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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Friday January 06, 2023
REDEF
esperanza spalding in Paris, Nov. 17, 2021
(Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)
quote of the day
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.
- esperanza spalding, whose "Alive at the Village Vanguard," a duo album with pianist Fred Hersch, is out today on Palmetto
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.

- Matty Karas, curator
lust for life
Complex
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.
The Washington Post
Amoeba Music asks, ‘What’s in your bag?’ and no algorithm can compete
By Chris Richards
In the long-running YouTube series, musicians divulge what they’ve bought at the legendary record store. Their answers provide an education in how to discover music.
Andscape
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.
The New York Times
Iggy Pop Isn’t About to Whitewash His Past
By David Marchese
“If I decided I was going to try to clean up everything I’ve ever done, that would make me Sisyphus.”
Water & Music
Request for support: The unexpected labyrinth of music marketing ROI
By Danny Scheiner
Outlining the challenges we've faced in attempting to build a public database of music marketing ROI benchmarks, and what they reveal about the way the music industry measures growth and success.
Leveling Up
Warner Music Group’s Metaverse Strategy
By Jimmy Stone
How WMG’s investments & partnerships are fueling its metaverse ambitions.
Money 4 Nothing
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? 
The Ringer
A Salute to Erykah Badu, 'Neo-soul,' and the Live Album
By Rob Harvilla and Clover Hope
On our latest episode, we dive into “Tyrone” and the makings of a somewhat controversial genre.
The Guardian
Why AI audiobook narrators could win over some authors and readers, despite the vocal bumps
By Lois Beckett
Apple and Google’s AI turn in a booming market may sound less than human and raise the ire of voiceover actors, but it has cost benefits.
Billboard
Nirvana, The Supremes, Nile Rodgers & More to Receive 2023 Lifetime Achievement Awards from Recording Academy
By Paul Grein
The honors will be presented at the Special Merit Awards ceremony on Feb. 4 in Los Angeles.
the idiot
The New York Times
A Black Composer’s Legacy Flourishes 500 Years After His Birth
By Garrett Schumann
The reputation of Vicente Lusitano, one of the earliest known composers of African descent active in Europe, was thwarted for centuries.
Rap Radar
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.
Los Angeles Times
How the score is the driving element behind 'Babylon,' 'a musical without being a musical'
By Tim Greiving
Director Damien Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz infuse the film's Roaring '20s score with a spirit that was more modern rock ‘n’ roll or even rave culture.
NPR Music
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.
The Guardian
DJ Sama’ Abdulhadi on techno and tenacity: ‘As a Palestinian you know life could be over in 10 minutes’
By Dhruva Balram
The dancefloor gave Abdulhadi freedom from the political pressures she faces as ‘a woman, an Arab and Palestinian’. Despite a set at a mosque threatening to land her in jail, she won’t stop in her pursuit of it.
what we're into
Music of the day
“But Not for Me”
Fred Hersch & Esperanza Spalding
From "Alive at the Village Vanguard."
Video of the day
“Gimme Danger”
Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch's 2016 Stooges documentary. Streaming at Amazon.
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