| The thing that a lot of people call, loosely, jazz emerged from struggle, and it’s a technology that invites the spirit and the body to bring through the sounds that the spirit in the body needs, to feel better, to feel freer. It’s a peoples’ liberation technology. |
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| esperanza spalding in Paris, Nov. 17, 2021 |
| (Edward Berthelot/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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| rantnrave:// |
It’s Friday
And that means new music from YOUNGBOY NEVER BROKE AGAIN, who makes his Motown debut with I REST MY CASE after releasing a head-spinning nine solo and group albums and mixtapes in 2022, four of which hit the top 10 in Billboard. “I ran out of rhymes help me??,” he told a fan who was asking for new music in the comments section on YouTube in November. He appears to have got some new ones for Christmas... ESPERANZA SPALDING sings and FRED HERSCH plays piano on ALIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD, a fully improvised live set whose improvisations include the vocalist scatting her way through Thelonious Monk’s “Evidence” and deconstructing the lyrics of George and Ira Gershwin’s “But Not for Me”... IGGY POP sings old-school stripped-down new wavey hard rock on EVERY LOSER, which features an all-star Sunset Strip band including Travis Barker, Duff McKagan and the late Taylor Hawkins, and a producer, Andrew Watt, who made his name with the likes of Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa and Miley Cyrus.
Also today: New albums from French Montana, J. Stone & DJ Drama, Anti-Flag, Brandon Ratcliff, Doom Flower, Nicole Dollanganger and Ru Paul.
La Di Da Di Etc Etc
The GRAMMYS will give lifetime achievement awards next month to SLICK RICK, NIRVANA, the SUPREMES, NILE RODGERS, MA RAINEY, ANN & NANCY WILSON and BOBBY MCFERRIN... A week after his family reported he had been missing since October, THEOPHILUS LONDON was found “safe and well,” according to police and his family... R&B group FLO was named by a panel of more than 100 music insiders as the BBC’s Sound of 2023.
Rest in Peace
Blues lap steel guitarist FREDDIE ROULETTE... Brill Building songwriter CARL D’ERRICO, best known for the Animals’ “It’s My Life,” which he wrote with lyricist Roger Atkins... JANNIS NOYA MAKRIGIANNIS, leader of Danish pop band Choir of Young Believers... Photographer HENRY GROSSMAN, celebrated for his candid shots of the Beatles; he was also a professional opera singer... And MARK CAPPS, a Grammy-winning Nashville recording engineer who was shot by police Thursday afternoon on the porch of his house. They were trying to arrest him on charges of holding his wife and stepdaughter hostage at gunpoint.
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| - Matty Karas, curator |
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Complex |
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| The War on Rap |
| By Ari Melber, Bun B and T.I. |
| In recent years the uptick in violence and deaths in Rap has increased tremendously. MSNBC's Ari Melber is joined by artists Bun B and T.I. to discuss what's been going on in the Rap community. |
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Andscape |
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| Remembering Gangsta Boo |
| By Keith Murphy |
| The Memphis legend created a new hip-hop archetype: the hustling, game-spitting, hell-raising chick that inspired female rappers for decades. |
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Money 4 Nothing |
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| What Taylor Swift Tells Us About the Billboard Charts |
| By Saxon Baird and Sam Backer |
| Taylor Swift made headlines recently by grabbing all top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart - a first in its 64 year history - with the release of her latest record Midnights. Cool. Good for Taylor and her Swifties. But....what does that actually mean? |
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Rap Radar |
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| Rap Radar Podcast: Westside Gunn |
| By Elliott Wilson, Brian "B.Dot" Miller, Westside Gunn... |
| Westside Gunn doesn't lack confidence. This year, the Griselda Records general is celebrating a string of releases, including his own, 10. But Gunn isn't toasting to his accomplishment alone. |
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NPR Music |
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| Jake Blount: Tiny Desk Concert |
| By Jake Blount and Bob Boilen |
| The young proponent of traditional music brought a talented band, his astonishing imagination and a selection of what he calls "Black folk music from the future" to the Tiny Desk. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music of the day |
| “But Not for Me” |
| Fred Hersch & Esperanza Spalding |
| From "Alive at the Village Vanguard." |
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| Video of the day |
| “Gimme Danger” |
| Jim Jarmusch |
| Jim Jarmusch's 2016 Stooges documentary. Streaming at Amazon. |
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| Music | Media |
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| “REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask ‘why?’” |
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