Voice from the Past: Escape from Yugoslavia & My Grandfather’s Ominous Warning

I. Prologue My family on both sides were Germans from Hessen who migrated to Hungary in the 1720s, likely for economic reasons. Over a century later, Emperor Franz Josef I announced that he would allow Protestants to settle in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the region now known as Croatia. They moved there in 1865, but […]

Continue reading →

A Tale of Two Genres: The Surprising Similarities in the Development of Jazz and Classical Music

Jazz and classical music are two of the most monumental achievements in human history. Together, they encompass a range of expressive capability that is simply astounding, giving voice to the human experience from centuries past to the present and in doing so, enriching our lives immeasurably. This is more remarkable when one considers that they […]

Continue reading →

The Touch of Your Lips: The Colors of Jazz Piano

The idea that pianists are able to create different tone colors and different timbres on the instrument has been passionately discussed for well over a century. For some performers, the sound can be a musical identifier on par with a fingerprint, which is a strong argument for their ability to coax a wide array of […]

Continue reading →

Ted Gioia’s Bar Talk: Can a Musicologist Make Club Owners Pay More?

Ted Gioia’s recent article entitled Can Club Owners Make Musicians Play for Free? is, like many of his other posts, quickly going viral on social media with the jazz community. The premise is tailor-made for the times—evil bar owners (corporate elite), poor musicians (downtrodden proletariat), government (selfless saviors) via the courts will ride in on a white […]

Continue reading →

Ghost of a Chance: A New Paradigm for Pop Music Success?

I’ve been in Europe since early August as a Fulbright Scholar. Most of that time has been in the beautiful city of Graz, which is in southeast Austria. I am teaching a course at the Jazz Institute at the Kunstuniversität Graz (Graz University of the Arts). As part of this work, I was invited by […]

Continue reading →

Ghost Story: Something Wicked This Way Comes?

As a jazz musician and composer who grew up in the “classic rock” era, I found myself more attracted to those groups that were working with longer forms, complicated or unpredictable harmonies, meters, and rhythms, and strong musicianship; in other words, I listened to a lot of what we now call “progressive rock.” I still […]

Continue reading →

Tiny Bubbles: A Growth Industry for Jazz?

With all of the discussions regarding the sad state of jazz careers, it would be surprising indeed to find that jazz has experienced a significant growth spurt in recent years, but it has. Unfortunately, that growth has not occurred in the clubs, concert halls, or other venues in which jazz musicians perform and hone their craft. […]

Continue reading →

Bite The Hand That Bleeds You: Justice for Jazz Artists? (Part II)

In my earlier post about the Justice for Jazz Artists (J4JA) movement, I noted that J4JA hadn’t been specific about its demands. What does J4JA want these clubs to do in terms of remuneration and benefits? Here’s one of J4JA’s demands–the organization is demanding that the Village Vanguard “contribute approximately $19,000 annually to the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and Employer’s Pension Fund.” […]

Continue reading →

Red Pill, Blue Pill: Professor Asia’s Cardinal Sin

Last week, Daniel Asia, a composer with an impeccable pedigree (Yale, studies with Jacob Druckman and Gunther Schuller) who heads the composition department at the University of Arizona, posted on the Huffington Post Arts Blog and it appeared to go viral in certain segments of the music community. I read the post and found it […]

Continue reading →

Bite the Band that Feeds You: Justice for Jazz Artists? (Part I)

I’ve been watching the development of the Justice for Jazz Artists (J4JA) movement for a couple of years now. If you haven’t heard of this organization, here’s their mission statement from their website: Jazz is an esteemed American art form, inspiring passionate devotion among generations of fans, and New York City has long been an […]

Continue reading →