At the center of the teaching would always be the idea that jazz is not about race. And it absolutely is. It was absolutely about where people weren’t allowed to go, which made them travel in their music. | | | | Remember theaters? Remember marquees? Remember 10 months ago? Big Sean's "Detroit 2" is out today on G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam.
(Theo Wargo/Getty Images) | | | | | |  | “At the center of the teaching would always be the idea that jazz is not about race. And it absolutely is. It was absolutely about where people weren’t allowed to go, which made them travel in their music.”
| | | | | | rantnrave:// Fewer than 10 percent of the students who graduate with jazz degrees from American universities are Black, and in 2017, the last year for which data exists, only 1 percent were Black women. You'll find that disheartening statistic in GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO's deep dive for the New York Times into the strange disconnect between how jazz is taught in the academy and what jazz is: a music of Black community and Black resistance. This is your #TheShowMustBePaused must-read for the day. Russonello talks to musicians, educators and students who, inspired by this summer of protest, are doubling down on efforts to correct decades of what basically amounts to academic whitewashing. Decades of trying to teach the notes without talking about the spaces between them and the history behind them. A group of musicians operating as the WE INSIST! COLLECTIVE has issued a manifesto for universities—but also for arts organizations, performance spaces and media—calling for an explicit understanding of the anti-racist nature of the music. There's been progress in recent years, with musicians including NICOLE MITCHELL, VIJAY IYER and TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON running, and shaping, major university jazz programs. But a widespread disconnect remains between how the music is taught and how (and, just as important, why) the music is played. Which has a direct, and obvious, effect on who's being taught... An organ chord that's been held since October 2013 will change Saturday in Halberstadt, Germany. It's part of a 639-year performance of JOHN CAGE's "ORGAN2/ASLSP (AS SLOW AS POSSIBLE)," and Saturday's chord will be held for a mere 20 months because we've apparently reached the speed-metal section of the piece... SYLVAN ESSO shot a video in ANIMAL CROSSING... Checkmate! NANDI BUSHELL strikes back at DAVE GROHL. And wins... The eligibility period for the 2021 GRAMMYS ended Monday, which means anyone releasing an album today is either saying they knew they weren't going to be nominated anyway, or they figured there'd be less chart competition this week, or they just don't give a f***. I'm going to assume the latter in all cases and send out a DGAF salute to BIG SEAN, VRITRA, 6IX9INE, OZUNA, HANNAH GEORGAS, LOMELDA, MICHAEL ROTHER, WILLIAM TYLER (if you haven't seen FIRST COW, featuring a gorgeous Tyler score, do that), BILL CALLAHAN, IAN ISIAH, DEMAE, JARVIS COCKER (finally out, four months behind schedule), TRICKY, DIPLO, BILLY OCEAN, HARDY, TYLER RICH, LAUREN ALAINA, TENNESSEE JET, SARA BAREILLES, PHEW, ALL THEM WITCHES, THROWING MUSES, YELLO, YELLE, SOUNDWALK COLLECTIVE WITH PATTI SMITH, ZAYTOVEN, BIZZY BANKS, COREY FLOOD, BARELY CIVIL, THOR & FRIENDS, DIRTY PROJECTORS, the PINEAPPLE THIEF, DECLAN MCKENNA, EN MINOR (PHILIP ANSELMO doing "depression-core"), OCEANS OF SLUMBER and ZAKK SABBATH (ZAKK WYLDE and friends covering guess-who's debut album)... And comps, we've got comps. The MARC BOLAN/T. REX tribute album ANGELHEADED HIPSTER is the late HAL WILLNER's final project and features KESHA, NICK CAVE, U2 and assorted other electric warriors. REM, PHOEBE BRIDGERS, JAMILA WOODS, COURTNEY BARNETT are among the election warriors contributing unreleased tracks to the voting rights benefit album GOOD MUSIC TO AVERT THE COLLAPSE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, available for 24 hours only via BANDCAMP. The soundtrack to CHRISTOPHER NOLAN's TENET adds TRAVIS SCOTT's new single to LUDWIG GÖRANSSON's score, and since the movie is, for now, only in theaters, the soundtrack, which you can listen to safely at home, is the only way you should be interacting with it... Sending best wishes to BLANCO BROWN... RIP DICK LEAHY... MusicREDEF is taking a long weekend to bask in the cool 111 degrees Fahrenheit LA weather (I mean, I wish) and to honor Labor Day, speaking of which, I'm truly thankful I have a job in these chaotic and perilous times and I want to take this moment to thank you for reading. We'll be back in your inbox Wednesday morning. | | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | | | |  | The New York Times | | Over the past 50 years, the music has become entrenched in academic institutions. As a result, it’s often inaccessible to, and disconnected from, many of the very people who created it: young Black Americans. | | | |  | Level | | Four women in different parts of the culture discuss how hip-hop can value and embrace them like they deserve. | | | |  | Slate | | Did the boy band adapt for America, or did they make America adapt for them? | | | |  | Los Angeles Times | | Against a backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, ongoing racial unrest and an upcoming election, Grammy season kicks off in earnest this week. | | | |  | The Guardian | | The T Rex singer captivated generations with his strutting music and hyper-sexual charisma. As a tribute album is released, stars explain why he is glam’s greatest icon. | | | |  | MTV News | | Etsy shops, aided by social media, are empowering fans to design the merch they actually want to wear | | | |  | Input | | Black metal fans hate it. The band, Buzz Lightyear, couldn't be happier. | | | |  | IQ Magazine | | Trend-spotting exec Marc Geiger predicted a new golden age for live music on the first day of the Interactive Festival Forum. | | | |  | Complex | | A small group of rappers are fighting for creative freedom and originality. Meet the artists behind the art rap movement. | | | |  | Longreads | | On Syd Barrett’s time with Pink Floyd and making an album with household objects and found sounds.. | | | | | | | the hidden riders of tomorrow | |  | The Daily Beast | | Lockdown means songwriting sessions on Zoom, live shows on YouTube, jam sessions uploaded to SoundCloud-and some odd jobs. | | | |  | Billboard | | After bonding over Los Fabulosos Cadillacs near the snack machine in 2010, NPR's Felix Contreras and Jasmine Garsd had a thought: wouldn’t it be great if we can do a show about rock en español? | | | |  | Paper | | The Weeknd wrote a pop song, so why'd the VMAs give him an R&B award? | | | | | The Guardian | | Inspired by the fear and loathing on display at the Republican National Convention, Anohni talks us through her latest song and its uniquely unsettling video. | | | |  | HUCK Magazine | | The inimitable Bill Callahan talks protest songs, psychdelic bedtime stories and how he was inspired by American rapper Tierra Whack. | | | | | Complex | | Blaccmass is going viral for blending classic songs like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "September" with hard-hitting drill beats. | | | |  | XXL | | On the frigid, late Wednesday evening of Jan. 22, 2020, Pop Smoke came up to the XXL office in New York to pitch himself for this year’s Freshman Class. Here is the short, previously unreleased interview he gave us that day talking about Brooklyn drill, the new New York movement and his place in it. | | | | | MTV News | | The social media sensation and disco diva on her quarantine anthem and the 'really random' formula for a viral hit. | | | |  | VAN Magazine | | The Grossman Ensemble encourages productive failure. | | | |  | BBC Travel | | Writers like the Grimm Brothers and Robert Browning may have shaped the Pied Piper legend into art, but it turns out the story is likely based on an actual historical incident. | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | From "Angelheaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex," out today on BMG. | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group | | |
