That was my take when I saw him live doing it: it was nice? I saw badu last year so I may be spoiled.Starting jazzfest off with Immanuel wilkins. Crowded room, maybe 2% masking.
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Friday, 13 January 2023 23:29 (one year ago) link
Wilkins and Odean Pope tore it up at Big Ears last March.
― Lord Pickles (Boring, Maryland), Saturday, 14 January 2023 01:02 (one year ago) link
Described as “an artist with so much fire in his sound,” by renowned jazz journalist Nate Chinen, James Brandon Lewis is sharing “Send Seraphic Beings” today, the final pre-release track from his upcoming album ‘Eye of I,’ to be released February 2. Filmed live in studio, listen to the moving track and watch Lewis perform the song – also featuring electric cello and drums - below.“Send Seraphic Beings” (Live): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdjvDUt17t8More advance tracks: https://jamesbrandonlewis.bandcamp.com/album/eye-of-iLewis’ melodic identity encompasses ancient and future, inside and outside, density and openness, church and street. He’s a master of the short infectious motif, and like Sonny Rollins, devotes long expanses of his improvisation to the stretching and refracting and mutating of short phrases.Lewis writes at the piano, not the tenor, and says that on this project, he found himself thinking cinematically after a conversation he had with saxophonist and composer Henry Threadgill. “He got me thinking about foreground, middle ground and background, like in a scene from a movie,” Lewis says. He adds that to make his themes stand out even further, he didn’t include conventional chord symbols or any harmonic guidance on his charts. “I don’t write any chords on my music. There are more colors available when things are open. I think that’s why my music has a certain lift to it, because I’m encouraging the other musicians to explore and bring out the harmonies that resonate for them.”One result of that: ‘Eye of I’ travels through a staggering range of musical styles and moods, from Donny Hathaway to Cecil Taylor to the plaintive gospel cry “Even The Sparrow” to the anthemic closing throwdown “Fear Not,” a collaboration with the postpunk group The Messthetics, an instrumental trio featuring guitarist Anthony Pirog, who is joined by former Fugazi members Joe Lally (bass) and Brendan Canty (drums). This February, Lewis and The Messthetics will embark on a co-headlining tour that will traverse both the East and West coast. All upcoming dates are listed below. TOUR DATES2/22 - San Diego, CA – Casbah#2/23 - Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon#2/24 - San Francisco, CA – SFJazz2/25 - Bend, OR – Volcanic Theatre Pub#2/26 - Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios#2/27 - Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s#3/12 - Kingston, NY – Tubby's#3/13 - Toronto, ON – Drake Hotel#3/14 - Erie, PA – JazzErie @ The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Erie#3/15 - Chicago, IL – Constellation#3/17 - Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café#3/18 - Washington D.C. - Black Cat#3/19 - Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s#3/20 - New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge#3/30 - Knoxville, TN – Big Ears Festival 2023# with The Messthetics
“Send Seraphic Beings” (Live): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdjvDUt17t8
More advance tracks: https://jamesbrandonlewis.bandcamp.com/album/eye-of-i
Lewis’ melodic identity encompasses ancient and future, inside and outside, density and openness, church and street. He’s a master of the short infectious motif, and like Sonny Rollins, devotes long expanses of his improvisation to the stretching and refracting and mutating of short phrases.
Lewis writes at the piano, not the tenor, and says that on this project, he found himself thinking cinematically after a conversation he had with saxophonist and composer Henry Threadgill. “He got me thinking about foreground, middle ground and background, like in a scene from a movie,” Lewis says. He adds that to make his themes stand out even further, he didn’t include conventional chord symbols or any harmonic guidance on his charts. “I don’t write any chords on my music. There are more colors available when things are open. I think that’s why my music has a certain lift to it, because I’m encouraging the other musicians to explore and bring out the harmonies that resonate for them.”One result of that: ‘Eye of I’ travels through a staggering range of musical styles and moods, from Donny Hathaway to Cecil Taylor to the plaintive gospel cry “Even The Sparrow” to the anthemic closing throwdown “Fear Not,” a collaboration with the postpunk group The Messthetics, an instrumental trio featuring guitarist Anthony Pirog, who is joined by former Fugazi members Joe Lally (bass) and Brendan Canty (drums). This February, Lewis and The Messthetics will embark on a co-headlining tour that will traverse both the East and West coast. All upcoming dates are listed below.
TOUR DATES2/22 - San Diego, CA – Casbah#2/23 - Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon#2/24 - San Francisco, CA – SFJazz2/25 - Bend, OR – Volcanic Theatre Pub#2/26 - Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios#2/27 - Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s#3/12 - Kingston, NY – Tubby's#3/13 - Toronto, ON – Drake Hotel#3/14 - Erie, PA – JazzErie @ The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Erie#3/15 - Chicago, IL – Constellation#3/17 - Pittsburgh, PA – Club Café#3/18 - Washington D.C. - Black Cat#3/19 - Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s#3/20 - New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge#3/30 - Knoxville, TN – Big Ears Festival 2023
# with The Messthetics
― dow, Sunday, 15 January 2023 19:59 (one year ago) link
dang that nduduzo album is fun
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 15 January 2023 20:27 (one year ago) link
so the winter jazzfest marathons were a really good time, though riddled with a constant sense of FOMO. I was talking to a friend who commented that the experience forced you to decide if you wanted to hear new artists or just artists that you knew you already liked. I opted for the latter this go round.
Saturday night in Manhattan underlined how spreading out venues complicates the experience. Most of the early evening was centered downtown by Les Poisson Rouge, Bitter End and Zinc Bar, which means there was a barricade of bodies blocking the smaller clubs and making it nearly impossible to see smaller sets with Doug Wamble and Endea Owens. The bigger ticket events at LPR were pretty satisfying tho: Immanuel Wilkins set focused almost entirely on his first album. Donny McCaslin with Jason Lindner, Tim Lefebvre and Mark Guiliana brought a fuckton of chaotic energy and skronk. The Joel Ross set with the Parables ensemble (featuring Wilkins, Marquis Hill, Kalia Vandever and the superlative flutist Gabrielle Garo among others) was a lovely opportunity for individual exploration and some pretty melodies ("prayer" in particular is very memorable) but, much as when i saw this same set at BRIC jazzfest, i couldn't help but wish for more playing from Ross. I regretfully called it an early night and missed the Lakecia Benjamin / Mobetta Brown doubleheader at City Winery in favor of pacing myself for the next few nights.
Sunday in Brooklyn was a bit more jampacked, starting out and centering primarily at the Williamsburg Opera House, a venue I've never been in. Capacious, well lit, very comfy, maybe a little too hot on the sound but a nice place to catch a show. I began with the last half of Black Lives from Generation to Generation, a melting pot supergroup of Andy Milne and Stephanie McCay and David Gilmore and EJ Strickland and like ten other people. Suitably raucous and spirited. Next up was Julius Rodriguez, who put out one of my fave jazz albums from last year. His set was high speed and playful and multivalent, weirdly evoking Prince's Under the Cherry Moon for me. Very young, very excited crowd; I think this kid is going to be very big. Brandee Younger played with a trio and tested out some new material that sounded downright transcendent. I regretfully bailed from there early to try to catch a bit of Makaya McCraven's set at Supreme Ingredients, a 20 minute walk away that I recognized as located at the now departed Output once I got there. Absolutely overpacked. I ended up watching four really great songs from the stairwell. Stumbled back to the Opera house with a stop by National Sawdust where Surya Botofasina was hosting a memoriam for Meghan Stabile and I stepped up to the balcony just as Ravi Coltrane took a five minute solo. Nice timing. Got back to the Opera House in time for the latter 2/3 of Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn's Pigments. I was wondering how they'd pull this off live given that the (beautiful) album has long gaps of instrumental only work and Dawn is a bit of an attention draw. That led to some cognitive dissonance with Dawn in an inverted black tutu and a rhinestone balaclava shuffling at center during reflective synth sequences. She is, nonetheless, a star and sounded gorgeous. Probably could've used a multimedia projection to fill in some of the gaps though.it's likely churlish and the apex of point missing to accuse the Sun Ra Arkestra of being disjointed but they seemed a bit out of it. 11.30 pm start time for a lot of that crew seems like elder abuse. Somehow Allen is still up there squealing, Knoel Scott is somersaulting on the stage, Tyler Mitchell is gamely plucking away at the bass solos. It was all slighly wonkier than usual and a bit logy but you get the moments with legends when you're available not when they're necessarily at their best.
for reference: https://www.winterjazzfest.com/marathon-map#/2023-01-13
Who else went?
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Monday, 16 January 2023 19:45 (one year ago) link
I just simplify my FOMO by not going at all.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 16 January 2023 22:14 (one year ago) link
Donny McCaslin with Jason Lindner, Tim Lefebvre and Mark GuilianaThis would have been my go-to in the familiar names department.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 16 January 2023 22:16 (one year ago) link
They were raucous and banged around a lot. McCaslin commented how it had been a long time since the four of them had played together publicly and that he liked the "danger" of the combo.
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Monday, 16 January 2023 22:29 (one year ago) link
I know i just missed this, but anything interesting happening in NY this friday or saturday? i’ll be in town, would be nice to check a set
― Goose Bigelow, Fowl Gigolo (the table is the table), Monday, 16 January 2023 23:14 (one year ago) link
Just looking now. David Murray at the Vanguard, maybe? Haven’t seen him in ages myself.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 16 January 2023 23:33 (one year ago) link
Or maybe The Houston Person Quintet at The Birdland Theater.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 16 January 2023 23:35 (one year ago) link
Or even Al Foster Quartet 80th Birthday Celebration at Smoke.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 16 January 2023 23:39 (one year ago) link
Those three in roughly increasing order of preference for me.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 16 January 2023 23:41 (one year ago) link
forksclovetofu - great report, thank you. You mentioned a few intriguing performers that I haven’t heard before. I’m gonna check out Julius Rodriguez first. Then probably Brandee Younger.
― Skrot Montague, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 00:01 (one year ago) link
That new David Murray band - Marta Sanchez on piano, Luke Stewart on bass, Kassa Overall on drums - promises to be pretty great. Murray's usual thing is to take a band to the stage before bringing them into the studio, so I hope there'll be an album down the road.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 00:28 (one year ago) link
I can’t see going uptown— Murray might be it, Saturday late show. Need to do a bit of coordinating before I commit tho—! I’ll be in Chinatown area from around 330-onward. Thanks for the advice!tbh yr preferences are mine, too, but I like Murray and have never seen him live.
― Goose Bigelow, Fowl Gigolo (the table is the table), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 00:35 (one year ago) link
Cool, sounds like a plan!
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 01:12 (one year ago) link
Meaning, enjoy yourself! I doubt that I myself will be there.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 01:21 (one year ago) link
Excerpts of this new Kenny Barron album are so damn good that I haven't yet caught many of Kevin Whitehead's words, though I gather that he likes it too:https://www.npr.org/2023/01/16/1149021094/nea-jazz-master-kenny-barron-shines-playing-solo-on-the-sourc
― dow, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 02:01 (one year ago) link
Friday - Fucking astonishing lineup: https://roulette.org/event/improv-nights-a-tribute-to-derek-bailey-2/Saturday - Shara Lunon (vocals, electronics) Jennifer Choi (violin) Nate Wooley (trumpet) James Brandon Lewis (tenor sax) Oscar Noriega (clarinets) Shahzad Ismaily (bass and electronics) Ches Smith (drums, vibraphone, electronics) at The Stone
For Julius Rodriguez, tryhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bsH3DjCjaA
For Brandee, tryhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCNqhzkSk58
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 02:14 (one year ago) link
That Roulette set lineup btw is:John Zorn saxBill Frisell guitarJim Staley tromboneDave Taylor bass tromboneLaurie Anderson voice, violin, electronicsMary Halvorson guitarIkue Mori electronicsCraig Taborn pianoJoel Ross vibesBrian Marsella piano, synthBrandon Lopez bassKate Gentile drums
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 02:15 (one year ago) link
$25 ticket!
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 02:16 (one year ago) link
hooooly shit
― Goose Bigelow, Fowl Gigolo (the table is the table), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 02:52 (one year ago) link
Wow
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 03:01 (one year ago) link
it's like going to Big Ears but in pill form
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 03:08 (one year ago) link
my bad, that's the Thursday line up. Here's friday and saturday. I'm likely going saturday.
JANUARY 20John Zorn saxBill Frisell guitarMatana Roberts saxCaroline Davis saxMary Halvorson guitarWendy Eisenberg guitarCraig Taborn pianoBrian Marsella piano, synthPatricia Brennan vibesHenry Fraser bassBrandon Lopez bassKate Gentile drums
JANUARY 21John Zorn saxBill Frisell guitarCaroline Davis saxImmanuel Wilkins saxJim Staley tromboneAmir Elsaffar trumpetWendy Eisenberg guitarArturo O’Farrill pianoPatricia Brennan vibesHenry Fraser bassJorge Roeder bassFrancisco Mela drums
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 03:10 (one year ago) link
I like that Saturday line-up. Haven’t seen Jorge in ages, outside of the occasional Julian Lage video. I guess he still lives in Brooklyn though.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 03:27 (one year ago) link
Nate Chinen's take on jazzfest, looks like his journeys were similar to minehttps://www.wrti.org/arts-desk/2023-01-17/past-is-prologue-thrillingly-as-the-winter-jazzfest-marks-its-return
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 20:45 (one year ago) link
shoulda woulda coulda done this nublu set but ya gotta pace yourselfhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eepvgiUj9Bo
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 20:47 (one year ago) link
Shouldn't admit this but I've yet to make it to Nublu.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 20:50 (one year ago) link
it's a nice space, good a/v, lots of room to move around and see the set from various viewpoints, artists clearly like being there, vibe has always been positive
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 20:51 (one year ago) link
I've always heard good things about it but ... I don't go to Brooklyn.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:07 (one year ago) link
...or the LES, anymore.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:08 (one year ago) link
lol, it's in manhattan!http://nublu.net/
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:08 (one year ago) link
what's wrong with the lower east side exactly other than everything that still shouldn't stop you?you don't do anthology any more fer instance?
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:09 (one year ago) link
But I probably will again, this year, I hope. Fellas, it's a new day!
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:10 (one year ago) link
Last time I went to Anthology Susan Sontag was still alive for me to see her there.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:12 (one year ago) link
And Michael Musto was standing across the street. Hope I didn't end up in any blind listicle.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:13 (one year ago) link
Which ILX0r etc etc etc?
What kept me away? Parenthood then pandemic. When I used to run into Morbius I would sheepishly sort of apologize that I couldn't keep up wiith his rate of filmgoing (anymore). He would smile and say "I can imagine, I can imagine."
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:14 (one year ago) link
Actually I went to the not-so-lower East Side a few months ago to use that week's MUBI GO ticket.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:15 (one year ago) link
I was confusing it with National Sawdust, which I also have yet to visit.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:18 (one year ago) link
NS can put on a great showlet's get you out this year
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:19 (one year ago) link
Something to look forward to. I'm in!
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:25 (one year ago) link
Probably should follow some of these places on social media.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:34 (one year ago) link
I did sometimes get out to Barbès and especially to Shapeshifter, both of which I should also follow, I guess. And to my friend's Tuesday night jam session that is now at...Bar Bayeux...but used to be...somewhere else.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:38 (one year ago) link
Halyards
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:42 (one year ago) link
And before that, Fifth Estate.
Part of me wants to say that the last time I was there was exactly seven years ago, so I could ask Ben Monder about Bowie and Tony V, but I probably went a few times after that.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 January 2023 21:43 (one year ago) link
Okay I'm done.We now return this thread to its regularly scheduled content.
I think he's really good. Hear him on my local jazz station. Don't really know anything about him.
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 29 November 2023 20:06 (three months ago) link
Oh yeah, did watch him a few times during the lockdown I think.
― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 29 November 2023 20:14 (three months ago) link
Spiritual soul-jazz saxophonist Muriel Grossmann has a new album out today, and it's coming out on Third Man in the US, so who knows? She might even get some press coverage. It's a 90-minute double LP and so far (I'm about 2/3 of the way through) it's pretty good — one of her more energetic, uptempo records, not so much meditative space jamming this time. The drummer's going off.
https://murielgrossmann.bandcamp.com/album/devotion-2
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Friday, 1 December 2023 21:20 (three months ago) link
she's kind of a kook, isn't she? i've liked some of her music in the past
― budo jeru, Friday, 1 December 2023 21:32 (three months ago) link
I listened to the JD Allen record that unperson mentioned in his recent column, it is phenomenal and moody, perfect for my bike ride on this foggy Sunday. big recommendation.
― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Sunday, 3 December 2023 21:44 (three months ago) link
Greg Osby has made his first album in 15 years. There is some discussion, in the linked article, of the #metoo-ish accusations which led him to leave Berklee.
“I had a beef with a school in Boston where I was teaching, and I had to get legal. I had to let the lawyers do the talking.” This is how Osby broaches the subject of his dismissal from the Berklee College of Music, which followed accusations of sexual misconduct.Osby had joined the faculty at Berklee in 2008, as a full-time professor in the Ensemble Department. At some point he began dating a woman who’d previously been a student, though she was no longer enrolled. After the relationship ended, she brought her complaint to Berklee administrators, claiming that he had pressured her for sex. Osby resigned in 2012, and at the time he decided not to contest the charges.This is where the situation might have remained, if not for a story in the Boston Globe on Nov. 8, 2017, during the first wave of coverage around the #MeToo movement. The article, by Kay Lazar, a public health and accountability reporter, bore the attention-grabbing headline ‘Berklee let teachers quietly leave after alleged sex abuse, and pushed students for silence.’ Osby, having granted Lazar an hour-long interview, was damningly cited in the piece.“Only an idiot would sleep with students, and I am not an idiot,” read the most egregious of his quotes. “I would not do that. But after they graduate, it’s open season.” Another quote implied that the former student wasn’t attractive enough to be a credible accuser. Osby was swiftly renounced on social media. At a moment when entire industries were beginning to reckon with systemic problems — most pointedly, the lack of consequences for sexual harassers and abusers — this was a story that resonated in jazz, and in the broader realm of music education....Berklee, through its Office of Media Relations, declined to comment on Osby’s departure. But Osby — who says that during his four years on faculty, “I didn't write one new song, because I was that beat down” — spoke freely about the situation. Regarding his brief relationship with the former student, whose identity has not been disclosed, he says: “For better or for worse, she became obsessed. And I withdrew, which didn't sit well; the idea that I didn't return any phone calls or emails really infuriated her. It got to the point where I was almost a victim of being stalked. And the last time that I saw her, she more than inferred that I would pay for it.”After the Boston Globe story, Osby sought legal action against his accuser for defamation. The case was settled in his favor. “I kept every email, and I kept every text message,” he says. “So that's how my case was won. Because I had hard evidence. It wasn't my word.” By contrast, he says Lazar had made no recording of their interview — a crucial factor, in light of the incendiary quotes at the heart of the story.Osby says he issued a complaint to the Globe, which invited him to submit an open letter. He did, but it never ran. He also sent in a statement to the paper’s “Fresh Start” initiative, which allows individuals to appeal older stories that have had an adverse impact on their lives. Again, the effort led nowhere. Absent a defamation lawsuit against the Globe, which Osby deems a financially ruinous prospect, that’s probably where it stands.
Osby had joined the faculty at Berklee in 2008, as a full-time professor in the Ensemble Department. At some point he began dating a woman who’d previously been a student, though she was no longer enrolled. After the relationship ended, she brought her complaint to Berklee administrators, claiming that he had pressured her for sex. Osby resigned in 2012, and at the time he decided not to contest the charges.
This is where the situation might have remained, if not for a story in the Boston Globe on Nov. 8, 2017, during the first wave of coverage around the #MeToo movement. The article, by Kay Lazar, a public health and accountability reporter, bore the attention-grabbing headline ‘Berklee let teachers quietly leave after alleged sex abuse, and pushed students for silence.’ Osby, having granted Lazar an hour-long interview, was damningly cited in the piece.
“Only an idiot would sleep with students, and I am not an idiot,” read the most egregious of his quotes. “I would not do that. But after they graduate, it’s open season.” Another quote implied that the former student wasn’t attractive enough to be a credible accuser. Osby was swiftly renounced on social media. At a moment when entire industries were beginning to reckon with systemic problems — most pointedly, the lack of consequences for sexual harassers and abusers — this was a story that resonated in jazz, and in the broader realm of music education.
...
Berklee, through its Office of Media Relations, declined to comment on Osby’s departure. But Osby — who says that during his four years on faculty, “I didn't write one new song, because I was that beat down” — spoke freely about the situation. Regarding his brief relationship with the former student, whose identity has not been disclosed, he says: “For better or for worse, she became obsessed. And I withdrew, which didn't sit well; the idea that I didn't return any phone calls or emails really infuriated her. It got to the point where I was almost a victim of being stalked. And the last time that I saw her, she more than inferred that I would pay for it.”
After the Boston Globe story, Osby sought legal action against his accuser for defamation. The case was settled in his favor. “I kept every email, and I kept every text message,” he says. “So that's how my case was won. Because I had hard evidence. It wasn't my word.” By contrast, he says Lazar had made no recording of their interview — a crucial factor, in light of the incendiary quotes at the heart of the story.
Osby says he issued a complaint to the Globe, which invited him to submit an open letter. He did, but it never ran. He also sent in a statement to the paper’s “Fresh Start” initiative, which allows individuals to appeal older stories that have had an adverse impact on their lives. Again, the effort led nowhere. Absent a defamation lawsuit against the Globe, which Osby deems a financially ruinous prospect, that’s probably where it stands.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Monday, 11 December 2023 00:19 (three months ago) link
There has to be a better way to phrase that.
“He has a great knack for picking amazing younger musicians and grooming them,” Carrington affirms."
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Monday, 11 December 2023 00:40 (three months ago) link
Moor Mother has a new album coming out on Anti- next year and the first track has just been released — it's a collaboration with Nicole Mitchell on flute and Nduduzo Makhathini on piano:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1OBIgFHFqQ
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Friday, 22 December 2023 18:52 (three months ago) link
I'm in love with this brand new Ambrose Akinmusire album Owl Song, it's a trio with Bill Frisell (!) and Herlin Riley (!!). I've never been into him before, but I've had a big Frisell year and this fits perfectly with all the minimal, ambient Scandinavian jazz I've been listening to. And it's cool to hear Herlin in this mode (all the low end is left to the drums too, since there's no bass or piano).
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Friday, 29 December 2023 18:42 (two months ago) link
Yeah, it's a really good record.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Friday, 29 December 2023 19:44 (two months ago) link
Heh glad you like it, I wasn't sure.
Also, I'd been ignoring these Youtube recommendations for a "StickPeople" podcast, but it turns out it's Lenny White + Mike Clark + David Garibaldi + Michael Shrieve + Greg Errico all interviewing another musician, which is really cool.
Also this Paul Motian documentary is on Youtube in full:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9DkKTbyobA
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Friday, 29 December 2023 19:55 (two months ago) link