Blogcritics Author: Michael J. West

Jazz Workshop: In the Presence of the Masters

Michael J. West — Tue, 1 Apr 2008 21:14:30 EDT

My evening with the jazz stars.
As an ersatz jazz journalist, I have two people that I hold in the highest possible esteem. One is Ornette Coleman -- the most outrageously original musician of the last 50 years. The other is Gary Giddins -- for 30 years the jazz columnist in the Village Voice, and the most authoritative and eloquent writer about jazz that I've ever...

Jazz Workshop: For Ornette Coleman on his 78th Birthday

Michael J. West — Sun, 9 Mar 2008 22:04:31 EDT

Dear Ornette...
Dear Ornette, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about your 78 years on this planet (as of today, March 9). Two Thousand and Eight is an awfully big year where you are concerned—it marks a half century since you debuted as a recording artist. Fifty years of Ornette is no small feat, and for the jazz world it means a legacy that everyone,...

Jazz Workshop: The Tricky Appeal of Free Jazz

Michael J. West — Wed, 6 Feb 2008 23:14:45 EST

Bear with me. My ultimate point requires me to relate three stories...
Bear with me. My ultimate point requires me to relate three stories...Story #1This story is the shortest one, but it's not by me. It comes from Do the Math, the blog of Bad Plus piano player Ethan Iverson:[Ornette Coleman] does some shaping of his performances, which I experienced first hand when he taught me his ballad, “Once...

Jazz Workshop: Kellaway's Triumph

Michael J. West — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:35:57 EST

Last week in Paris, piano master Roger Kellaway accepted the Prix du Jazz Classique for his album Heroes.
Last week in Paris, piano master Roger Kellaway accepted the Prix du Jazz Classique--the French Jazz Academy's award for Best Jazz Album of the Year. The album in question is Heroes by Kellaway's trio (with Bruce Forman on guitar and Dan Lutz on bass).Even if you don't know Roger Kellaway's name, you probably know his work. The...

Jazz Workshop: 2007 In Review

Michael J. West — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:45:49 EST

At last! The year-end edition of the Jazz Workshop has arrived!
It's New Year's Eve, my time and excuses have run out, and thus it's finally, finally time to bust out the year-end edition of Jazz Workshop for 2007.This was a big year, folks, this 2007. Ornette Coleman won a Pulitzer Prize; the all-important Monterey Jazz Festival celebrated its 50th anniversary, and Sonny Rollins also celebrated the...

Jazz Workshop: Et Tu, Oscar Peterson?

Michael J. West — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 21:46:09 EST

A loving tribute to Oscar Peterson, 15 August 1925 - 23 December 2007.
Alas. This column should have been my much-promised and –delayed “Best of 2007” post, which I’ve hyped endlessly and shamelessly in the comments on fellow music writers’ articles. (Sorry, guys.) And yet, and yet. Instead I must pause to remark how the cruel fates have taken yet another great from us - via kidney...

Jazz Workshop: Listening Guide to Duke Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige - Part 3, "Beige"

Michael J. West — Mon, 3 Dec 2007 07:44:32 EST

Conclusion of a three-part series - although a fourth may be in the cards?
I was ready to give up on this series at one point, certain that nobody was reading and that I was doing this only for myself. Then I discovered - oh, happiness! - that some online Ellington enthusiasts had discovered my first and second installments and enjoyed them, even told me they were looking forward to the third. Not only has it been...

Jazz Workshop: Listening Guide to Duke Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige - Part 2 - Brown

Michael J. West — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 21:16:16 EST

Continuing the three-part experiment.
While I have no idea how many hits I received for my first installment of this experiment in navigating the architecture of Duke Ellington's famous extended composition, Black, Brown and Beige, I do know that it received precisely zero comments. The implication is that nobody read it or at least cared enough about what I was doing to leave a...

Jazz Workshop: Listening Guide to Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige - Part 1, "Black"

Michael J. West — Wed, 7 Nov 2007 14:13:24 EST

Here begins a three-part experiment.
Here begins a three-part experiment.One semester in college, I took a class on Beethoven. We were required to purchase a specific set of CDs, most importantly the box set of all 9 symphonies as performed by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra (conducted by George Szell). The reason we were all required to have the same performances is that the...

Jazz Workshop: Music Criticism And The Race Card

Michael J. West — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 23:17:44 EDT

Stanley Crouch has been haunting my dreams lately.
Stanley Crouch has been haunting my dreams lately. That's neither metaphor nor embellishment - in the past week, probably less than that, I have twice had dreams that prominently featured Crouch. Once the dream took place in New York, and as I was calling it a night and just coming off the Brooklyn Bridge, I nearly got run down by Crouch as he...