Chris Robinson's Music & Culture Blog
"There is no music without order---if that music comes from a man's innards. But that order is not necessarily related to any single criterion of what order should be as imposed from the outside. Whether that criterion is the song form or what some critic thinks jazz should be. This is not a question, then, …
I went record shopping Friday after work. It had been a really sucky week so I needed to treat myself. In the used jazz section I found a copy of Paris Concert by Circle (Anthony Braxton, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Barry Altschul). I was stoked. I was certain I didn't own it. But I thought …
Continue reading Record Shopping at Home: Circle’s Paris-Concert
Hey all, it's been more than a hot minute since I've been blogging. Most of this is due to the fact that I've been working on my book manuscript. But now that it's temporarily out of my hands, I'm going to get back to this site. I had some domain and web hosting issues, so …
Happy 2015 folks. Even though the new year is already a few days old there's already more than a few excellent releases to look forward to in 2015. I'm particularly stoked about the live album from Jack DeJohnette/Roscoe Mitchell/Henry Threadgill/Muhal Richard Abrams/Larry Gray that is coming out on ECM shortly. But I'm getting ahead of …
Continue reading Last Batch of Favorites of 2014 & Thoughts on the NPR Poll
Ok folks, a couple more of my favorite albums from the last year (and as always, the whole list can be found here).... Peter Brendler, Outside the Line (Posi-tone) - What a sizzling, fun, and adventurous date. Bassist Brendler, joined by the unbeatable front line of tenor saxist Rich Perry and trumpeter Peter Evans, and …
Continue reading More Favorites of 2014: Peter Brendler and Captain Black Big Band
Well, it's that time again - the yearly "best of" lists have started appearing, and yearly readers and critics polls have either come out or are immanent. I've been working on putting together a list of my favorite albums of the year for quite some time, and I've got a few more to add to …
A few weeks ago a former professor of mine shared an article on Facebook from the Village Voice that listed the Ten Jazz Albums to Hear Before You Die. Usually it seems like the "ten whatevers you need to do/visit/read/listen before you die" lists are things that people probably haven't done, are not likely to …
