The Brooklyn Rail
Critical Perspectives on Art, Politics and Culture
March 2008
Music
Total Theater of Harry Partch: Thoughts after a Revival of Delusion of the Fury
by Sergei TcherepninMusic
“Words cannot proxy for the experience of knowing—of seeing and hearing.
Bass Rules: Israel “Cachao” Lopez and Andy Gonzalez: From Mambo to Salsa: Part Seven
by Alan LockwoodMusic
The loft that propels Afro-Cuban music—a loping vibe buoying the percussive components, facetted choruses, and elegant ferocity of piano and horns that front an ensemble—derives from the bass lines.
Azúcar! Celia: The Life and Music of Celia Cruz at the New World Theater
by Ellen PearlmanMusic
Celia Cruz, affectionately known as “La Reina de Salsa,” was a force of nature, an irreplaceable, once-in-a-generation female singer whose life and music echoed for over sixty years the trajectory of the Cuban Diaspora’s effect on Latin American and world culture.
With New York at Her Feet: Bettye LaVette in the Allen Room, Lincoln Center
by Sharon MesmerMusic
There’s a strange magic about the years of toil, heartbreak, and humiliation—but only when you can look back on it all from higher ground.
Outtakes
by Steve DalachinskyMusic
Let me start off by saying in this, my second attempt at writing a “column,” that I have many friends and acquaintances who consider themselves jazz journalists or music critics, and that I’m not one of them.
Give the Guitarist Some
by Todd SimmonsMusic
Portland, Oregon, may be crawling with bands lately, but at least there's usually an extra musician floating around when you need one. For former Pavement leader Stephen Malkmus, changing drummers in his current band, the Jicks, may have been the key to making their outstanding new album Real Emotional Trash.
