Category: AJBlogs

Interview with Ceri Dingle, director of Every Cook Can Govern: The Life, Impact and Works of C.L.R. James
My column for June 28, 2017 at Inside Higher Ed     The word went around a few years ago that someone in England was working on a documentary about the West Indian historian, revolutionary political theorist and pan-African eminence C. L. R. James (1901-1989). … read more
AJBlog: Quick Study Published 2017-06-29

French Band Air at the Greek Theatre
For reasons I can’t entirely figure out or explain, continental Europeans have not had much luck with rock music, not matter how you define the term. (And no, the Scorpions are not excepted.) … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-06-29

Great new jazz photography: Geri Allen by Sánta István Csaba
Pianist-composer Geri Allen, at age 60 a cancer victim, was photographed several times recently by Sánta István Csaba. He caught glimpses of her spirit and mourns her deeply. … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-06-29

The chords that bind
There will be times when you feel an overpowering, almost physical urge to listen to a specific piece of it. Such a feeling came over me last night: I felt that if I couldn’t listen to the first movement of Charles Ives’ Third Symphony right away, I would be reduced to abject despair. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-06-29

 

Four functions/dysfunctions of managers
A former professor of mine used to say that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who divide the world into kinds of people, and those who don’t. Now, as a professor myself, I would add a third kind: … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2017-06-28

What A Way To Go! Fantasy Coffins from Africa
It may be summer, but it’s school days at Jack Shainman Gallery in Kinderhook, and the revelation this year is – fantasy coffins. These fascinating works, three made by a Ghanaian artist named Paa Joe, are unlike … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-06-28

Music Theater Where Truth Can Appear
The last time we looked it was a work in progress. That was a year ago. William Osborne and Abbie Conant had been working on it for so long, Osborne said at the time, that … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2017-06-28
 

Communities as Data Points?
Sometimes a blog post derives from seeing something that only tangentially relates to its point. Such is the case with this one. A while ago I saw an article on the Wallace Foundation’s support of … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-06-27

Geri Allen Gone At 60
Geri Allen died today of cancer. She was 60. Ms. Allen was a pianist of uncommon technical achievement and fluency and inspired a generation of younger pianists. Recently a resident of Pittsburgh, … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-06-27

Home to roost
Mrs. T and I love the art of Milton Avery and are the proud owners of handsome impressions of two of his most striking prints, a 1948 drypoint and a 1963 lithograph. For some time … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-06-27

 

Art for ____________’s sake. What would you fill in?
A few weeks back I was in NYC and had the opportunity to attend a Public Forum event featuring the brilliant Jeremy McCarter … Toward the end of the evening McCarter turned to the rather large panel of activists and artists he had assembled and asked them to reflect on the phrase “Art for Art’s Sake.” There was an awkward silence. … read more
AJBlog: Jumper Published 2017-06-25

A New American Home for Italian Contemporary Art
There’s a new kid on the art block in the Hudson River Valley–Magazzino, in Cold Spring, about an hour and 45 minutes north of New York City. I went up to attend its opening on … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-06-26

“On Deadline with Gabe Pressman”: My Starstruck 1973 Profile of the Late Dean of NYC TV Reporters
Back in 1973, clutching a masters degree in journalism from Columbia, I decided to take the class that Gabe Pressman gave at the New School. This “indefatigable dean of New York’s television reporters” (as described … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-06-26

Monday Recommendation: A Captivating Book Of Photos
Jean-Pierre Leloir, Jazz Images (Elemental)
Jean-Pierre Leloir, who died in 2010, left a remarkable legacy of photographs from his work in the years when France was a destination for, and in a … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-06-26

Butterflies in the spotlight
Like many other major newspapers, The Wall Street Journal has started presenting special events for its subscribers. The editors approached me a few weeks ago about taking part in a theatrical event, a post-show talkback … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-06-26

 

Four Companies, Six Dances
Karole Armitage, Jaqulyn Buglisi, Elisa Monte, and Jennifer Muller join forces. Elisa Monte’s Day’s Residue. Left rear: Clymene Baugher. Jumping (foreground): Scott Willits. Plus Thomas Varvaro, Wade Watson, and Alrick Thomas. Photo: Darial Sneed As … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2017-06-24

Lloyd Cole and All the Poets
YOUR humble blogger has been a fan of Lloyd Cole since songs like Lost Weekend and Why I Love Country Music showed up on “alternative” radio in the mid-’80s. I’ve seen him perform and … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrashPublished 2017-06-23

Ethics and Critics: Conflicts of Interest Infect NY Times Reviews
If a newspaper accepted outside compensation for favorable coverage, that would be clearly be a violation of journalistic ethics—a conflict of interest, potentially compromising the integrity of its reports. That’s essentially what’s happening, though, on … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2017-06-23

The Rust-Belt Country House Opera that Pleases All the Senses
PELLEAS ET MÉLISANDE by Debussy;Garsington Opera at Wormsley;14 June 2017;Mélisande- Andrea Carroll;Conductor – Jac van Steen;Director – Michael Boyd;Designer – Tom Piper;Lighting Designer – Malcolm Rippeth;Movement director – Liz Ranken;Photo credit: © CLIVE BARDA/ArenaPAL;   … read more
AJBlog: Plain EnglishPublished 2017-06-23

This show is not about Donald Trump! (Really!)
In today’s Wall Street Journal I review the Broadway transfer of a British stage version of 1984. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Like all great parables, George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” long ago cast off … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-06-23

Dancing into Summer
Jacob’s Pillow opens its season with a Gala performance. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-06-22

Propwatch – all the stuff in Hir
‘No good ever came from things.’ This line from Hir by Taylor Mac is guaranteed to strike fear into propwatchers. For what is this series but an act of devotion to the innate goodness … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2017-06-22

Recommendation: Miles Davis At Newport 1955-1975
Miles Davis At Newport 1955-1975:The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4 (Columbia/Legacy)
Miles Davis’s importance and recognition grew dramatically in the decades covered by the recordings on these four volumes. When he played in … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-06-22

Great new jazz photography #2: Lauren Deutsch’s Made in Chicago portfolio
“Made in Chicago” is true of the photography of Lauren Deutsch, and also the name of the four-day-long collaborative jazz festival she’s organized in Poznan, Poland for the past 12 years as artistic director (formerly with Wojceich Juszcsak) on behalf of the Jazz Institute of Chicago. … read more
JBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-06-22

Artifacts Reinvented
Sally Silvers’ three new works at Roulette, June 15 through 17.
I love pondering the palimpsest that is New York City. Sometimes when a building’s skeleton is all that’s left, … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-06-21

 

Engagement Terminology
Since I got into the weeds of defining development terms last week (Development Terminology), I thought it was time to present the latest in my thinking about terminology related to community engagement. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-06-20

Great new jazz photography: Marc PoKempner portfolio from New Orleans
Photos of musicians making music – visualizations stirred in the photographers by watching sounds manifest – are exciting, and as different in style as the photographers and musicians themselves. … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-06-20

 

On “looky-loos” and the institutions who are desperate for them and desperate for them to behave
Reading [Dave] Hickey’s memoir this past week I was suddenly struck by the way arts organizations have set themselves up for this very situation.. … read more
AJBlog: Jumper Published 2017-06-19

Disinterest, distance, and the artist-manager
One of the core actions of aesthetic/artistic attention is to step back. To make a little space between yourself and the object of your attention, so you can see it as it is, rather than see it as you are. … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2017-06-19

Too Much Contemporary? Too Little What Came Before?
That is a prospect we–American consumers of art exhibitions–face, and it is that subject and its consequences for our culture … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-06-19

Audiencing: Joining the Resistance at Donmar Warehouse?
Last week in London I was able to see the much discussed Donmar Warehouse production of … The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. It’s not hard to see why Brecht’s satirical account of the rise of a clownish American dictator would find its moment now, … read more
AJBlog: We The Audience Published 2017-06-19

AAMD’s Response to Metropolitan Museum’s Renegade Reorganization: “Guidance to Consider”
In last week’s post, I noted that Met President Daniel Weiss‘ designation as his museum’s CEO, with the yet-to-be-named new director as his subordinate, ran contrary to the professional guidelines of the Association of Art Museum Directors. I also predicted that AAMD’s reaction to the Met’s going rogue would be to ignore it. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-06-19

 

Jan Swafford and Classical Music
YOUR humble blogger is a longtime fan of the classical music writer Jan Swafford, ever since friend gave me his lucid and wise Vintage guide. Swafford, who’s known for biographies of Beethoven, Brahms, and … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrashPublished 2017-06-18

Uncle Vanya Meets Porgy and Bess
What did the legendary Russian experimental theater director Yevgeny Vakhtangov (1883-1922) have in common with Porgy and Bess, Oklahoma!, and Carousel? The immigrant director of these landmark Broadway productions, Rouben Mamoulian, was to some … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered QuestionPublished 2017-06-17

More Looping in World Music: Redi Hasa and Maria Mazzotta
I just got my notification of the line-up for one of my favorite festivals. It takes place 50 kilometers outside Barcelona, in the small city of Manresa. The 20th Fira Mediterrània de Manresa will take … read more
AJBlog: OtherWorldlyPublished 2017-06-17

 

The Late, Great Kevin Starr
LIKE a lot of people, I was originally baffled when I moved to California, which in my case was 20 years ago, this July. Some of the key to its complex code arrived in … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrashPublished 2017-06-17

A thing worth doing
When I was a small boy, I worshipped my father. I was bedazzled by his deep voice, which he loved to raise in song on Sunday drives, and even more by his seeming ability to … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-06-16

Almanac: Randall Jarrell on great criticism
“Taking the chance of making a complete fool of himself—and, sometimes, doing so—is the first demand that is made upon any real critic: he must stick his neck out just as the artist does, if … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-06-16