Drummer, writer, and scholar Asher Gamedze is a growing force on the music scene in Cape Town, South Africa. I have had the pleasure of getting to know him through a couple of extended Skype conversations over the past seven months. Not only is he deeply committed to his craft as an artist, he has
In March, 2020 along with businesses in many sectors around the world, music venues in New York City—all of them—shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This triggered immediate mass unemployment and a scramble of musicians into the online realm where they are now exploring new possibilities for making and distributing their work from home.
At its best, improvised music is in the moment, created out of necessity, reflecting the times in which it was created. I’ve found that there are particularly delectable moments with this music when you are in a room where you feel that the music itself is being born right out of the collective feeling in
This is an interview I conducted with Eli Wallace and Drew Wesely about the series they have been co-curating in Brooklyn. The next show is tonight at Mirror Woods at 8 pm! 1) What are the artistic elements that you are attempting to draw together with the Invocation series? DW: The idea for Invocation came
Los Angeles-based alto saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi is set to release another record, this time on the Thin Wrist label. For this release, Shiroishi delved into the personal and political terrain of concentration camps both as they relate to his family history and in the current cycle of immigrant and minority oppression, in what feels nothing
Editorial based on interviews written and conducted by Eline Marx Patricia Nicholson is an artist and the founder and director of the free jazz organization Arts for Art (AFA). In 2016, I was interning at Arts for Art and taking one-on-one dance classes with Patricia when William Parker suggested I interview her in the perspective
Percussionist Flin van Hemmen has been a catalyst for many things happening in New York since he arrived in 2007. He has released two records under his own name, Drums of Days in 2016, and just in September he followed with Casting Spells & the Coves, both on Neither/Nor Records. He has also been a central figure
Guest Reviewer: John Pietaro Composer: Benjamin Barson, Librettist: Ruth Margraff (Nejma Nefertiti, tracks 7-8) From its opening notes, US composer-baritone saxophonist Ben Barson’s suite for this “epic jazz opera” speaks of the revolutionary politics from which it is derived. With a firm grasp on the canon of liberation music before him, Barson (a student of
Carlo Costa has played a transformative role on the New York improvised music scene since he moved here in 2005. Originally from Rome, he studied at Berklee College of Music before moving to the city and studying with master percussionist Susie Ibarra through CUNY-City College. Since arriving in New York, Costa has been a major
Ami Yamasaki is a vocalist from Japan who has been doing innovative work for quite a few years now. I had the opportunity to see her perform with alto saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos in the Limited Resources series at Muchmore’s on February 6, 2019, and after that I approached her to do an interview. Yamasaki just
