Tag Archives: music reviews
Music Review: “My Side of Town” by The Roadside Bombs – The Boys of ‘Noma Slam It Home
I could justifiably be accused of nepotism, but I want to plug my cousin Ben’s band The Roadside Bombs and their debut CD just out called “My Side of Town” on Chapter 11 records. Ben has been a punk rock singer … Continue reading
Chi Ming and Marcus Miller in Shanghai
I lucked out today in Shanghai. After arriving unseasonably early at 5am and crashing at my hotel until 9:30am, I headed out with a few friends to enjoy the beautiful weather, have a few suits tailor-made (less than $200!), visit … Continue reading
TV Series: Ken Burn’s Jazz (2001) – Beautiful documentary but based on flawed premises
I have been reading a LOT about jazz lately (see my articles on Monk, Miles, Giddens, etc). Through this reading, I bumped into the existence of the world’s record holding for sheer length (19+ hours) documentary by Ken Burns that … Continue reading
Book Review: Thelonious Monk by Robin D. G. Kelley – The Genius
Continuing in my reading about jazz, I just finished the masterpiece Thelonious Monk by Robin D. G. Kelley. It was an incredible read about a largely misunderstood genius. I have always enjoyed listening to Monk, but never exactly understood why. … Continue reading
Debates about Jazz – Mtume vs Crouch back in 2010
A colleague passed me a link to this Mtume/Crouch debate, and it was fascinating. I am realising that in Jazz Criticism there is a sort of more conservative school lead by Ken Burns / Stanley Crouch / Wynton Marsalis, and … Continue reading
Reading about Jazz: Giddins, Trane, Pepper and Miles – oh and Dylan too
I have been on a jazz kick for nearly a month. Well, for years actually but recently, more obsessed tha n usual. I had a copy of Gary Giddins’ Visions of Jazz staring at me accusingly from my bookshelf for … Continue reading
Music Review: Stuff I liked in 2013
As I usually do, here is some of the music released in 2013 that I liked best. Overall, 2013 was not as great a comeback year as 2012 but I think my tastes broadened a bit from last year’s list. … Continue reading
Jay-Z, Kanye, and Me -or- Catching Up with Hip-Hop
From time to time, I find it edifying to delve into some aspect of popular culture that I have normally ignored. For the last few years, it has been TV series. These last few weeks, I decided to get up … Continue reading
Fino's Weblog 