Category: AJBlogs

From the Q & A
In March I participated in the Intersections Summit hosted by Milwaukee Repertory Theater. It was a gathering of community engagement practitioners from theaters (mostly) across the U.S. Prompted by the event, … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2018-05-22

Monday Recommendation: Get To Know Tom Talbert
Demands on time and resources have sidetracked plans for a new Monday Recommendation. Hey, stuff happens. The Rifftides staff’s solution is to reach back to the earliest days of this blog, and … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-05-21

Weekend Extra: Zeitlin, Williams and Wilson Together Again
Denny Zeitlin, Wishing On The Moon, Live At Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola In New York City
Pianist Zeitlin has recorded three albums with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Matt Wilson, beginning in … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-05-20

Picasso Fiasco: CultureGrrl Q&A with Mike Kosnitzky, Lawyer for Steve Wynn’s New Company
In my previous post about the astonishing news that unspecified damage was done at Christie’s on Friday to Picasso‘s Le Marin, 1943 (which had been estimated to bring around $70 million … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-05-17

My Art Encounter With Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe, who died this week, was not exactly a favorite person in the art world (or the literary world, for that matter). In a modern era, he was a throwback, a man who preferred … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2018-05-17

Preminger And Garcia Play Chopin
Noah Preminger, Rob Garcia: Dead Composers Club Chopin Project (Connection Works Records)
If I were going to be in New York City tomorrow evening — alas, I won’t be — I would be at … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-05-17

Fostering intuition
One of the remarkable attributes of experts in a discipline or domain is how quickly they can assess and respond to a complex moment. In a flash, it seems, they cut through the noise, … read more
AJBlog: The Artful Manager Published 2018-05-16

Barker Lark: Oliver Makes Auctions Fun Again at Sotheby’s Revival Meeting (aka Contemporary Sale)
At last, someone knows how to play this game: It’s Oliver Barker, the Sotheby’s auctioneer who succeeded in whipping up a spirited $284.54-million Contemporary Art sale tonight (preceded by the Mandel Collection’s $107.8-million opening act), … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-05-16

Ballyhooed Nude, Picasso Fiasco: Misadventures at Impressionist/Modern Sales at Sotheby’s & Christie’s
How did Sotheby’s manage to be deprecated on Monday for achieving a price of $157.2-million for a Modigliani reclining nude — the highest amount ever paid at that firm for a single artwork? The auction house was … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-05-16

Huge Wyler Retrospective in Paris
One of the beauties of a William Wyler retrospective as big as the one that the Cinemathèque Française has currently mounted in Paris is the chance to see the immense variety of his work. … read more
AJBlog: Straight|Up Published 2018-05-16

Justice and Engagement
In March I participated in the Intersections Summit hosted by Milwaukee Repertory Theater. It was a gathering of community engagement practitioners from theaters (mostly) across the U.S. As frequently happens, the conference sparked a number of thoughts. … read more
AJBlog: Engaging Matters Published 2018-05-15

Tom Wolfe, R.I.P.
Tom Wolfe, who died yesterday, was a card-carrying member of the Grand Old Party of Reality, a journalist whose sole and only loyalty was to the facts painstakingly gathered by hand and scribbled down in his reporter’s notebook. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2018-05-15

Monday Recommendation: Peter Erskine’s latest encounter with Dr. Um
On Call: Peter Erskine & The Dr. Um Band (Fuzzy Music)
Erskine’s quartet luxuriates in excitement that recalls and updates his achievements as Weather Report’s keystone drummer and later when he was … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-05-14

Recent Listening In Brief: Hersch, Davis-Coltrane & Hamilton
Fred Hersch Trio, Live In Europe (Palmetto) Hersch opens his new trio album with Thelonious Monk’s “We See” and closes it with an unaccompanied performance of “Blue Monk.” A longtime source of … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2018-05-12

Fragile fool
A friend of mine has just discovered the music of Chet Baker, about whom I wrote sixteen years ago in The Wall Street Journal. Since that piece, a review of James Gavin’s Deep in a … read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-05-11

The Times Are Changing
Kyle Abraham’s company, A.I.M., performs at the Joyce Theater. Marcella Lewis (L) and Keerati Jinakunwiphat in Kyle Abraham’s Drive. Photo: Ian Douglas Kyle Abraham used to call his company Kyle Abraham/Abraham in Motion. Now it’s … read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2018-05-10

The Times Are Changing
Kyle Abraham’s company, A.I.M., performs at the Joyce Theater. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2018-05-10

Review: Matthew Shipp Solo
Matthew Shipp, Zero, ESP
For years pianist Shipp has gone his own unconventional way. Critics have shunted him into the avant garde piano category. That’s not where he belongs. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-05-10

Michael Pakenham, R.I.P.
Thirty-one years ago, I was a senior editor at a monthly magazine in New York, stuck (if that’s the word) in a job that didn’t satisfy me and not sure what to do about it. … read more
AJBlog: About Last Night Published 2018-05-10

American Success Story: Rockefeller’s & George Washington’s Conquest of Christie’s
For the second night in a row, bidding on the Rockefeller Collection at Christie’s handily outstripped the low presale estimate. In a livelier session … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-05-09

Building Community, Skin Against Skin
Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, working in both Brussels and Berlin, visits NYU Skirball … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2018-05-09