Twitter Music

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to hear the David Sanchez Quartet with Stefon Harris in concert. It was, by any reasonable jazz standard, a beautiful performance. What troubled me about it had to do with technology, the Internet and my brain.

Essays/ Editor's letter
May 2005
Hear the World

From its origins in the mud of a complex, troubled, cultural mix to its essential tension between the needs of the music, the individual, and the group as a whole, jazz is a fundamental expression of the Great American Experiment.

Mambo's Humble Architect

Some people are born to play an instrument. But in the case of maestro Israel
“Cachao” López, who died on March 22, 2008, at age 89, rarely have a man and his work been so much of one piece.

Each song, Its own world

On a cold late winter afternoon, sitting at a table in an enclosed patio in his Buenos Aires home,
Argentine pianist, composer and bandleader Guillermo Klein takes another drag of his cigarette as he
considers a question from his visitor.

December 2005
Editor’s Letter
We all live in New Orleans

As we here at JAZZIZ were wrapping up this issue, New Orleans was, literally and figuratively, drowning. The aftermath of hurricane Katrina had devolved into a nightmare of death, loss and violence.

Culprits everywhere but in the mirror

Countries can rebuild on the ruins of anger, but can't survive hopelessness. I grew up listening to patriotic marches announcing military coups. I went through the "Dirty War." I had friends killed and "disappeared." ...

Still, never before had I seen this kind of despair.

The vitality of any cultural expression, such as jazz, is often marked by its capacity to engage and absorb changes — be they social, economic, or technological — and, in so doing, renew itself.

ElectroLatin Part II

The success of loungey singer Bebel Gilberto not only served to call attention to the smart work of the late Sao Paulo-based producer Suba but also to highlight the obvious possibilities of bossa nova and electronics.