Category: AJBlogs

NEA supports jazz and US arts nationwide
The National Endowment of the Arts, arguably the most misunderstood and beleaguered doing-good office of the federal gov’t (excluding the NEH, EPA, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Civil Rights Division of the Justice Dept., and a few others) has issued its 2017 funding report, highlighting that its monies (monies from we US taxpayers) flow to communities in all 50 states and five territories. … read more
AJBlog: Jazz Beyond Jazz Published 2017-06-15

Metropolitan Museum as Renegade: Reorganization Defies AAMD’s Professional Standards
The Metropolitan Museum has become a renegade. Its decision to rejigger its organizational chart — elevating the finance-oriented CEO (now President Daniel Weiss) above its (as yet unnamed) new art-centric director — runs contrary to common wisdom about … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-06-14

The More Things Change…(Or Do They?)
The following post appeared on Rifftides eleven years ago this spring. What thoughts does it stimulate in readers now? Have there been significant changes in jazz since 2008? … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-06-14

Development Terminology
Fools rush in … I may just be a glutton for punishment. However, over the (many) years I taught arts management and the many more in which I have engaged with colleagues … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-06-13

Dan Weiss Announced As Met’s CEO: Initial Thoughts
My initial reaction to this morning’s announcement from the Metropolitan Museum – that Daniel H. Weiss is now President and Chief Executive Officer, with the TBD director reporting to him – is skepticism. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-06-13

President Dan Weiss Snares Top Spot at Metropolitan Museum (with director as subordinate)
Congratulations, Daniel Weiss. You’ve passed the audition. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-06-13

Monday Recommendation: Mat Walerian
Mat Walerian, Matthew Shipp, Hamid Drake, Jungle: Live At Okuden (ESP-Disk)
His adventurism ranges far and he occasionally makes harsh sounds, but Polish reed artist Mat Walerian ultimately projects a calming effect … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-06-13

Billie Joe’s secret
Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe” turns fifty years old next month, and we’re still listening to it — and talking about it. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-06-13

A Masterpiece That Needs More Attention
On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal published my latest entry in its Saturday Masterpiece column, about Enguerrand Quarton’s Pietà of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, … Many people have told me that they’ve never noticed the work in the Louvre. Yet is it a large work, more than 5 by 7 feet. … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-06-12

A Better Idea for the Guggenheim
One of Frank Lloyd Wright’s fantasies for his design of the Guggenheim Museum was to color it pink. … But Richard Hamilton had a better idea: … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2017-06-12

The problem with problems
If you work in the arts in higher education (or any education, for that matter), you are likely talking or hearing more about “complex problems,” or perhaps “wicked problems.” These are shorthand for … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2017-06-07

Old world order
It’s hard to dismiss someone who looks you in the eye and tells you their truth. We were in the front row for Atlas des Kommunismus at the Gorki Theatre in Berlin, so the … read more
AJBlog: Performance Monkey Published 2017-06-07

Riverside Art Museum
In conversations with staff members of the Riverside Art Museum, I learned that their initial work in fostering relationships with Riverside’s Latino communities had resulted in donations to purchase art. But the “hot off the press” revelation came … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2017-06-06

Lost and Found
Long ago, I heard a lovely definition of creativity: “Finding what has been lost and making it new.”  I’ve never been able to track down the source of that definition, but it’s stuck with me.   … read more
AJBlog: Infinite Curves Published 2017-06-06

Diller Thriller: MoMA’s Mega-Makover, An Irreverent Photo Essay
Having been briefed by another journalist about the current status of the project, we finally got to learn about this work-in-progress from the principals themselves: … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-06-06

Pianist Vijay Iyer and the Ojai Music Festival
This year sees an unlikely but, I suspect, fortuitous paring: Pianist Vijay Iyer — one of the most inventive figures in jazz today — is curating the Ojai Music Festival, a friendly, mellow outdoor … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrash Published 2017-06-06

Discovery At The National Gallery
While I was in London recently (returning before the latest terror attack, thank God), I stopped in at the National Gallery to see its marvelous exhibition, Michelangelo & Sebastiano,  … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-06-05

A Call to Action
At least since 1600 leaders have been most afraid of two things: comedy and the theater. Both have helped America in the recent past. … read more
AJBlog: OperaSleuth Published 2017-06-05

The problem with “no problem”
I was amusing myself on Twitter before turning off the light and going to sleep last Friday night, and had occasion to post this deliberately curmudgeonly sentiment: “For the gazillionth time: ‘No problem’ is NOT the correct reply to ‘Thank you very much.’” … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2017-06-05

Monday Recommendation: Bengt Hallberg
Bengt Hallberg Trio, Dinah (Phillips)
When the Swedish pianist Bengt Hallberg died four years ago at the age of 80, most of his obituaries included a quote from a 1950s Miles Davis … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-06-05

Sublime: Country House Opera in Real Time
Our more or less local country house summer opera season has started with a pair of pieces at Garsington Opera at the gorgeous Getty estate, … read more
AJBlog: Plain English Published 2017-06-05

Bud Shank, Just Because…
…because you feel like hearing Shank play something you’ve never heard him do. You look around on the internet and see what you can find. There he is in Sao Paulo in … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-06-02

Sgt Pepper’s at 50
SO, you may have heard that a famous record from the ‘60s is marking an anniversary. If you’ve not heard more than you can stand about Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band — which … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrashPublished 2017-06-02

Proud and Unbowed: Tom Campbell’s Valedictory to the Press (plus, a look to the future)
I was surprised and saddened to realize (from Robin Pogrebin‘s tweet) that I hadn’t been invited to Tom Campbell‘s press briefing at the Metropolitan Museum on Wednesday—the last of these biannual events before he “step[s] … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2017-06-02

Cory Doctorow’s Post-Apocalyptic Utopia
THE other day I hung out with Burbank resident and globe-trotter Cory Doctorow, who is a cult figure with a very large cult. We talked mostly about his new novel, Walkaway, which is intellectually … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrashPublished 2017-06-02

Belonging gone bad
The idea of “belonging” has long been a key point of aspiration and advocacy for the arts. Art builds empathy. Art builds community. Art infuses a sense of belonging into a world so desperate for … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2017-06-01

Other Matters: Meet The Stamps Quartet
As I was writing liner notes for the next album by Cyrus Chestnut, the research led me to a remarkable performance of its title song. Published in 1989, “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” by … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2017-06-01