonance)
For years, it was thought that drummer Jack DeJohnette’s only recorded appearance with the Bill Evans trio was at the 1968 Montreux Jazz Festival. Then, in 2013, … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-07-10

 

Stop Talking: More on Deleting the Formal
On the day of the Comey hearing, we sat in a bar in Paris watching CNN. Lordy, that was a lot of talking. As if to balance that experience, we went to a piano … read more
AJBlog: The Bright RidePublished 2017-07-09

Other Matters: Mount Adams And The Moon
With the abeyance of certain physical annoyances, cycling is back in more or less full swing. Glorious weather makes it a pleasure to be on the road again, but only if the … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-07-09

Consistency within Variety
Jessica Lang Dance performs at Jacob’s Pillow July 5 through 9. Jammie Walker and members of Jessica Lang Dance in Lang’s Lyric Pieces. Photo: Christopher Duggan Jessica Lang graduated from the Juilliard School and danced … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2017-07-08

Followup: Gunnarsson Quartet Seen And Heard
Moments after I posted yesterday’s Riftides review of Fanny Gunnarsson’s Mirrors, I came across a video of the pianist and singer with her quartet performing a piece from the album. Again, the … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-07-07

Janacek’s Vixen is re-thought and hunted down in the backstreets of London
The title, simply, is Vixen. It’s not The Cunning Little Vixen or Russ Meyer’s Vixen!, though it was closer to the former than the latter. And true to the foxiness of the title, you had to hunt it down. … read more
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2017-07-06

Recent Listening: Kurt Rosenwinkel, Fanny Gunnarsson
Kurt Rosenwinkel, Caipi (RAZDAZ Records)
From his emergence in the 1990s, Rosenwinkel has been a relaxed guitar improviser even when negotiating the complex pieces that make him one of the most interesting … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-07-06

Great new jazz photography — Dee Kalea’s campaign
Dee Kalea of Creative Music Photography is old school, in that she’s created black and white images of jazz musicians in performance, closeup, usually one-to-a-frame. … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-07-06

 

Metropolitan Museum’s Empty Director’s Chair: Text of Dan Weiss Memo to Staff
Now that Metropolitan Museum director Thomas Campbell has officially left the building (as of June 30), who will serve as acting director until a new director is chosen? Surprisingly, the short answer appears to be: … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-07-05

 

The purpose of panning
My Wall Street Journal review of the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! stirred up a good-sized dust storm of controversy, as pans are wont to do. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-07-03

Kusama Exhibit Is A Wow – And More
Yayoi Kusama is one of those artists whose work is easy to love. Although she made it (or much of it) as therapy for herself … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-07-04

Rethinking “Classical Radio”
When commercial radio was new, the airwaves were saturated with classical music – not just recordings and live concerts, but highly produced pedagogical programs. You could tune into Abram Chasins for tips on playing Chopin … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2017-07-03

 

Riddell’s Tower
Clocking in at a mere seven hundred pages, give or take, The Communist Movement at a Crossroads: Plenums of the Communist International’s Executive Committee, 1922-1923, the eighth volume of John Riddell’s awesome edition of documents … read more
AJBlog: Quick StudyPublished 2017-07-02

Shoehorned at Hirshhorn: Imprisoning Ai Weiwei’s “@Large” Alcatraz Installation
I can understand why Philip Kennicott felt unenthusiastic about the Hirshhorn Museum’s Ai Weiwei: Trace at Hirshhorn (to Jan. 1), which riveted me when I saw it to best advantage at its original venue—Alcatraz. The … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2017-07-01

Assessment, Resilience & Consensus
Happy New (Fiscal) Year to those who celebrate! So, how will you work differently going forward?  Here are 3 questions to help you get started:   What have you learned from the year just concluded? … read more
AJBlog: Audience WantedPublished 2017-07-01

Recent Listening: Broadbent’s Developing Story
Alan Broadbent, Developing Story (Eden River Records) Broadbent’s title composition is in concerto form, although it is not described as a concerto. His piece combines jazz and classical sensibilities in a flow … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-06-30

Dancing with Lou Harrison
The Mark Morris Dance Group celebrates the centennial of composer Lou Harrison’s birth. Mark Morris dancers in Morris’s Numerator. (L to R): Noah Vinson, Sam Black, and Brandon Rudolph. Photo: Christopher Duggan In 1991, the … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2017-06-30