Sonny Rollins Interview

Here’s a wonderful interview done recently with jazz legend and music giant Sonny Rollins.

Sonny’s life, music career, and other topics are discussed.

Click below to listen to the interview:

https://www.soundsvisualradio.com/podcast/sounds-visual-radio-episode-76-sonny-rollins/

James Baldwin Interview

JOHN COLTRANE AND THE ESSENCE OF 1961

The legendary saxophonist and his performances at the Village Vanguard represented the many possibilities of what lay ahead

By Ben RatliffNovember 3, 2021 at 9:42 a.m. EDT

Last month the John Coltrane section in your streaming libraries acquired a new item: a recording of “A Love Supreme,” the entire suite, from Seattle’s Penthouse jazz club in 1965. Superb and imposing, it satisfies an understandable desire to see Coltrane, and that particular work, as a kind of monument or icon. It has the ring of the last word. It presides; it has authority;it moves slowly and heavily and comes to a stately ending.

So much of American culture for so long has been based on great works. Maybe it’s a question of standards or simply a measure of saving time. The questions often come down to: Who owns the crown? (One of the posthumous Coltrane reissue projects, from the 1990s, was titled “The Heavyweight Champion.”) Or: Tell me why John Coltrane matters, fast. Give me one work, or one record! Don’t overwhelm me!

Click below to read the entire article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/11/03/john-coltrane-village-vanguard-1961/

Miles Davis honored with renamed New York street

Legendary musician Miles Davis’ name will now forever be tied to the Manhattan street he called home. NY1’s Jon Weinstein filed the following report.

The familiar sounds of Miles Davis’ famous trumpet filled 77th Street on what would have been his 88th birthday.

Hundreds turned out to rename this block after the musician.

And just how excited was everyone?

After a string snafu during the street sign unveiling, one enterprising and athletic fan climbed the lamp post to make sure this stretch between Riverside and West End officially became Miles Davis Way.

Click here for entire article

Santana and Friends Team to Save Coltrane Home

Santana and Friends Team to Save Coltrane Home
Benefit planned to open residence where “A Love Supreme” was written to the public

By Emily Hutton

The Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, N.Y., where the late saxophonist John Coltrane lived from 1964-67, Long Island has long been deemed historic. The Long Island home is not only where Coltrane and his wife, Alice, raised their children, but it is also where Coltrane composed A Love Supreme. Now, according a press release, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has named the Coltrane residence “one of the most endangered historic places in the country,” and Carlos Santana and friends are stepping in to help.

Click here to read entire article

Miguel Zenón Concert Streaming Free

NPR is currently streaming the Miguel Zenón Quartet’s concert at the legendary Village Vanguard in NYC.

The concert took place last month.

It is definitely worth listening to.

If you’re a jazz or latin jazz fan by all means check it out.

If you’ve never heard Miguel Zenón’s music then take a listen and enjoy!

Click here to listen to concert

Morton Downey Jr. Documentary

I remember when Morton Downey Jr. exploded on the scene with his TV show that aired in New York on Channel 9.

He was a loud, obnoxious, foul mouthed, bigoted, reactionary rightwing skunk.

The show was insulting and revolting.

I watched it all the time.

There was nothing quite like it on television back then.

Despite the awful, repugnant politics he represented, the show was truly entertaining and dare I say, compelling.

At least it was to my young, developing mind.

The bright side to all of this is that Morton Downey Jr.’s meteoric rise to fame ended for him and his tv show just as quickly.

Andy Harlow

Andy Harlow – La Mujer Cocinera

The Central Park Five

New York Left Magazines On The Rise

New York Left Magazines On The Rise

This is meant to be a bleak time for young people and words, as an entire generation is assailed by “death of journalism” notices and financial catastrophe. Yet economic collapse can bring opportunities. When there are no jobs to be had at established magazines, and when the spectre of student debt makes further study impossible, you can either despair or you can, like a growing number of New York graduates, just set up your own thing.

Publishing is undergoing something genuinely exciting in New York, a new, post-digital dawn in which a web-literate and politically engaged generation is re-energising journalism with fierce-thinking in stylish print and online publications; it’s from them that we’ll take our next generation of household-name writers.