By Fritz ByersThe first version I heard of “The Days of Wine and Roses” was Perry Como’s. For some reason, one of my parents – I’m being discreet here – decided the household had heard enough of Frank Sinatra, and it was time to diversify. A quick check reveals that Perry’s album, The Songs I Love, was released in 1963. So that’s probably when this downgrade occurred. Read More
By Fritz ByersI saw the pianist Andrew Hill in performance only once. In the late 80s, pure luck put me in New York at the same time Andrew was scheduled to perform with a quartet. I knew his music only slightly at the time – only the 1964 recording Point of Departure had caught my attention more than in passing, and that was primarily because the multi-reed wizard Eric Dolphy and the tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson were on it. Read More
By Fritz Byers The evolution of streaming-music sites, and their current dominance, have changed many things about the business of making music, and about how we consume it. I don’t believe it’s merely a nostalgia-drenched generational cavil to observe that the notion of buying an album, and then listening to it as a unit conceived by the artist, is another sad casualty of the digital revolution and its ancillary technologies. Of course compact discs changed how we listen. Read More
By Fritz ByersThis week is the second of two editions of Jazz Spectrum that focus on my selections for the best new releases of 2023. The entire list of forty is in last week’s post, and it is repeated below. Last week we attended to half; this week, to the other half. The time spent in December re-reading my contemporaneous listening notes and re-listening is immensely satisfying. In last week’s post I shared a few thoughts on the year in jazz, and I briefly commented on the difficulty of picking from among the hundreds of new releases. Read More
By Fritz ByersIf someone tells you they understand the current music landscape, they’re bragging. And if they tell you they know what it will look like by the end of the decade, they’re lying.
By Rob Michaels (Jazz Spectrum Listener)
Natural Information Society – Since Time is Gravity (Eremite)
jaimie branch – Fly or Die or Fly or Die or Fly or Die ((World War)) (International Anthem) Read More
By Fritz ByersJudging by the torrent of holiday jazz releases over the last decade, there must be a market for the genre. The remainder of this paragraph, discussing markets, genres, and artistic pandering, is being self-censored. That’s because the thoughts don’t apply to the holiday-themed music you’ll hear this week on Jazz Spectrum and Jazz Spectrum Overnight. Both shows are chock-a-block with great musicians having fun with, and finding fascination in, the familiar songs of the season. Elsewhere on the site, you’ll find the Jazz Spectrum playlist. Read More
By Fritz ByersAt its core, jazz is an improvisational music. I believe I read about fifty years ago that the projectivist poet Charles Olson said something to the effect that if you say the same thing twice, you’ve lied. Read More
