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Blog Entries [0 - 9]Friday, May 23, 2025 Book RoundupLast Book Roundup was back on April 5, 2025, nearly a full year after the previous one on April 25, 2024. So much had happened since then, and so much had changed, that I decided to limit myself to books published in calendar 2024, holding back some 2025 releases that already demanded attention. This is but a first installment on bringing the lists up to date. As usual, the post has two sections: a main one, where I single out 20 (or so) books that strike me as especially worthy of comment; and a second one, where I briefly note the existence of other interesting books. As the number of "briefly noted" books has grown, I've taken to grouping them by subject, first under main section books (which they complement), and now also in the second section -- in effect, a supplementary list to a major book I haven't found yet. Needless to say, I've actually read very few of these books. I'll include a cover scan for those I have read, or at least have bought and intend to read. What I know comes from reviews, blurbs, samples, and/or comments on sites like Amazon. I'm a very slow reader, but compensate with these wide-ranging surveys. While I read a fair amount of journalism most days, I take books to be the standard for what we actually know. They take more time and are more permanent, which both allows and insists on more work and reflection. Note: I've also added the occasional red star
( Internal links to authors/subjects (+ extended lists; the numbering has no meaning other than it saves me from having to count):
Many more climate change and/or activism books (seems like every Roundup brings another boat load):
John Cassidy: Capitalism and Its Critics: A history: From the Industrial Revolution to AI (2025, Farrar Straus and Giroux): New Yorker columnist, writes topically politician columns quite regularly, but his 2009 book How Markets Fail: The Rise and Fall of Free Market Economics was was one of the best books to come out of the 2008 financial crisis, and his earlier (2002) Dot.con: How America Lost Its Mind and Money in the Internet Era looks solid enough. This looks to be very thorough, with The Communist Manifesto only appearing in Chapter Eight, a reminder that lots of people have had beefs with capitalism both before and independently after Marx. He notes that he started writing this book in 2016, in response to the Bernie Sanders campaign. Now you can read it as a historical supplement to Sanders' It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism. Or perhaps as an "Amen."
Robert Chapman: Empire of Normality: Neurodiversity and Capitalism (paperback, 2023, Pluto Press): Alternative term for "autism," author is "a neurodivergent philosopher" and professor, referred to here as "they," who "exposes the very myth of the 'normal' brain as a product of intensified capitalism." While I've never (as far as I know) been diagnosed as autistic, or assigned some peg on the spectrum, and I certainly don't have the superpowers of the French police archivist in Astrid, I am aware of seeing things and recalling details and relationships that few others recognize, so perhaps there is something to this "neurodiversity" beyond its euphemistic usage. As for capitalism, the author may be engaging in the usual leftist blame game -- which I tired of 50 years ago, but I can't deny that doing so here offers both insights and an ethical framework. It occurs to me that one can recast capitalism not as economics or culture but as a species of game theory, which forces people to think and act in certain prescribed ways -- so routine as to seem natural to most people, but patently ridiculous to the few who can see through and beyond them.
This opens the door to an extensive literature I've rarely noticed before (although I read a lot of RD Laing and Thomas Szasz back in my day, so I'm familiar with the dialectics of psychology and politics). Also, note more books on psychology below, under Davies.
Tom Cotton: Seven Things You Can't Say About China (2025, Broadside Books): And yet here he is, saying them. What a profile in "speaking truth to power"! Actually, he's a Senator (R-AR), building a reputation as the GOP's top warmonger, as if that's going to be his key to the White House. Actually, lots of think tankers are peddling the same wares, but he is exceptionally blunt about it. His seven chapter heads say more about his psyche than his book does about China:
In case you're wondering where the coronavirus pandemic fits in, he brings it up in the first line of the Prologue, adding "I've never taken the claims of Chinese Communists at face value." Nor is he fazed by independent observations, or any understanding of how the world actually works. I've cited a bunch of anti-China sabre rattling previously, to which we can add (including a few books that don't strictly follow the "coming war" formula):
James Davies: Sedated: How Modern Capitalism Created Our Mental
Health Crisis (paperback, 2022, Atlantic Books). Notes that
"In Britain alone, more than 20% of the adult population take a
psychiatric drug in any one year" -- an increase of 500% since 1980,
yet "levels of mental illness of all types have actually increased in
number and severity." That may be because they're noticing things they
had ignored before, or it may be a case of capitalist supply looking
for demand -- a perennial in the advertising world. Or it may reflect
the search for efficiency, combined with an indifference to care --
more capitalist traits. (One clue is the title: sedation may or may
not be good for patients, but it can be a lot less trouble for
"caregivers.")
Glenn Diesen: The Think Tank Racket: Managing the Information War With Russia (paperback, 2023, Clarity Press): While this book is explicitly about how think tanks feed American militance against Russia, it's obviously relevant to the China sabre-rattling noted above (under Cotton). The bottom line: "The US adversarial relationship with Russia has sustained its exorbitant military spending over many decades." This opens with a section on "The Rise and Corruption of the Expert Class." No doubt they've created a lot of ideology on top of their graft, much of which is projection of America's own attempts to dominate an increasingly unconquerable world. Recent books on Russia follow the China pattern, except that it is easier to imagine future wars than it is to face current ones: before Putin's Ukraine invasion of 2022, efforts to rekindle the Cold War were common, but warnings of its consequences scarce; after Russia escalated, the first wave of American books were extremely anti-Russian, but now that the war has stalled, we're also seeing a few books that start to question American motives -- both leading up to the war, and in Biden's failure to attempt to stop it.
There are also several books on Russia's use of mercenaries, which with Prigozhin dead may no longer be much of an issue:
Phil Freeman: Ugly Beauty: Jazz in the 21st Century (paperback, 2022, Zero Books): With two decades down, it's possible to start thinking of the 21st century as a distinctly different period of time from the decades that preceded it. While individual timelines align poorly with arbitrary decades or branded generations, statistics do add up. When I set up my record rating database, I divided jazz into 20-year chunks, based on when an artist or group name started recording. Counting names today, it looks like the expansion of jazz has been geometric: 1920s: 145; 1940s: 460; 1960s: 717; 1980s: 1649; 2000s: 3524. (I haven't started a 2020s yet, but there is no reason to think the expansion has slowed.) If I tried to characterized 20th century jazz in generations, I'd say: swing (1917-45), bebop (1946-65), avant and/or fusion (1966-1980), and postbop (1981-2000), although the edges are increasingly blurry, and nothing old ever really dies. After 2000, you get a massive expansion of all of the above, which lines up with the more general notion of postmodernism. Of course, few practical writers indulge in such inevitably faulty generalizations. It's easier, and more sensible, to come up with a list of musicians and profile them, as Freeman does here (42 names in 29 chapters): while he's somewhat broader than the similar Chinen and Mitchell books below, his map still leaves a lot of terra incognita.
Book writers are always slow off the mark, so there's much more written recently about older jazz. For example (including a couple items that don't seem to be on Amazon):
Fawaz A Gerges: What Really Went Wrong: The West and the Failure of Democracy in the Middle East (2024, Yale University Press): Middle east expert based in London, was early on the scene in 1999 with America and Political Islam: Clash of Cultures or Clash of Interests?, an insight that has served him well as an analyst -- especially in predicting the problems the Iraq War would exacerbate. The "Arab Spring" is widely regarded as a failure today, but did it have to be? What difference might it have made had the US generously supported efforts to support liberal democracy, peace, and prosperity for all, instead of its narrow economic interests and its ridiculous superpower conceits (including its willingness to sacrifice all other concerns to buttress Israel)? This primarily focuses on Iran and Egypt, on Mossadegh and Nasser, so doesn't get to my questions, but lays the groundwork. David A Graham: The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America (paperback, 2025, Random House): Staff writer for The Atlantic, one of the few I'd read if I could, covers politics and national affairs, offers a short (160 pp) primer on the big plans the right-wing Heritage Foundation hopes to inflict on America through the clueless Trump administration. Although "think tanks" have long considered this sort of "thinking" their raison d'être, such plans rarely get taken seriously, as the actual "sausage-making" in Washington is done by the lobby groups that care for and feed our politicians, and they generally feel the less you know, the better. This one got some notoriety when a few journalists (like Graham) bothered to read it, provoking an embarrassed Trump to deny any involvement or interest -- an obvious lie, given that much of it was already tucked away in the wonkier corners of his campaign's website. Greg Grandin: America, América: A New History of the New World (2025, Penguin Press): Big (768 pp) history of the entire Western Hemisphere, combining the United States and Latin America, showing how each affects and reflects the other. This is not the first time Grandin has looked south of the border for insights into American history: e.g., Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism (2006); Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City (2009); The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World (2014); one might even note his Kissinger's Shadow: The Long Reach of America's Most Controversial Statesman (2015). Chris Hayes: The Siren's Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource (2025, Penguin): I tend to automatically discount anything written by a "broadcast journalist," but Hayes' two previous books -- Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy (2012) and A Colony in a Nation (2017) -- are both remarkably succinct and original attempts to deal with important and in some ways unexpected topics. Hard to say whether this makes three, but arguing against it is that attention is pretty close to his stock-in-trade -- he plies a trade where ratings are all-consuming -- and the concept is intrinsically hard to value. In particular, I wonder whether the point of many ploys isn't just to direct your attention away from elsewhere. For instance, while it may be horrifying to imagine what happens to the brains of people who follow Trump, the main point of much of what Trump does seems to be to keep you from thinking about Trump, and focus instead on the foibles of his opponents, or anyone who might just have an honest take on him. I'm reminded that the way airplanes escape anti-aircraft rockets is to flood the zone with false targets. If Trump isn't already doing that, I'd hate to imagine what he might do once he figures it out.
Ezra Klein/Derek Thompson: Abundance (2025, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster): I've seen many references lately to "abundance liberalism," which this seems to be its bible. It comes at a time when Democrats are shell-shocked by the loss to Trump -- especially those who are congenitally prejudiced against the left, and still hope to double down on the neoliberal gospel of growth. I sympathize somewhat with their "build" mantra -- Democrats have a big problem convincing people they will actually deliver on their promises, perhaps because they have a really poor track record, and much of what they do deliver has been neutered by lobbyists and donor concerns -- but isn't the problem somewhat deeper than just providing cutting through the permit process paperwork? While it's true that if you built more housing, you could bring prices down, the neoliberal economy is driven by the search for higher profits, not lower prices. Democrats have been trained to think that the only way they can get things done is through private corporations (e.g., you want more school loans, so hire banks to administer them; you want better health care for more people, prop up and pay off the insurance companies); you want green energy, so offer patent monopolies and tax credits. This is not just wasteful, it invites further sabotage, and the result is you cannot deliver as promised. Similarly, Democrats have been trained to believe that growth is the magic elixir: make the rich richer, and everyone else will benefit. They're certainly good at the first part, but the second is harder to quantify. Perhaps there are some details here that are worth a read, but the opposite of austerity isn't abundance; it's enough, and that's not just a quantity but also a quality. Klein's a well read guy, and his Why We're Polarized (2020) covers useful ground. Thompson I'm not so sure about, so we'll note his books and some others in this general arena:
Michael Lewis, ed: Who Is Government: The Untold Story of Public Service (2025, Riverhead Books): Introduction and final chapter by the editor, who previously wrote a terrific book about public servants under threat from Trump, The Fifth Risk (2018). In between are six more profiles, by Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and W. Kamau Bell, for a fairly broad cross-section. This seems to have started off as an op-ed series in late 2024, when we had a general sense of foreboding but hadn't yet reached the fever-pitched panic since inauguration day, when Trump revealed just how serious his revenge-seeking would be.
Sarah Maza: Thinking About History (paperback, 2017, University of Chicago Press). I've been thinking a lot about history lately, sometimes going so far as to question whether we are even capable of understanding the present except through analogy through the past. Of course, the flip side of that is that our understanding of the past is inevitably filtered through the present -- a line I noticed here is that history is what the present needs to know about the past. Mike McCormick: An Almost Insurmountable Evil: How Obama's Deep State Defiled the Catholic Church and Executed the Wuham Plandemic (paperback, 2025, Bombardier Books): An early frontrunner for most insane right-wing hatchet job of the year, not least for his tangent on Pope Francis ("an illegitimate pope, an unclean cardinal, a compromised president, his criminal vice president, and their win-at-all-cost operatives"), as well as his revelations of "how the Obama-Biden White House networked the Catholic Church into human trafficking along the Southern Border; how it schemed Ukraine into becoming a biological warfare threat to Russia; and how it collaborated to release the Wuhan Plandemic [sic] to upend President Trump's 2020 campaign." McCormick claims to know all this because he worked as "White House stenographer" over 15 years (presumably before his 2019 memoir, so not actually in the Biden White House).
Glenn McDonald: You Have Not Yet Heard Your Favorite Song: How Streaming Changes Music (paperback, 2024, Canbury Press): Rock credit, data nerd, someone I was acquainted with before he became Spotify's Data Alchemist, devising algorithms to guide users into finding their preferred music, or that seems to have been the theory. I had my own thoughts along those lines, and might have considered his my dream job, so I picked up this book -- (along with Stephen Witt: How Music Got Free: The End of an Industry, the Turn of the Century, and the Patient Zero or Piracy (2015) -- but I haven't had the time (or, I suppose, interest) to delve deeper.
Also note these additional new books on Israel's war against Palestinians:
Needless to say, the Hasbara folks have been working on this too (plus a couple older books along the same lines, just less desperate):
Some other recent (or not previously noted) books on Israel:
Finally, some books on Jews in America with or without reference to Israel:
Benny Morris/Dror Ze'evi: The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey's Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894-1924 (paperback, 2021, Harvard University Press): Israeli historian, did much to document the expulsion of Palestinians during Israel's "war of independence," later turned into a hard-right ideologue, so one suspects ulterior motives here, in attempting to reframe the more famous depredations against Armenians during the 1914-18 World War into a much broader framework of Turkish Muslims attacking Christian minorities. I read Taner Akcam: A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (2007) quite some time ago, as well as some more general books on the rise of the Young Turks, the Balkan Wars, the end of the Ottoman Empire, and the revival of Turkish nationalism, but it turns out there are more books I hadn't noted:
Premilla Nadasen: Care: The Highest Stage of Capitalism
(paperback, 2023, Haymarket Books): Capitalism has laid the foundation
for many higher stages: I don't know whether Lenin was the first to
identify imperialism as a higher stage of capitalism, but he turned
that insight into a theory. The pace seems to be quickening of late
with coinages like Natalie Klein's "disaster capitalism" and Yanis
Varoufakis' "techno-feudaliam." Meanwhile, the quainter industry of
post-capitalism has mostly focused on using technology to open up
leisure time (Sweezy and Gorz among Marxists, but also Keynes and
Bookchin and Frase). I've long been a leisure partisan, not for
want of a work ethic but I've never much cared for greed-headed
bosses. But lately I've been thinking more about the sense of worth
one gets from good work, and how that kind of work has increasingly
shifted from production to services and finally to care. So when I
saw this book, I flashed on the idea that the subtitle might harbor
a bit of irony, that increasing focus on care might offer the path
where capitalism fades back into history. Of course, much of the
focus here is on the exploitation of care workers and the tarnished
care they offer. Of course, even within those confines, she has
much to write about. But when you start to think about care work,
the contribution that capitalism adds is almost entirely negative.
As more and more of our work becomes centered on care, it behooves
us to cut out the profit-seeking predators and rentiers who devalue
and degrade the such socially important work.
Clay Risen: Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America (2025, Scribner): A timely revisit to the period where the powers that be panicked the American public into adopting anti-communism as secular religion, a cause for rearmament and global outreach as the champion of the capitalist "free world," and sworn enemy of labor unions, anticolonial movements, and working people all around the world. Sen. Joe McCarthy lent his name to the crusade, which started before he jumped on the bandagon, and continued even after he proved to be an embarrassment. Anyone who recalls the era will recognize echoes today in Trump's harrangues against "radical leftists," by which he means not just us few harmless idealists but millions more who are neither radical nor leftists (although some will be as they find they have nothing more to lose). Enzo Traverso: Revolution: An Intellectual History (paperback, 2024, Verso): Italian Marxist, has a new book on Gaza Faces History, cited among the Israel/Gaza books, but much more in his back catalog, of which this seems relatively major. I've soured on the idea of revolution, but clearly the idea captivated many on the left in the 19th and 20th centuries, with 1789 and 1917 looming large.
Michael Wolff: All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America (2025, Crown): Here I am still trying to figure out the election, and Wolff already has a 400 page book of intense reporting: "Threading a needle between tragedy and farce, the fate of the nation, the liberal ideal, and democracy at all, [he] paints a gobsmacking portrait of a man whose behavior is so unimaginable, so uncontrolled, so unmindful of cause and effect, that it defeats all the structures and logic of civic life." And then he squanders what little insight he has and calls it "one of the most remarkable comebacks in American political history." How could it be a "comeback" when Trump never left? Even when Biden was in the White House, Trump was in our minds, not least because he was all over the media -- even the ones who supposedly hated him never let him go. More early takes on Trump, Biden, Harris, and the 2024 election:
This has been followed by a tsunami of Trump triumphalism:
I've noted a huge number of books on Trump in the past, but I'm still finding pre-election books I missed, like:
A few more books briefly noted: Dana Bash/David Fisher: America's Deadliest Election: The Cautionary Tale of the Most Violenc Election in American History (2024, Hanover Square Press): Bash is "CNN's chief political correspondent," so of course she'd have nothing better to do during 2024 than reminisce about 1872. Fisher is "author of more than twenty New York Times bestsellers." Ron Chernow: Mark Twain (2025, Penguin Press): Big time biographer, short titles, long books (1200 pp). Needless to say, Samuel Clemens (1835-1910) gave him a lot to write about. Sue Coe/Stephen Eisenman: The Young Person's Illustrated Guide to American Fascism (paperback, 2005, OR Books): The latter's "crystalline text," followed by the former's drawings -- not clear how well integrated they are, or whether any effort is made to distinguish fascism from run-of-the-mill right-wing acts and thoughts. Maureen Dowd: Notorious: Portraits of Stars From Hollywood, Culture, Fashion, and Tech (2025, Harper): Or, "forget everything I wrote about politics in the last decade, let's talk about stuff that doesn't matter." David Enrich: Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful (2025, Mariner Books). New York Times reporter, has a couple books on Trump's legal efforts to throttle and ultimately control the press.Ross Gay: Inciting Joy: Essays (2022; paperback, 2024, Algonquin Books): Poet turned inspirational author, following up on The Book of Delights (2022) and The Book of (More) Delights (2023). Frederic Jameson: The Years of Theory: Lectures on Modern French Thought (paperback, 2024, Verso). Robert D Kaplan: Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis (2025, Random House): Used to be a travel writer with a fairly good grasp of history. But then he "started thinking" . . . and hanging out with folks like his blurbist David Petraeus. Edward Luce: Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet (2025, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster): Major biography (560 pp) of Jimmy Carter's answer to Henry Kissinger, which is to say no answer at all. Dan Nadel: Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life (2025, Scribner). Steve Oney: On Air: The Triumph and Tumult of NPR (2025, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster). David Petraeus/Andrew Roberts: Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare From 1945 to Gaza (2023; paperback, 2024, Harper): Only interesting thing here is that the paperback reprint changes the subtitle from Ukraine to Gaza. I would ask what kind of general would even want to claim Gaza as a war when it is plain genocide, but the question answers itself. Vivek Ramaswamy: Truths: The Future of America First (2024, Threshold Editions). Kenneth Roth: Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments (2025, Knopf): Former executive director of Human Rights Watch. Israel gets chapter 9. Chuck Schumer: Antisemitism in America: A Warning (2025, Grand Central Publishing): Democratic Party leader in the Senate evidently thinks he has nothing more pressing or important to write about. He made clear where his true loyalties lie when he joined Netanyahu's Republicans in voting against Obama's Iran Nuclear Deal. Rebecca Solnit: No Straight Road Takes You There: Essays for Uneven Terrain (paperback, 2025, Haymarket Books). Jeffrey Toobin: The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy (2025, Simon & Schuster): Legal affairs journalist, has covered OJ Simpson, Timothy McVeigh, and the Supreme Court, timed this for general background as Biden and Trump were bound to issue a flurry of controversial pardons. As I struggled to wrap this up, I kept poking around, looking for books related to the ones I already had written up, but inevitably found more items of interest I hadn't touched on at all, or that I simply wanted (assuming I'd have the time) to write more on. For one thing, we're due for an update on AI. Robert Wright has written a lot about AI in his newsletter, and has promised a book, but the publication date is still way out (November 18), and for me the title is even more disconcerting: The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning. He's a smart guy who has a lot of useful insights into real world problems like how Americans think about foreign policy, but this is surely bullshit:
I mean, I understand that all people -- and I certainly don't exempt myself from this, even if I'm more conscious of it than most -- when faced with the unknown, or just with new facts, translate them into their previously extant mental frameworks, no matter how poor the fit. So I'm not really surprised that a religion guy like Wright might come up with such an angle. (His books include: The Evolution of God, Three Scientists and Their Gods, The Moral Animal, and perhaps most pointedly, Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny.) Nor that an anti-religion guy like myself would recoil at such utter nonsense. I'm reminded here of Wolfgang Pauli's famous riposte: "That's not right. That's not even wrong." But chances are, when we get down to details, I'm likely to find a lot to agree with Wright on. "Nonzero" may be bad teleology, but the concept has some real value in ethics, and that's something we need much more than God. When I think about AI, I'm reminded of what people thought about the internet back in the 1990s. They projected all sorts of scenarios, from techno-utopian to utterly dystopian, but for the last 25-30 years, we've just muddled through, adjusting when we can, sometimes giving up, but in the end (so far, anyhow) what we have is pretty much what we started with: a Reagan-Clinton neoliberal economy, where the internet is mostly advertising, not much more ubiquitous and obnoxious than it was with radio and TV. (Which, if memory serves, is a lot of both. Indeed, with my open source software, ad-blockers, and DVR, I'm probably assaulted by less advertising -- or less obvious advertising -- than I was in the 1980s.) And while I'm not one to make light of advertising -- it may not be the root of all evil in capitalism, but it certainly turns the evil of capitalism into an art form -- I would still conclude that the internet is the best thing that has happened to at least my everyday life in my lifetime. But that doesn't mean that I'm happy it's turned out just as it has. As an engineer I see everything as opportunity for improvement. But I'm not much into "creative destruction" either. Sure, it works, but to say it's necessary require a pretty jaundiced view of humanity (which I rarely have, except when they do things as stupid as voting for Trump). As I was cleaning up, I wrote a bit on John Cassidy's Capitalism and Its Critics, and decided I had enough to include this time. I also added a sublist item for Jathan Sadowski: The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism, which is tied to Cassidy because both talk about Luddites, but also fit here because this strikes me as a smarter way of talking about AI and similar technologies. In particular, this quote from p. 12:
This isn't all that far from what Yanis Varoufakis has to say in Techno Feudalism: What Killed Capitalism, except without the confusing overkill metaphors. I should write more about this, and later, as this is one of the few books here that convinced me to order a copy. For now I'll note that the author's autobiographical sketch is not far removed from mine (although he was fortunate enough to have a science who wasn't a total asshole). And that I'm particularly looking forward to:
Current count: 30 links, 11370 words (13731 total) Ask a question, or send a comment. Monday, May 19, 2025 Music Week
Music: Current count 44235 [44197) rated (+38), 22 [21] unrated (+1). I published a Loose Tabs on May 14 (actually, late Tuesday night). I figured I should clear the decks, as I would be cooking on Wednesday and Thursday. I had shopped on Tuesday, and planned out a fairly grand Thai menu -- panang curry duck, pad thai, tom kha gai (soup) -- plus that Burmese tea leaf salad I wasn't able to pull off for my birthday dinner. I thought of pineapple upside down cake for dessert, with ice cream. I also picked up some odds and ends, which turned into three side dishes: cucumber salad, water chestnut salad, and grilled Japanese eggplant with Thai peanut sauce. I wrote up lots of notes as I worked. Rather than trying to recap them here, you can find them in my notebook. The two days of cooking took my mind of writing, including reviewing any records. That's reflected in the reduced rated count this week, but not severely. I think we have a nice mix of exceptional records this week, although I did fall down on my promise to tweet about them on the fly. I don't feel like I'm getting much value out of Bluesky at the moment, although I'll concede that part of the problem there is I'm not putting much work into it. I have very little idea what I'll be doing this coming week. I could try to wrap up a books file, but the amount of stuff worth mentioning is huge -- especially if you include the propaganda and nonsense that one can only ridicule. New records reviewed this week: Julien Baker & Torres: Send a Prayer My Way (2025, Matador): Two singer-songwriters with enough reputation for me to have checked out their solo catalogs -- three Baker, four Torres -- and accorded them respectable if unenthusiastic B+(*) grades (5, with ** for the first Torres, B for the middle Baker; Baker is also one-third of Boygenius, stuck at B for a widely-admired album and two EPs), merged here as "an American country duo," which means common songs with somewhat southern voices and (mostly) acoustic arrangements. The vocal contrasts help sustain interest, which may be all the songs ever needed. B+(***) [sp] Jon Batiste: Beethoven Blues [Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1] (2024, Verve): Pianist from Louisiana, studied at Juilliard, was music director and bandleader on Colbert 2015-22, has since moved on to other projects, which this as the first of a promised series of solo piano explorations, with a mix of original pieces and covers. Given my ingrained antipathy to nearly all classical music, the best I can say here is that nothing here bothers me, and this is downright pleasant. B+(*) [sp] Blondshell: If You Asked for a Picture 2025, Partisan): Singer-songwriter Sabrina Teitelbaum, grew up in New York, where her father ran a vaping products company, based in Los Angeles, second album, alternate title "More Songs About Bad Faith and Sexual Ambivalence." B+(**) [sp] Buck 65: Keep Moving (2025, Handsmade): Rapper from Nova Scotia, started releasing albums around 1999, with 2003's Talkin' Honky Blues an early masterpiece, ran out of steam around 2014, but nearly everything since his 2022 reboot has been terrific. This one compiles 31 short, sharp pieces (51:25). A- [bc] Mackenzie Carpenter: Hey Country Queen (2025, Valory Music): Country singer-songwriter from Georgia, first album, makes a nice impression. B+(*) [sp] Lucy Dacus: Forever Is a Feeling (2025, Geffen): Singer-songwriter from Virginia, fourth album since 2016, not counting her share of Boygenius. This almost won me over with sound, and the lyric videos almost convinced me the words have weight. I don't normally factor politics into my reviews, but while I was sitting on the fence here, I read in Wikipedia of her referring to Obama as "war criminal" and took that as the tie-breaker. A- [sp] Erik Friedlander: Dirty Boxing (2024, Skipstone): Cellist, several dozen albums since 1991. This one is backed by Uri Caine (piano), Mark Helias (bass), and Ches Smith (drums). B+(**) [sp] Erik Friedlander: Floating City (2024, Skipstone): Discogs combines this as a second CD with Dirty Boxing, but Spotify has they as separate albums. Another quartet, with Mark Helias returning on bass, but the piano/drums replaced with guitar (Wendy Eisenberg) and voice (Sara Serpa). B [sp] HiTech: Honeypaqq Vol. 1 (2025, Loma Vista): Techno group from Detroit, rapper-producer-DJs go by King Milo, Milf Melly, and 47Chops; two previous albums, 11-12 cuts but time probably comes up short. B+(*) [bc] Jenny Hval: Iris Silver Mist (2025, 4AD): Norwegian singer-songwriter, studied in Australia, started in a gothic metal band, worked through a couple more bands, moved back to Norway, this her ninth solo album, plus she has two more as Lost Girls, and four novels. The metal influence may have contributed to the C+ album in my database, but it's an outlier. I certainly don't mind this one, but can't say I'm following it carefully. B+(***) [sp] Salif Keita: So Kono (2025, No Format): Legendary Malian griot, started with Les Ambassadeurs, still going strong at 76. B+(**) [sp] Alex Koo: Blame It on My Chromosomes (2024 [2025], W.E.R.F.): Belgian pianist, sings some (but not especially well), mother is Japanese, father was a missionary sent to Japan, fifth album since 2014. B+(*) [sp] Jinx Lennon: The Hate Agents Leer at the Last Isle of Hope (2025, Septic Tiger): Irish poet with music, 16 albums since 2000, has messages, stories, and anger -- more than I can digest, but enough to respect. B+(***) [sp] Model/Actriz: Pirouette (2025, True Panther/Dirty Hit): Boston rock band, new-wavish, Cole Haden the singer, second album. B+(**) [sp] Willie Nelson: Oh What a Beautiful World (2025, Legacy): Per Wikipedia, Nelson's 77th solo studio album (I have 114 albums rated under Nelson's name), a collection of a dozen very good Rodney Crowell songs, a nice production with a singer still good enough to cover anything. Seems too easy, but at his age what more can you hope for? A- [sp] Enrico Pieranunzi/Marc Johnson/Joey Baron: Hindsight: Live at La Seine Musicale (2024, CAM Jazz): Italian pianist, many recordings since 1975, a long-running trio with bass and drums -- his association with Johnson goes back to 1992, with various drummers (Billy Higgins, Paul Motian) until Baron took over in 2009. B+(**) [sp] Simona Premazzi/Kyle Nasser Quartet: From What I Recall (2024 [2025], OA2): Piano and saxophone (tenor/soprano), backed by bass (Noah Garabedian) and drums (Jay Sawyer). B+(**) [cd] The Gary Smulyan and Frank Basile Quintet: Boss Baritones (2024, SteepleChase): Two baritone saxophonists, Smulyan by far the better known, with a steady stream of albums since 1997 (including a Tough Baritones with Ronnie Cuber), while Basile mostly has side-credits with big bands (starting at UNT in 1999). Backed here by piano (Steve Ash), bass (Mike Karn), and drums (Aaron Seeber). Anyone expecting a rousing sax joust will be disappointed, but not much: these are nice guys who prefer to swing and bop in tandem. B+(**) [sp] Billy Woods: Golliwog (2025, Backwoodz Studioz): Rapper, from DC, mother a lit professor from Jamaica, father a "Marxist intellectual" from Zimbabwe, tenth solo album since 2003, not counting collaborations, most notably in Armand Hammer. Dense, rambling, hard for me to get a solid handle on this, but I have no doubt there's much to return to when/if I can find the time. A- [sp] Neil Young: Coastal: The Soundtrack (2023 [2025], Reprise): Solo album, "features 11 songs selected from Young's 60-year career, recorded live on his 2023 tour," cast as a soundtrack for a video tracking the tour. B+(*) [sp] Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: James Moody: 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (2005 [2025], Origin): Bebop saxophonist (1925-2010), mostly tenor, also played quite a bit of flute, joined Dizzy Gillespie in 1946 and was a regular in his various bands, while he established his own career with "Moody's Mood for Love" in 1952. He opens this 80th birthday bash singing "Benny's From Heaven," badly at first but so infectiously he won me over. He opened with a solid band -- David Hazeltine (piano), Todd Coolman (bass), and Adam Nussbaum (drums) -- then brought out the stars for the back stretch: Jon Faddis (trumpet), Paquito D'Rivera (alto sax/clarinet), Slide Hampton (trombone), plus guest spots for Randy Brecker (trumpet) and Cedar Walton (piano). He turns this into an old-fashioned bebop revival, reprising his hits as well as "Cherokee," "Birk's Works," and "Bebop" itself. A- [cd] James Moody: The Moody Story: James Moody Septet 1951-1955 (1951-55 [2025], Fresh Sound, 3CD): Saxophonist (1925-2010), started on alto but mostly played tenor, played in an army band during WWII, then joined Dizzy Gillespie in 1946, and even now is probably best known for his work in later Gillespie bands. After a few years in Europe, he returned to the US, and recorded these early sessions for Mercury and Prestige. Various lineups here, but aside from the odd vocalist he appeared in septets, with Dave Burns (trumpet) prominent enough to get larger type on the box. [NB: Volume 1, which covers 1951-54, is not available to stream, so is unheard here. This grade only covers Volume 2 (1954-55) and Volume 3 (1955), which I've played, but the separate volumes only seem to exist for streaming.] B+(***) [sp] Pink Floyd: Pink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXII (1972 [2025], Columbia): Live concert from 1972, released as a film in 1974, and newly remastered, so the songs here predate their mega hit albums -- The Dark Side of the Moon came out in 1973, but there are two takes of "Echoes" (from 1971's Meddle) prototype here. B+(*) [sp] Louis Stewart & Jim Hall: The Dublin Concert (1982 [2024], Livia): Irish guitarist (1944-2015), a couple dozen albums from 1975 on, plays host here to the more famous American guitarist (1930-2013). Easy does it. B+(**) [bc] Sun Ra: Inside the Light World: Sun Ra Meets the OVC (1986 [2024], Strut, 2CD): "OVC" stands for Outer Space Visual Communicator, a device Bill Sebastian invented, "a giant machine, played with hands and feet, that allowed artists to create and finger-paint with light similar to how musicians create and explore sound with their instruments." I doubt the visuals make any difference, although Sebastian could hardly hope for a more fortunate alliance. B+(***) [sp] Horace Tapscott's Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: Live at Widney High December 26th, 1971 (1971 [2025], The Village): A phenomenal pianist from Los Angeles, also notable as a community organizer, ran this not-quite-big band at least through 1979's Live at I.U.C.C.. Starts strong with a 25:03 version of John Coltrane's "Equinox," with Al Collins on tenor sax, two trumpets (Butch Morris and Walter Graham), two trombones, two bassists, drums and congas. The following pieces, with vocalist Linda Hill and "word musician" Kamau Daáood are no less wonderful. A- [bc] Hiroshi Yoshimura: Flora (1987 [2025], Temporal Drift): Japanese ambient musician (1940-2003), first album 1982, this one only released in 2006, after his death. Starts mostly piano, shifting later to contemplative synth tones -- which recall early Eno ambients, reportedly an influence. B+(***) [sp] Old music: Armonicord: Esprits De Sel (1977, L'Électrobande): French free jazz band, formed 1973, this their only album until a live tape from 1975 surfaced in 2023, only name I recognize is Juke Minor (baritone/sopranino sax, flutes, contrabass clarinet, guimbri, also wrote the liner notes and composed all but the Django Reinhardt cover), joined here by Jean Querlier (alto sax, oboe, English horn, flute), Joseph Traindl (trombone), Odile Bailleux (harpsichord), and Christian Lété (drums). Rough in spots, but vital. B+(***) [yt] The Buttress: Endofunctor (2023, self-released, EP): Rapper Bethany Schmitt, from New Jersey, second album (per Discogs, this one short at 9 songs, 21:53; the other, from 2011, even shorter, at 6 songs, 6:13), title here "a mathematical function that leads back into itself," with an analogy to satanism, an interest that suggests an abusive Christian upbringing. The murkiness is no doubt intentional. B+(**) [sp] The Buttre$$: Structural Stabilization of an Historic Barn (2011, self-released, EP): Early work, six pieces, 6:13, noise exercises generated on EMU modular synthesizer, not the worst I've heard, but not something I'm much interested in. B [bc] James Moody: In the Beginning (1949 [2017], Inner City/Solid): Possibly the tenor saxophonist's earliest records, the first five tracks released as Max Roach Quintet (with Kenny Dorham trumpet, Al Haig piano, and Tommy Potter bass), the other seven as James Moody Quartet & Orchestra (with Art Simmons piano, Buddy Banks bass, and Clarence Terry drums). B+(**) [sp] James Moody: Moody's Mood for Blues (1954-55 [1994], Prestige/OJC): Tenor saxophonist (some alto), compilation originally relesed in 1969, draws from four sessions, most originally released on the short albums Moody and James Moody's Moods (art work for both on cover, although half of the latter is skipped). A mixed bag of blues, ballads, standards ("Over the Rainbow," two takes of "It Might as Well Be Spring"), and bebop, with two Eddie Jefferson vocals and one where Ilona Wade channels Billie Holiday. B+(**) [sp] James Moody: At the Jazz Workshop (1961 [1998], Chess/GRP): Reissue of Cookin' the Blues, which came out in 1965, plus some extra cuts. Septet again, Howard McGhee (trumpet) the best known, plus trombone, baritone sax, piano, bass, and drums, with Eddie Jefferson singing on three tracks. B+(**) [sp] James Moody: Homage (2003 [2004], Savoy Jazz): Nothing in my database for him between 1961 and 1996 -- years when he got by with his Las Vegas gigs and road work but I also missed at least a dozen albums on Muse, Vanguard, and Novus. After Dizzy Gillespie died in 1993, he mounted something of a comeback up to his death in 2010. This is a good example of his rich tone and easy flow. Raps a bit at the end. B+(**) [sp] Torres: What an Enormous Room (2024, Merge): Singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott, sixth album since 2013, one I didn't bother with at the time, figuring she had settled into a rut and I wouldn't have anything to say anyway. Slightly better than that, but still don't have much to say. B+(**) [sp] Joanna Wang: Modern Tragedy (2018, Sony): Singer-songwriter, originally Wang Ruolin, from Taiwan but raised in Los Angeles, a dozen or so albums since 2008, some with titles in Chinese (this one has a Chinese title on Spotify, but Discogs gives English titles for album and songs, which are mostly in English). B+(**) [sp] Carl Winther/Richard Andersson/Jeff "Tain" Watts: WAW! (2023 [2024], Hobby Horse): Piano/bass-drums trio, just last names on the cover. The Danish pianist started in his father's group -- Jens Winther (1960-2011), played trumpet -- and has led his own groups since 2010. B+(**) [sp] Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
Ask a question, or send a comment. Wednesday, May 14, 2025 Loose TabsThis is an occasional collection of newsworthy links and comments, much less systematic than what I attempted in my late Speaking of Which posts. The new name comes from my extensive use of browser tabs. When I get around to cleaning up, I often find tabs opened to old articles I might want to comment on and/or refer back to. So these posts are mostly housecleaning, but may also serve as a very limited but persistent record of what 20+ years ago I started calling "the end of the American empire" and nowadays feels more like "the end of civilization." I collect these bits in a draft file, and flush them out when periodically. My previous one appeared 15 days ago, on April 30. I made a rather arbitrary decision after midnight Tuesday evening to post what I had at the moment. I'm pretty sure I have up to a dozen tabs still open, but I'm not expecting to have much free time Wednesday or Thursday, and didn't want to leave the thing hanging. If/when I do find time, I may add more here (if I think something fits), or save it for next time. One thing that kept me from closing was that I tried to answer a couple questions, and couldn't quite figure out the second (suppressed for now). Good chance I will focus on that next. More 100 Days Pieces:
Norman Solomon: [04-30] The US left Vietnam 50 years ago today. The media hasn't learned its lesson: "The myth that news coverage turned Americans against the war persists. In fact, it was largely complicit in perpetuating the conflict." I'd go so far as to say that the value of a free press in a democracy is that it uncover the facts and framework so that we can properly evaluate and judge our politicians. American mass media has been pretty deficient on that score in general, but especially when it comes to matters of war. Solomon offers numerous examples of how easily the architects of the Vietnam War gamed the media. Sure, in the end, what we saw overwhelmed what we were told, to such an extent that many of us still distrust most public institutions: Trump's charges of "false news" work because that's been our experience forever.
Yanis Varoufakis: [04-30] Trump and the Triumph of the Technolords: "Trump is a godsend for Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and the other technofeudal lords. Any short-run loss from his tariff delusions is a small price to pay for an agenda that would deregulate their AI-driven services, bolster crypto, and exempting their cloud rents from taxation." Ed Kilgore: [05-01] Marco Rubio Might Have His Jobs, But He's No Henry Kissinger: Huh? Chas Danner: [05-03] Trump Loses Another Election Abroad: "Australia's Labor Party looked doomed a few months ago. Now, thanks in part to Trump, it's expanding its majority." The thing I don't quite understand is why the center-left parties in Australia and Canada were considered sure losers before Trump showed them that yes, indeed, things could get much worse. Sure, this fits in with the line that Harris lost as part of a global reaction against incumbents (that also wiped out the Tories in the UK).
Alexander Nazaryan: [05-04] Who's to Blame for the Catastrophe of COVID School Closures? "A new book tries to make sense of a slow-motion (and preventable) mistake that affected millions of children." The book is An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions, by David Zweig, who is interviewed here, and allowed to spout his opinions with no review. It isn't obvious to me that the closures were bad decisions, or that they had long term consequences, let alone catastrophic ones, but I also find it hard to credit strawman attacks on caricatures of a left that has never come close to exercising the sort of power they are blamed for. This ends with the interviewer asking "are you optimistic that officials will handle the next pandemic better when it comes to school closures?" To which Zweig answers: "I think a significant portion of the public just simply won't tolerate it the way they did last time." So next time will be worse, not just because we learned nothing but because the do-nothing agitators have only been further empowered. Note that I'm not arguing that the closure policy was ideal or even right, and certainly not that we shouldn't review what happened and learn to do better. I'm not surprised that "remote learning" is less effective for many students, but surely it could be improved much over the current practice of just blasting students with data. Perhaps it requires more individual teacher attention, not less? Also, I admit that my views are rooted in my own ancient experience with a school system that taught me little and tortured me much. One thing I learned later is that at least some, perhaps many, students will learn on their own what they can't learn in school.[*] One thing I really hate is Zweig's attitude that every minute/day/month that a child is deprived of full bore, high-pressure education is a moment totally and irretrievably lost that will mar the person forever. I could point to the practice of tiger parenting here, but I see that more as an internalization of rat race capitalism, and its perverse reduction of human values. [*] I am probably an outlier in terms of my ability to pick up expertise in purely academic subjects, which was possibly aided by my being freed from the school system at a tender age (15). But I've known others who loathed school and deliberately underachieved, but on their own went on to master not just the rote practice but the science and logic of the trades that interested and engaged them. I've learned as much from them as I've learned from anyone with a proper academic pedigree. Even so, I admit that there are things that I've been unable to learn on my own, where the discipline of coursework could have made the difference. In particular, I've long noted with regret my inability to advance in mathematics after my standard -- and frankly not very good[**] -- curriculum was broken. (I've compensated somewhat by reading books about mathematics, like Philip J Davis/Reuben Hersh: The Mathematical Experience and John Allen Paulos: Innumeracy, two general surveys I highly recommend, as well as more esoteric fare like Douglas R Hofstadter: Gödel, Escher, Bach, James Gleick: Chaos: Making a New Science, and Benoît Mandelbrot: The Fractal Geometry of Nature. The exception (there always is one, isn't there?) was in 6th grade, when I had a very elderly -- and much despised by everyone else I knew -- math teacher who embraced the temporary vogue for New Math, and introduced me to sets and number theory -- concepts not only interesting in themselves but which provided nearly all of the math I eventually needed for a career in software engineering. It is worth quoting from the Wikipedia page here:
But also note what they were opposed to (and eventually managed to shut down):
In other words, New Math might encourage students to learn on their own and to think for themselves. When I moved on to 7th grade, it was back to the rote learning of Old Math, where I learned little of note but the A grades were easy, and I lost interest -- especially after my 9th grade science teacher was so horrible I not only ditched that as a career inclination but never took another science course (and as such had diminished use for more math). Kenneth Rogoff: [05-06] Trump's Misguided Plan to Weaken the Dollar: "The so-called Mar-a-Lago Accord, proposed by Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran, aims to reduce the United States' current-account deficit by weakening the dollar. But this plan is based on a deeply flawed understanding of the relationship between the dollar's global status and US deindustrialization." I've been asking this same question: if the goal is to square away America's current accounts deficit, wouldn't it be more straightforward to just weaken the dollar -- making US exports cheaper to others, which should result in us selling more, while making imports more expensive, some of which could easily be replaced with cheaper domestic supplies -- than to raise tariffs, which make trade less efficient while inviting retaliation? I've long assumed that the "strong dollar" was dictated by the political clout of finance, because the main effect of the trade deficits has been to feed money back into the finance system, making the bankers (if not necessarily other capitalists, like manufacturers) all the richer. Those in finance have little reason to reduce the trade deficit, because it's already working just fine for them. Rogoff offers a couple reasons why an attack on the dollar wouldn't help with the deficit, and concludes "the idea that tariffs can be a cure-all is dubious at best," but doesn't really answer my question. He is, by the way, a former chief economist from IMF, and co-wrote a famous book called This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, which I don't recall all that well reviewed. He has a new book more specifically on this subject: Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider's View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead.
Adam Gurri: [05-07] Why We Need a Reconstruction of the Liberal Public Sphere: "How media systems work, how ours came to be, and where we go from here." Son of media guru Martin Gurri -- I have a copy of his 2018 book The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium, which seemed like it might offer some insight into the Trump-addled media circus, in spite of (or perhaps because) its author having wound up voting for Trump in 2024 (on extremely specious "free speech" grounds); I may have clicked here expecting Martin -- has "worked all over the adtech ecosystem," but also founded Liberal Currents ("an online magazine devoted to mere liberalism"). This is a long piece I've barely skimmed and can't especially recommend but the subject is important enough to bookmark it and return at some future point: Democrats desperately need to learn better ways of talking to and about other people, because recent approaches don't seem to be working at all. I don't know what the answer is, in part because it's hard to see how anything can effectively counter the forces that are fragmenting and denigrating consciousness with their relentless barrage of misinformation and misinterpretation. But I am pretty sure that nostalgia for "the Big Three" era isn't the answer, or even a part of it. That was, after all, the system that gave us the Red Scare, the Cold War, and especially Vietnam, and was still largely intact trumpeting Reagan's "morning in America," Bush's "new world order," and another Bush's "global war on terrorism."
Gaby Dal Valle [05-07]: Grifters thrive under Trump's scam-friendly administration: "Gutted watchdog agencies and unprecedented 'influence peddling' means unrestrained fraud." This is the essential story of the Trump administration, the one you can be sure of adding new installments to each and every week. This is also Trump's main vulnerability, as his graft is only barely more popular among rank-and-file Republicans -- who are so easily motivated by the slightest stench of scandal on the Democratic side -- as with Democrats and independents. Sarah Jones [05-07]: The Christians Who Believe Empathy Is a Sin: "When suffering is irrelevant, anything can be justified." I don't exactly understand why, other than because their politics depends on desensitizing to cruelty. Ends with: "The social contract is held together by empathy, which is why authoritarians fear and despise it so much. All they can offer is a net." Orly Noy [05-07]: What a 'peace summit' reveals about the state of the Israeli left: "Well-meaning dialogue workshops, panels on distant political solutions, but no mention of genocide: these are privileged distractions we can no longer afford." I spent over a year, from Oct. 7, 2023 through Nov. 6, 2024, documenting and denouncing Israel's genocide -- a word that will suffice for what's happening, which admittedly is much more than that, but also no less -- but I've largely bypassed the subject since then. This does not represent a change in my views, or a lessening of concern, but simply a choice to focus my limited time and energy on matters that are less glaring and/or are open to possible solution. While I may have been overly optimistic that Harris, had she won and transitioned from campaign to governing (from sucking up to donors to actually having to grapple with real problems), would have compelled Israel to limit its goals, I was certainly correct that Trump would rubber-stamp whatever Israel's leadership wanted. Given that force is not a viable option -- no opposing force has the means, much less the desire, to go up against Israel (and the US) -- the Houthis and/or Hezbollah are at most minor irritants -- and that war wouldn't be a good idea anyway, and that US support can be counted on, the only way this ends is when Israel itself decides to stop it. Hence, our hopes are limited to efforts like this "peace summit," political efforts that gnaw away at blanket US/Europe support for Israel, and the resilience of the Palestinian people, who are paying the price for our confusion and indifference. As usual, if you want latest news, see this website, MondoWeiss, Middle East Eye, etc.
David Armstrong: [05-08] The Price of Remission: "When I was diagnosed with cancer, I set out to understand why a single pill of Revlimid cost the same as a new iPhone. I've covered high drug prices as a reporter for years. What I discovered shocked even me." Jeffrey St Clair [05-09]: Roaming Charges: 100 Days of Turpitude: Starts with more on the new pope than I ever thought to ask. Although, for the record, see: Pope Leo XIV Calls for Peace in Gaza, End to Israeli Blockade on Aid. Of course, St Clair has much more than that. Michael Tomasky [05-09]: You Won't Believe How Much Richer the Trumps Have Gotten This Year: Estimate is $3 billion in three months. A big chunk of that comes from crypto: whereas lesser crooks could be accused of "selling out," Trump gets to buy in, on terms that all but guarantee profits. And given his ability to direct public money to private ventures, his "investors" could be able to recoup plenty in his allotted four years. This flows into another [04-25] story specifically on crypto: "Trump Just Did the Most Corrupt Thing Any President Has Ever Done." That may seem like a big claim, but whoever's the runner up is nowhere close. Nia Prater [05-09] A Few of the Many Lowlights of Jeanine Pirro, Trump's Newest U.S. Attorney. Trump nominated the Fox host after finding his original pick, Ed Martin, a counsel for January 6 rioters, "would be unable to survive Senate confirmation." It's hard to see how anyone who would object to Martin would be reconciled to Pirro (who "compared January 6 rioters to Revolutionary War soldiers"). Chas Danner [05-09] A Too-Deep Dive Into Trump's Doll Comments. For more on this:
Liza Featherstone [05-09] Kamala Harris 2028? Hard Pass. "Brat Summer is over and never coming back." She had a solid poll lead coming out of the convention. She had tons of money. Her opponent was a fraud and a nincompoop, and was promising to wreak mayhem on his supposed enemies. And to my mind, at least, she was likable as well as competent. (Maybe I was just a sucker for the cooking videos?) Sure, there were things about her campaign that bothered me, but the choice was so stark and her favor was so huge that I decided just to trust her. She had a theory about winning, and while I didn't particularly agree with it, it wasn't necessarily unworkable. So when she failed, it was just as easy to blame the voters as to blame her. (Pace Hillary Clinton, who did much more to deserve her loss.) But whatever the reason, she's just not substantial enough to keep running. (The only major party candidate to lose repeatedly was William Jennings Bryan, who you may or may not like but at least he stood for things. The only one to come back after a loss was Richard Nixon, and he was much worse than a serial loser. Third party candidates like Eugene Debs, Norman Thomas, and Ralph Nader at least had stands, but anyone can be a "lesser evil," which was ultimately the bottom line for Harris, as for Biden.) Steve M [05-10] The Rise of Fascism and the Tabloidization of Government: All of his posts are worth reading, but I want to quote from this one:
Also see:
Ammar Ali Jan [05-10]: India and Pakistan Are on the Brink of Catastrophe: "Many Hindu nationalists termed the recent Pahalgam terror attack 'our October 7' and now call for Pakistan to be 'reduced to rubble.' Even under a tenuous cease-fire, nationalist saber-rattling is colliding with the collapse of international law." This is always the risk when you install a government whose primary identity is hatred of others. Of course, there are differences, which should be sobering: Pakistan has 240 million people, whereas Gaza only had 2 million. Pakistan has nuclear weapons, where Hamas had little more than sticks and stones. On the other hand, Israel has shown what unopposed power can do, and few nations have followed their exploits more enthusiastically than India has. Joan C Williams [05-10]: The Left Has to Speak to Average American Values -- or Perish: Interview with the author of White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America (2019), has a new book out, Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back. Pull quote: "What working-class people know is that their parents' or grandparents' families looked quite different from theirs, and everything seemed to work then. Now nothing seems to work." I'm old enough to recognize what she's talking about from my own family and neighborhood, but I'm not feeling nostalgic about it; more like resentment, and relief that those times are behind us. I don't disagree that what we have now isn't working as well as it should be, but I prefer solutions based on what we've gained, not on what we've lost. Still, with the future unfathomable, people spend most of their time looking back, and that suggests some ways to talk about present wrongs. We do need help talking, because the standard Democratic Party spiel isn't cutting it. Speaking of which, which article led me to this:
Dave DeCamp [05-12] US Replaces B-2 Bombers at Diego Garcia Base With B-52s: This caught my eye because my father helped build the first B-52s over 70 years ago, when I was a child. He continued to work on refitting and refurbishing the planes until he retired. As noted, the "main difference" between the bombers is that the B-2 has "stealth," but perhaps more important is that the B-52 can carry more bombs, and not the so-called "smart" ones: it is a tool for indiscriminate mass bombardment against an "enemy" that lacks modern anti-aircraft defense. "Between March 15 and May 6, the US launched over 1,000 strikes on Yemen." Peter Linebaugh/Marcus Rediker [05-13]: A World Turned Upside Down: "Christopher Hill's history from below." Hill was one of the three great Marxist historians of British history, usually listed first ahead of Eric Hobsbawm and E.P. Thompson, either alphabetically or by period. This reviews a new biography, Christopher Hill: The Life of a Radical Historian, by Michael Braddick. I've been reading a lot of Hobsbawm recently, because his period is closer to mine, but early on I was much more into Hill, perhaps because his period in British history directly flows into American history. Scattered tweets:
Obituaries:
This is old, but I'm reading Carlos Lozada's The Washington Book: How to Read Politics and Politicians, and the book is made up of previously published book reviews, so most of the chapers are readily available online. This one I especially recommend: Carlos Lozada [2021-09-03] 9/11 was a test. The books of the last two decades show how America failed. On the day, I was well aware of the history of American interventions in the Middle East, including Sharon's counter-intifada that was already underway in Israel and PNAC's plots to project US power throughout the region (their alignment with Israel's far right amplified by post-Cold War delusions of America as the world's sole "hyperpower"). So I saw the attacks as further proof of US mistakes, but also as an opportunity to change course and get right with the world, because doubling down -- as Bush and his loyal opposition did with scarcely a moment's reflection -- would only bring further pain and suffering, and ultimately ruin for all. (As, well, it did.) Mine was a very isolated position at the time, so I'm gratified to see a reviewer like Lozada come around to it eventually. The books reviewed here are [* ones I've read, 7 of 21; order is from the article illustrations]:
I skipped all of the official reports and document collections, and I tended to focus more on early books (when I felt more need for research) than on later ones (which seemed unlikely to add much to what I already knew). The recent books by Ackerman and Draper look likely to be valuable. I'm curious about the Graff book to see how it dovetails with my memory. Of course, I've read more in this area. Omitting the large number of books on Israel, as well as most of the more generic books on US politics, Islam, and oil, here's a rough list (whittled down from here, sorted by year published):
This is, by the way, an incomplete list of books I've read by several authors: Gilbert Achcar, Tariq Ali, Andrew Bacevich, Noam Chomsky, Juan Cole, Steve Coll, Chris Hedges, Dilip Hiro, Chalmers Johnson, Fred Kaplan, Jon Krakauer, Robert D Kaplan, Rashid Khalidi, Lewis Lapham, Jane Mayer. The above list seems to tail off after 2012, which is roughly when the Obama surge in Afghanistan burned out. (The Michael Hastings book was pivotal, in that it was shortly followed by the sacking of Gen. Stanley McChrystal and the shelving of his counterinsurgency strategy, which had no support from troops who had little desire either to fight and even less to aid Afghans.) I wound up paying no attention to the handful of books on ISIS, or on the drone wars that were surging elsewhere. Besides, there was much more to read about elsewhere, especially in US politics. At some point, I should revisit this list and try to draw up a shorter, more useful annotation. That obviously looks like a lot of work right now, but Lozada's piece is a good framework to start. I don't think his methodology of focusing on commission reports, document caches, and reporters with direct access to their sources (like Woodward) is better than my approach of mostly working through critics I'm familiar with and inclined to agree with (like Ali, Bacevich, Chomsky, Engelhardt, Hedges, Johnson, and Lapham), but if my preferred critics are right, the more conventional sources should ultimately fit into their understanding -- as they do. By the way, a couple more personal 9/11 book remembrances:
Another old article link: Alison L LaCroix: [2024-06-10] What the Founders Didn't Know -- But Their Children Did -- About the Constitution. This is a useful précis of her book, The Interbellum Constitution: Union, Commerce, and Slavery in the Age of Federalisms, which covers legal arguments about federalism in the 1815-61 period. As noted, these debates have been resurfacing of late, especially around issues like abortion, gay marriage, and marijuana which states have often treated variously but which touch on constitutional rights that should be universally protected. Current count: 74 links, 9592 words (11481 total) Ask a question, or send a comment. Monday, May 12, 2025 Music Week
Music: Current count 44197 [44154) rated (+43), 21 [21] unrated (-0). Another week, and not a hell of a lot to show for it, although the rated count remains rather high -- boosted by wrapping up the rest of the Strata-East reissues I hadn't prioritized last week. Since then, and with my demo queue mostly caught up, it's been a struggle to find things to check out, although I now have a fairly sizable checklist based on the DownBeat Critics Poll ballot, which is sending me back to 2024 records, many of which never even placed in my 2024 EOY Aggregate (which among other things means they went unmentioned in the 2024 Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll). I blew out a full two days of my time filling in the 73 categories DownBeat asked me to vote for. As usual, I took notes, this time being careful to copy down all of the nominees they offered in all of the categories. To save time, I dispensed with attempting any sort of running commentary -- as I've often done in previous years (which start in 2003, well before they first invited me to vote) -- although I may return and add some later. As my method is to start with last year's notes and edit them as I go, I'm aware that most of what I dropped were lists of snubbed musicians (which in major categories like alto sax and piano could be very long; but to do them properly, as opposed to just reiterating last year's lists, would take a lot of effort, something I was in no mood for). I also have thoughts on the design and implementation of the poll, but they would do little good. Some I've actually shared with DownBeat, like splitting Hall of Fame into separate living and dead sections, since they tend to be judged differently, and the two-per-year process is too limiting -- cf. the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's by-the-dozen approach, which, easy to say, is way too much. I also think the album categories should be calendar aligned: that critics should have an extra 3 months to consider the past year, and that readers should have 9 months, should not just be deemed a feature but relished as a luxury. It takes time to catch up, and more time for things to sink in, so why not take advantage? I have a million other complaints -- ok, more like a couple hundred, but the mass is way too daunting to detail. The least I can do is mention this line from the invite: "As you already know, it's a LOOOONG ballot and will probably take a little less than an hour to complete, but your input is truly valued." I've never completed it in less than three hours, and that was only by cribbing from past note sheets and voting for 90% of the same people again. Even this year, where my revotes came close to 80%, it took me 6-8 hours, spread out over three days. There are 73 categories, and each one offers 40-75 nominees (with new jazz albums peaking at 136 -- only 22 on my A-lists, out of 110 for 2024, so 80% of my top picks don't even get nominated). Other than that, I managed to get a small amount of house work done last week. I cleared out a pile of dead, decrepit, and/or just disgusting electronics and hauled them off to recycle. I've done some sweeping, some window cleaning, and some yard work. I more-or-less fixed a porch rail that's been leaning alarmingly. I found where an air conditioner plastic slab has broken, so I need to figure out how to straighten it out and get it level. The big task of finding proper places for all the CDs and books, including weeding a few out, remains, as does the more confusing job of sorting out the tools and hardware and putting them where I can find them. The garage and basement need major cleaning. I should go shopping for glasses. While my eyesight is improved, short/medium distances are still troublesome. I need to work on my planning, especially for writing, website development, and finding a new car. Unclear how long the current one will even keep running. It certainly doesn't inspire me to consider any sort of road trip. I do have enough material for a Loose Tabs this week. Possibly for a Books post as well: draft file has 16 main section books; while in the past my standard has been 40, I've been wanting to cut that down, especially as the sublists have grown, and I once posited 20 as a good size. We're beginning to see the first post-2024 election books, and there are a number of important new books on Israel. I also have a big section on jazz books, which I've rarely compiled before. And I still have a lot of tabs open. I also have a couple of questions I hope to answer -- I considered knocking them out today, but don't want to delay posting any more than necessary. How much of this stuff I'll get done next week is anyone's guess. The only project I'm actually enthusiastic about is a dinner, which will give me a chance to combine the salad I missed from the Burmese birthday dinner last October with a couple of old Thai favorites (including one, panang curry duck, that I haven't made since a birthday dinner over a decade ago). Minor housekeeping note: as I've been listening to 2024 releases, I've been adding them to the appropriate 2024 files, including tracking, jazz and non-jazz, and even the EOY aggregate (although I'm making no active effort to collect more data for it). I've basically given up on the idea of including previous-year albums that were unknown to me in the new year lists (as I had done for many years). Eventually, I think that all of the older annual lists should be resynched to calendar year, although at this stage the amount of work involved is hard to imagine doing. I'll also note that my Bluesky account has finally topped 100 followers. I got nervous for a while when the count dropped from 100 to 99, especially as that happened right after a non-music post that no one seems to have understood. New records reviewed this week: Albare: Eclecticity (2025, Alfi): Australian guitarist Albert Dadon, 16th album, also uses a guitar synth, offers a nice groove album setting off Phil Noy's saxophone riffs. Title is quite the tongue-twister. B+(*) [cd] Håkon Berre: Mirror Matter (2025, Barefoot): Norwegian drummer, based in Denmark, several albums since 2009, various side credits (especially with Maria Faust). This one is solo, with electronics as well as percussion. B+(**) [sp] T Bone Burnett: The Other Side (2024, Verve Forecast): Americana singer-songwriter, probably better known these days as a producer but his 1980-92 releases were much esteemed, my favorite the last one, The Criminal Under My Own Hat. Only a few proper albums since, but this one is in much the same vein -- not that he doesn't sound older, and a bit less assured. B+(**) [sp] Cyrus Chestnut: Rhythm, Melody and Harmony (2024 [2025], HighNote): Mainstream pianist, emerged as a major figure in the 1990s with his Atlantic albums, has found an agreeable home here. Quartet with Stacy Dillard (tenor/soprano sax), Gerald Cannon (bass), and Chris Beck (drums). Six originals, three covers, "There Is a Fountain" is especially nice. B+(***) [sp] Yuval Cohen Quartet: Winter Poems (2023 [2025], ECM): Soprano saxophonist from Israel, brother of Anat and Avishai and member of the 3 Cohens, backed here with piano (Tom Oren), bass (Alon Near), and drums (Alon Benjamini). This is lovely, a secluded calm before the cataclysm. B+(**) [sp] George Colligan: You'll Hear It (2024, La Reserve): Pianist, based in Portland, counts as his 38th album (starting in 1996), I'm not finding a credits list, but opens as a trio, with some horns and a singer and switching to electric on the second track. [sp] Alyn Cosker: Onta (2025, Calligram): Drummer, from Scotland, first album 2009, side credits from 2003 including Tommy Smith and Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. Assembled from multiple sessions with various musicians, including several vocalists. I do like the closing folk song ("Làrach do Thacaidean"). B+(*) [cd] The Coward Brothers: The Coward Brothers (2024, New West): Howard and Henry Coward, the former better known as Elvis Costello, the latter as T Bone Burnett, with a back story that goes back to 1956, and an actual single from 1985. If you take Burnett's solo album as a reference, this one is much more eccentric, for better and for worse. B+(*) [sp] James Davis' Beveled: Arc and Edge (2024 [2025], Calligram): Flugelhorn player, from Chicago, wrote all the pieces here, joined by a second flugelhorn player (Chad McCullough), two bass clarinetists (Jeff Bradfield and Michael Salter), bass, and drums. Nice postbop mix. B+(***) [cd] DJ Dadaman & Moscow Dollar: Ka Gaza (2025, Nyege Nyege Tapes): South African, no Discogs history that I can find, just a note that DJ Dadaman "started his journey way back in 2003," in something called "bacardi music" ("a potent cocktail of kwaito, house and synth pop"), with a hint that this may be older music belatedly released. B+(***) [sp] Djrum: Under Tangled Silence (2025, Houndstooth): Felix Manuel, Discogs lists as DJ Rum but recent albums have run the alias together. B+(***) [sp] Maria Faust Sacrum Facere: Marches Rewound & Rewritten (2024 [2025], Stunt): Alto saxophonist, from Estonia, based in Denmark, debut album 2008, third album with this group, which stems from a 2014 album title. Group consists of six horns -- three brass (including tuba), three reeds -- plus two drummers. B+(**) [sp] Satoko Fujii This Is It!: Message (2024 [2025], Libra): Pianist-led trio with trumpet (Natsuki Tamura) and drums (Takashi Itani), third group album, although the first two probably have close to a hundred together, and this is their most basic grouping, and exemplary as usual. A- [cd] Galactic and Irma Thomas: Audience With the Queen (2025, Tchoup-Zilla): New Orleans-based jam (or funk) band, active since 1996, with a couple dozen albums, functioning here as backup for "the soul queen of New Orleans" -- a title she earned with hits in the 1960s. She's 84 now, a decade past her last album, but she sounds strong, and the band does her proud. B+(***) [sp] Hamell on Trial: Harp (for Harry) (2025, Saustex): Folkie singer-songwriter from Syracuse, couple dozen albums since 1996, did this one sounds live sometime after last November 6, which you can tell because he asks how the audience is coping. Just guitar and voice, like The Pandemic Songs, which is all he really needs. A- [sp] Joel Harrison: Guitar Talk Vol. 2: Classical Duos/Jazz Duos (2025, AGS, 2CD): Guitarist, has a couple dozen albums since 1996, organized something he calls Alternative Guitar Summit, releasing a batch of solos in 2024, followed here by two sets of duos: the titular Classical Duos with Fareed Haque & Dan Lippel, and Jazz Duos with Gregg Belisle Chi, Nels Cline, Adam Levy, Camila Meza, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Anthony Pirog, Brad Shepik, and Mike Stern, with scattered bits of voice. B+(*) [cd] HHY & the Kampala Unit: Turbo Meltdown (2025, Nyege Nyege Tapes): Jonathan Uliel Saldhana, a producer from Portugal, working with the label's Ugandan house band. B+(**) [sp] Hieroglyphic Being: Dance Music 4 Bad People (2025, Smalltown Supersound): Chicago house producer Jamal Moss, many albums since 2008. B+(***) [sp] Art Hirahara: Good Company (2023 [2024], Posi-Tone): Pianist, regular albums since 2011 plus side credits on many of the label's albums, this one with Paul Bollenback on guitar and Ron Horton on trumpet/flugelhorn. B+(*) [sp] Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis and Bryan Stevenson: Freedom, Justice, and Hope (2021 [2024], Blue Engine): Stevenson is director of Equal Justice Initiative, and he introduces the various pieces here with reminders of the long struggle for civil rights. I suspect he's preaching to the choir here, but I can't fault anything he says. I can't fault the music either, where the big band plays Rollins, Coltrane, Fats Waller, and "I Shall Overcome." B+(**) [sp] Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis: The Music of Max Roach (2024, Blue Engine): A big band program celebrating the bebop drummer's 100th birthday, with Obed Calvaire acting as music director. B+(*) [sp] KnCurrent: KnCurrent (2024 [2025], Deep Dish): Bandleader is alto saxophonist Patrick Brennan, who has several albums going back to 1999, some as Sonic Openings Under Pressure. Group adds Jason Kao Hwang (violin), Cooper-Moore (generally a pianist but plays his homemade diddley-bo here), and On Ka'a Davis (guitar). B+(***) [cd] Hedvig Mollestad Trio: Bees in the Bonnet (2024 [2025], Rune Grammofon): Norwegian electric guitar-bass-drums trio, with Ellen Brakken and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad. Fast, heavy fusion. B+(***) [sp] John Patitucci: Spirit Fall (2024 [2025], Edition): Bassist, has many albums since his eponymous debut in 1988, few I've bothered checking out, but a trio with Chris Potter (tenor/soprano sax, bass clarinet) and Brian Blade (drums) is promising, playing nine of his own songs, plus one from Wayne Shorter. B+(***) [sp] Pé: Æzæl: Eternity of Nonexistence (2025, Tokinogake): Probably Puria M. Rad, "a Bandar Abbas-based musician and sound designer/engineer who was born and raised in Tehran, studied audio production in Malaysia and has been exploring experimental electronic music since 2014" -- my doubts because this and another album on the same Japanese label have yet to appear on Discogs, although a 2021 album and a couple of 5-file FLACS are listed there, and the notes fit: title is an Arabic word, tied to Sufism, also used in Farsi. Not without interest, but pretty minimal, obscurantist even. B [bc] Sault: 10 (2025, Forever Living Originals): British funk group, a dozen albums since 2019, don't know what the four with numerical titles are meant to signify. B+(*) [sp] Joona Toivanen Trio: Gravity (2025, We Jazz): Finnish pianist, debut in 2000 with this same trio: Tapani Toivanen (bass) and Olavi Louhivuori (drums). Has an interesting ambient feel. B+(**) [sp] Gregory Uhlmann/Josh Johnson/Sam Wilkes: Uhlmann/Johnson/Wilkes (2023 [2025], International Anthem): Guitar/sax/bass + effects all around. Gives this a certain plastic quality, which comes home on the "Fool on the Hill" cover. B+(**) [sp] Julia Úlehla and Dálava: Understories (2021 [2025], Pi): Singer-songwriter, trained as an opera singer, draws on Moravian folk music, has studied at Stanford and Eastman, worked in New York and Vancouver, but bio is short on specifics. Dálava is basically Aram Bajakian (guitars, bass, piano, synths, percussion), sometimes supplemented by others: Peggy Lee (cello) and Josh Zubot (violin) appear on several tracks each. Strikes me as dark and heavy, but there's something to it. B+(**) [cd] Jordan VanHemert: Survival of the Fittest (2024 [2025], Origin): Also saxophonist, born in Korea, based in Oklahoma, third album, a postbop sextet with familiar names: Terell Stafford (trumpet), Michael Dease (trombone), Helen Sung (piano), Rodney Whitaker (bass), Lewis Nash (drums). B+(**) [cd] [05-16] The War and Treaty: Plus One (2025, Mercury/UMG Nashville): Duo of Michael Trotter and the former Tanya Blount, both strong singers, credited on their 2016 debut as Trotter & Blount, fourth album under this name, slotted as country but blows up huge with rafter-raising chorus. B- [sp] Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: Borghesia: Clones (1984 [2025], Dark Entries): Electronic music group founded 1982 in Ljulljana (now Slovenia), could pass for Krautrock, recorded extensively through 1991, regrouped in 2009. Second album. B+(**) [bc] George Colligan: Live at the Jazz Standard (2014 [2025], Whirlwind): A really good pianist since the late 1990s, but it's a crowded field. This is a live set, coming off a trio album with Jack DeJohnette and Larry Grenadier, with Linda May Han Oh subbing for the bassist. B+(**) [sp] The Descendants of Mike and Phoebe: A Spirit Speaks (1973 [2025], Strata-East): One of bassist Bill Lee's projects at the label, with "soprano" (meaning operatic) vocals by A. Grace Lee Mims, plus flugelhorn (Cliff Lee), piano (Consuela Lee Moorehead), and percussion (either Billy Higgins or Sonny Brown). B [sp] Shamek Farrah: First Impressions (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Alto saxophonist, born Anthony Domacase in New York City, started playing in Latin jazz groups, first album, group here is as unfamiliar to me as he is: Norman Person (trumpet), Sonelius Smith (piano), Milton Suggs (bass), Ron Warwell (drums), Calvert "Bo" Satter-White (congas). B+(***) [sp] Shamek Farrah & Sonelius Smith: The World of the Children (1976 [2025], Strata-East): Second album, the pianist getting co-credit with two songs to the alto saxophonist's one, the other songs coming from Joseph Gardner (trumpet) and Milton Suggs (bass). B+(**) [sp] Art Pepper: An Afternoon in Norway: The Kongsberg Concert (1980 [2025], Elemental Music): Another stop on a European tour that's been getting a lot of coverage recently, with the alto saxophonist's regular touring group of Milcho Leviev (piano), Tony Dumas (bass), and Carl Burnett (drums). Terrific, if course, but no better than the Geneva 1980 date I recently reviewed. B+(***) [sp] The Piano Choir: Handscapes (1972 [2025], Strata-East): Multiple pianos, some electic, also credits for "vocals, percussion, African piano, and harpsichord," the performers listed as Stanley Cowell, Nat Jones, Hugh Lawson, Webster Lewis, Harold Mabern, Danny Mixon, Sonelius Smith. This runs very long (9 tracks, 104:55), which makes it hard to find the point. B [sp] The Piano Choir: Handscapes 2 (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Further sessions, five pieces, 33:30, same pianists (possibly excepting Danny Mixon; the other six are featured once or twice) with extra percussionists (Mtume, Jimmy Hopps, John Lewis). Liveliness and brevity help a bit. B+(*) [sp] Albert White: The Definitive Albert White ([2025], Music Maker): Blues guitarist/singer, had an uncle known as Piano Red and started playing with him in 1962, is 82 now, had two albums released on Music Maker 2007 & 2016 but they seem to have been tapes from the 1970s. No dates given for this, but title suggests this is also collected from old tapes. B+(*) [sp] Old music: Khan Jamal: Cool (1989 [2008], Porter): Mallets player (1946-2022), spent his career on the margins of free jazz, starting with a group called Sounds of Liberation. This "percussion and strings quartet" didn't appear until 2002, with a later reissue. Vibraphone, with John Rodgers (cello), Warren Ore (bass), and Dwight James (drums). B+(**) [sp] Limited Sampling: Records I played parts of, but not enough to grade: -- means no interest, - not bad but not a prospect, + some chance, ++ likely prospect. Isaiah Collier/William Hooker/William Parker: The Ancients (2023 [2025], Eremite): Young tenor saxophonist, making a name for himself, also credited with "Aztec death whistle, siren, little instruments," with and drummer and bassist who probably figure they qualify. ++ [bc: 22:41/93:40] Grade (or other) changes: Marshall Allen: New Dawn (2024 [2025], Mexican Summer): Alto saxophonist, joined Sun Ra's Arkestra in 1958, has led the ghost band since 1995, started work on this shortly after his 100th birthday, also playing kora and EWI, leading a large band with a string section and guest vocalist Neneh Cherry. I'm seeing hype for this as his "debut" album, although I have eight previous albums under his name in my database, not all co-credited to Sun Ra Arkestra. I'm also seeing a lot of people treating this as monumental album, but I'm still not hearing it. Wishful thinking, perhaps? It seems unlikely to me that they're appraising it against the 81 Sun Ra albums I've heard, as well as 6 more under Allen's own name. On the other hand, I paid so little attention first time around that I got the title wrong, so felt I had to fix that much. [was: B+(*)] B+(***) [sp] Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
Ask a question, or send a comment. Monday, May 5, 2025 Music Week
Music: Current count 44154 [44107) rated (+47), 21 [25] unrated (-4). Another week, with little to show for it, other than a high rated count, thanks to being able to use the Strata-East reissue bonanza as a checklist (in turn pointing me to some related albums). I also followed up on social media mentions to dig up a few old albums I had missed but by artists I've listened to much by (Don Cherry, Dudu Pukwana). I also largely caught up with the release schedule of my demo queue, but I have so little sense of the current date that I may have slipped behind again. I might also note that I while I rarely request review copies, I did ask for the Murray album, and despite what I took to be a favorable reply, never got it. But since I could stream it, I did. I also didn't receive the Eskelin, nor have I heard the remaster, but I graded both constituent albums A- when they came out, and relistening showed that the grades held up, so I went ahead and wrote the best review I could. One more note is that I got a nice letter from Jon Gold hoping I like his album, a day or two after I plainly didn't like it. Seems like a nice guy who probably deserves a more sympathetic ear than I could muster at the time. I published a fairly substantial Loose Tabs last week. I didn't update the file this time, but have some new material in the Tabs and Books files. I finally got around to updating the books archive, clearing the way for a new column. I have an invite to vote in DownBeat's Critics Poll, deadline May 12, so I'll probably try to knock that out. The invite promises it will take less than an hour to fill out, but I've never done it in less than 3-4 hours, and the only way I can do it in less than 6-8 is by shifting to a mode where I stop caring and just copy down answers from previous years. It occurs to me that George Russell may finally be eligible for their Hall of Fame Veterans Committee. They have a weird system that makes it easier for someone who died young to get into their Hall of Fame (e.g., Booker Little, Scott LaFaro) than someone like Russell, whose career was long with many remarkable aspects. Carlos Lozada's The Washington Book is stimulating a lot of thought on my part. One nice thing about it being an essay collection is that when I run across a chapter I like, I can usually find a link to the original that I can share. The biggest and most important piece so far is 9/11 was a test. The books of the last two decades show how America failed. I've read about half of these books, plus twice as many more, but reached this same conclusion before I read any. I'm not sure I can find the citation, as I wasn't blogging at the time, but my initial reaction was that it was a "wake up call," a challenge to reexamine one's values and make remedies to get back into the right. But I started with a pretty keen awareness that America wasn't always right or honorable or even decent. While that much I learned since growing up with the Vietnam War, what the last twenty-four years have taught me is that Americans have not only "failed the test," they've become much worse people as a result. New records reviewed this week: Kris Adams/Peter Perfido: Away (2021 [2025], Jazzbird): Singer, has several albums going back to 1999, teamed with a drummer who was a long-time associate of guitarist-composer Michael O'Neil (d. 2016), playing many of his songs. Also with Bob Degen (piano) and André Buser (bass). B+(*) [cd]] Anika: Abyss (2025, Sacred Bones): British-born, Berlin-based singer-songwriter Annika Henderson, also a DJ and a political journalist, debut album 2010, this seems to be her third, not counting a band called Exploded View (two albums, 2016-18). Runs on the noisy side of new wave, which is smart. B+(***) [sp] Gustavo Cortiñas: The Crisis Knows No Borders (2022 [2025], Desafio Candente): Drummer from Mexico, based in Chicago, has a couple previous albums. Quartet with Mark Feldman (violin), Jon Irabagon (tenor sax), and Dave Miller (guitar), all freely into crossing borders, plus a long drum solo. B+(***) [sp] Alabaster DePlume: A Blade Because a Blade Is Whole (2024 [2025], International Anthem): British saxophonist and spoken word artist Gus Fairbairn, ninth album since 2012, not sure exactly when this was recorded but liner notes quote him as saying "the album was written before the genocide started, but I had Palestine on my mind all the time." I can't say as I followed this closely enough to understand the point, but he does have some interesting goings on. B+(**) [sp] Destroyer: Dan's Boogie (2025, Merge): Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Bejar (and/or band), more than a dozen albums since 1996. I never noticed him/them until Kaputt (2011) got a lot of hype, and since then I haven't been impressed much, but "boogie" is a welcome novelty (at least while it lasts). B+(**) [sp] Joe Fiedler Trio 2.0: Dragon Suite (2024 [2025], Multiphonics Music): Trombonist, moved to New York in 1993, where he quickly established himself in big bands (Satoko Fujii, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Hill, Charles Tolliver) while pursuing diverse side projects, including tributes to Albert MAngelsdorf and Captain Beefheart and a trombone/tuba choir called Big Sackbut. Discogs lists four previous Trio albums -- I recommend I'm In -- but the revision here has less to do with personnel (Michael Sarin returns on drums) than configuration: filling the bass slot with Pete McCann on guitar. B+(***) [bc] Jon Gold: Chasing Echos (2025, Entropic): Pianist, other keyboards, has a couple Brazil-themed albums, co-produced this with drummer Mauricio Zottarelli, scattered musician credits not that the comings and goings make much difference, with vocals often filling in for horns, or maybe just caught up in the flotsam. C+ [cd] The Haas Company Featuring Samuel Hällkvist: Vol. 3: Song for Mimi (2025, Psychiatric): Fusion group led by drummer Steve Haas, each volume featuring a guest, in this case playing guitar. B+(*) [cd] Christoph Irniger Pilgrim: Human Intelligence Live (2023 [2025], Intakt): Swiss tenor saxophonist, sixth group album, postbop quintet with piano (Stefan Aeby), guitar (Dave Gisler), bass, and drums. B+(**) [sp] Melissa Kassel & Tom Zicarelli Group: Moments (2022 [2025], MKMusic): Jazz singer-songwriter and pianist-composer, have at least one previous album, backed by bass (Bruce Gertz) and drums (Gary Fieldman), with help from Phil Grenadier (trumpet). B+(*) [cd] Kingdom Molongi: Kembo (2025, Nyege Nyege Tapes): Portuguese producer/composer Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, has worked with African groups like HHY and the Macumbas. Mostly chorals. B- [sp] Marilyn Kleinberg: Let Your Heart Lead the Way (2022 [2025], Waking Up Music): Standards singer, only album I can find but I read things like "brings a lifetime of experience" and "storied jazz singer." Will Galison produced, and gets a "featuring" credit, playing chromatic harmonica, which is an effective alternative to adding a saxophonist, to backing of piano (John DiMartino), bass (Noriko Ueda), and drums (Victor Lewis). Well chosen songs, done with authority. B+(***) [cd] Le Vice Anglais: Vas-y (2023-24 [2025], 4DaRecord): Portuguese duo, Ricardo Guerra Pires (electric guitar) and Bruno Parinha (alto sax), where "electronic processing and loops were made 'live'." Titles are a mix of French and English, but just as titles. The music emerges from ambient industrial noise, but just barely. B+(***) [cd] Mira Trio: Machinerie (2022-23 [2025], 4DaRecord): Miguel Mira (cello), Felice Furioso (drums), and Yedo Gibson (saxophones). Two pieces, first a pretty impressive 22:38 slab of inventive improv, second a puzzle that spends way too much time at the barely audible level, which is a personal peeve (in part, perhaps, because I'm not a high volume listener). Mira, by the way, is building up a pretty substantial discography, having started with Rodrigo Amado's Motion Trio. Gibson isn't Amado, but he's often impressive. I don't know if the drummer coined his name, but it's a good one (but not warranted on the second track). B+(**) [cd] David Murray Quartet: Birdly Serenade (2025, Impulse!): Tenor sax great, pretty great on bass clarinet as well, fought his way through the NYC lofts, and spent the 1980s and 1990s on small foreign labels (mostly Black Saint in Italy and DIW in Japan), compiling the most prodigious discography in modern jazz. After 2000, he slowed down a bit, gated by small labels in Canada (Justin Time) and Switzerland (Intakt). So this is supposedly a big deal: a major label debut (Impulse! is one of many brands managed by Universal, which is as major as they get), recorded at Van Gelder Studio. Same Quartet as has appeared recently on Intakt: Marta Sanchez (piano), Luke Stewart (bass), and Russell Carter (drums). This offers eight Murray originals, with titles that fit well enough with "The Birdsong Project" (a tie-in to a group that issued a 20-LP Grammy-winning box celebrating the avian world, with little if any connection to Charlie Parker). Two feature vocals by Ekep Nkwelle, a third with poetry by Francesca Cinelli. They're ok, but I'd rather just listen to the sax (and especially to the bass clarinet), and the rhythm section is exceptionally fluid. I should point out though that despite how much as I enjoy this, I wouldn't rank it in his top dozen albums (or probably two dozen, or maybe even three). But still: A- [sp] The Reddish Fetish With the Jersey City All Stars: Llegue (2025, F&F): Drummer Jason T. Fetish, in a tribute to his father, wrote one song while covering standards from Parker and Strayhorn, Silver and Timmons, and both Coltranes. I don't recognize any of the supporting cast, but they sail through some fetching melodies, with a couple vocals (J Hacha De Zola on "Señor Blues" and "Lush Life"). B+(***) [cd] Clay Wulbrecht: The Clockmaster (2024 [2025, Instru Dash Mental): Keyboardist, evidently some kind of prodigy, "released three albums before he was a teenager," "selected as a Disney All American in 2018," but this is his first album in Discogs. Promises "rich themes, dramatic performances, with bits of his wit," and, sure, he delivers all that. B+(*) [cd] Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: Charles Brackeen: Rhythm X (1968 [2025], Strata-East): Tenor saxophonist (1940-2022), first album, originally appeared 1973, cover also notes "The music of Charles Brackeen" and "Dolphy Series 4," and lists the musicians: "Edward Blackwell (drums), Charles Brackeen (saxophone), Don Cherry (trumpet), Charlie Hayden (bass)." B+(***) [sp] The Brass Company: Colors (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Bassist Bill Lee (1928-2023) has very little under his own name -- people who recognize his name today mostly as Spike Lee's father -- but Discogs lists 206 performance credits, and the notes describe him as "an integral member of the Strata-East family." Group here is deep in brass, with trumpets (Bill Hardman, Eddie Preston, Harry Hall, Lonnie Hillyer, plus Charles Tolliver takes a guest solo), trombone, tuba, and euphonium, plus drums (Billy Higgins, Sonny Brown), with a solo spot each for Clifford Jordan (tenor sax) and Stanley Cowell (piano). B+(***) [sp] Stanley Cowell: Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Pianist (1941-2020), made a big impression on me with his 1969 debut Blues for the Viet Cong, was co-founder (with Charles Tolliver) of the Strata-East label. Solo here, with some electric and kalimba (thumb piano). B+(***) [sp] Stanley Cowell: Regeneration (1975 [2025], Strata-East): Pianist, but strays from his usual fare here, mostly playing kora or mbira behind various singers and lots of flutes. B [sp[ Stanley Cowell/Billy Harper/Reggie Workman/Billy Hart: Such Great Friends (1983 [2025], Strata-East): Documenting a live tour in Japan, the pianist opens, with the saxophonist holding back until the second tune, when he unleashes his full power and glory. Second half evens out a bit as a group. A- [sp] Ellery Eskelin: Trio New York About (or On) First Visit (2011-13, Ezz-Thetics): Remaster of Trio New York and Trio New York II, previouly released on Prime Source -- hence the title fudging for what is normally a series of previously unreleased tapes. Leader plays tenor sax, with Gary Versace (organ) and Gerald Cleaver (drums). A- [dl] Joe Fiedler's "Open Sesame": F . . . Is for Funny (2018 [2024], Multiphonics Music): The trombonist's group is a quintet formed for the 2019 album Open Sesame, with Jeff Lederer (soprano/tenor sax), Steven Bernstein (trumpet), Sean Conly (bass), and Michael Sarin (drums). This reissues that and another album from 2021 (Fuzzy and Blue), with some vocals by Miles Griffith. B+(**) [bc] Billy Harper: Capra Black (1973 [2025], Strata-East): Tenor saxophonist (b. 1943), first album (or a couple dozen through 2013), shows he always had this huge raise-the-rafters sound, fortified here with brass, piano (George Cables), bass, drums, and a choir that can be a bit too much. B+(**) [sp] John Hicks: Hells Bells (1975 [2025], Strata-East): Early album, released in 1980 but recorded well before his 1979 debut, a trio with Clint Houston (bass) and Cliff Barbaro (drums), three original pieces plus Barbaro's title tune. B+(***) [sp] John Hicks: Steadfast (1975 [2025], Strata-East): Solo piano, recorded in London, not released until 1990. Four originals, standards from Ellington ("Sophisticated Lady" and "In a Sentimental Mood") and Strayhorn ("Lush Life") to Waldron ("Soul Eyes"), all nicely, if not remarkably, done. B+(**) [sp] The New York Bass Violin Choir: The New York Bass Violin Choir (1969-75 [2025], Strata-East): Directed by Bill Lee, seven tracks, compiled from five sessions, so it's doubtful the six bassists (including Ron Carter and Richard Davis) were all in play at the same time. Other guests pop up here and there, including Sonny Brown (drums), Harold Mabern (piano), and George Coleman (tenor sax). B+(**) [sp] Billy Parker's Fourth World: Freedom of Speech (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Drummer, from Buffalo, d. 1996, this appears to be the only album under his name but he appeared on several other Strata-East albums. Parker composed the long (16:00) title piece, the other four pieces coming from band members Cecil Bridgewater (trumpet), Ronald Bridgewater (tenor sax), Donald Smith (piano), and Cecil McBee (bass). Smith sings on the opener, and Dee Dee Bridgewater later on. B+(**) [sp] Cecil Payne: Zodiac (1972 [2025], Strata-East): Baritone saxophonist (1922-2007), started on Savoy in 1946, early into bebop but often found himself in mainstream settings. His own albums start in 1956, with just this one album for Strata-East -- part of their "Dolphy Series" -- before he moved on to Muse and Delmark. Quintet with Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Wynton Kelly (piano and organ), Wilbur Ware (bass), and Albert Heath (drums). B+(***) [sp] Charlie Rouse: Two Is One (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Tenor saxophonist (1924-88), best known for his 1960s work in the Thelonious Monk Quartet, although he has some fine albums on his own (mostly later). This was his only album between 1964-78, with especially prominent funk guitar -- George Davis, who wrote 2 (of 5) songs and/or Paul Metzke --backed with cello, bass, and drums. I don't mind that, but was hoping for more of his distinctive sax. B [sp] Strata-East: The Legacy Begins (1968-75 [2025], Strata-East, 4CD): Label established in 1970 by two young musicians, pianist Stanley Cowell and trumpeter Charles Tolliver, who each had a significant debut albums earlier (Cowell's Blues for the Viet Cong, later reissued more innocuously as Travellin' Man, and Tolliver's The Ringer) but who were witnessing the near collapse (or, just as bad, the mad scramble toward fusion) of most of the decade's major jazz labels. Taking "black power" as something more than a slogan, they took control of their own business to open up space for their visionary art. They weren't especially successful, but managed to release 50+ albums in the 1970s, and even after the principals moved to other labels in the 1980s, much of the catalog has been kept in print, with the occasional extra tape surfacing. When Mack Avenue picked it up, their initial foray has been to put together this label sampler -- a massive 33 tracks over 4 hours, 21 minutes -- plus a few select vinyl reissues and an initial batch of 25 albums on digital streaming platforms. I worked my way through nearly all of the 25 before putting this one on, which works for me more as interesting background than tour de force. B+(***) [sp] Charles Tolliver With Gary Bartz/Herbie Hancock/Ron Carter/Joe Chambers: Right Now . . . and Then (1968 [2025], Strata-East): The trumpet player's first side credits came in 1965 with Jackie McLean, followed by work with Booker Ervin, Horace Silver, and Max Roach. This could have been his first album, although it looks like it wasn't released until 1971, first as Charles Tolliver and His All Stars, then on Arista/Freedom as Paper Man. A 2019 reissue adopted this title/cover, and added a bonus track, which has now grown to two. The "stars" were pretty young at the time -- Carter was 31, Hancock and Bartz 28, Chambers and Tolliver 26 -- but well on their way, with Tolliver writing all the songs (I would have guessed Horace Silver). A- [sp] Charles Tolliver's Music Inc: Live at the Loosdrecht Jazz Festival (1972 [2025], Strata-East): Live set from a festival in the Netherlands, five songs, 64:55, a quartet with John Hicks (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), and Alvin Queen (drums). B+(***) [sp] Charles Tolliver Music Inc & Orchestra: Impact (1975 [2025], Strata-East): Maximalist big band, with 14 horns, 8 strings (not counting extra bassists), Stanley Cowell on piano, drums and extra percussion. Impressive, especially the trumpet, but perhaps too much? B+(**) [sp] Charles Tolliver Music Inc: Compassion (1977 [2025], Strata-East): Trumpet, quartet with guitar (Nathan Page), bass (Steve Novosel), and drums (Alvin Queen), recorded in Paris, originally came out in 1980, also released as New Tolliver (mostly in Japan). Four songs (39:15), snappy up front, seductive when they take it easy, oustanding trumpet both ways. A- [sp] Charles Tolliver: Live in Berlin: At the Quasimodo (1988 [2025], Strata-East): Two live sets, originally released as separate volumes, here totals 10 tracks, 114:40 (including a bonus track), a quartet with Alain Jean-Marie (piano), Ugonna Okegwa (bass), and Ralph Van Duncan (drums), all Tolliver songs except for the "'Round Midnight" bonus. B+(***) [sp] Harold Vick: Don't Look Back (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Tenor saxophonist (1936-87), didn't lead many' albums -- his best known is his one Blue Note album, from 1963 -- but racked up a steady stream of side credits, especially with organ players. Also plays soprano, bass clarinet, and flutes here, with Joe Bonner (piano), Sam Jones (bass), Billy Hart (drums), and others in spots. B+(**) [sp] Old music: Don Cherry/Lennart Åberg/Bobo Stenson/Anders Jormin/ Anders Kjellberg/Okay Temiz: Dona Nostra (1993 [1994], ECM): Trumpet player (1936-95), started with Ornette Coleman, continued in that vein with Old and New Dreams, but moved to Scandinavia, where he had huge influence and developed his own unique world fusion jazz. Last album, first three names (trumpet, soprano/tenor sax/alto flute, piano) above the title, others (bass, drums, percussion) below. B+(***) [sp] Stanley Cowell: Brilliant Circles (1969 [1992], Black Lion): Early album, initially released on Freedom in 1972, then part of Arista's 1975 reissue series, which introduced me to a lot of great early-1970s free jazz. Four musicians wrote one song each: Cowell (piano), Woody Shaw (trumpet), Tyrone Washington (tenor sax, flute, clarinet), and Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), joined by Reggie Workman (bass) and Joe Chambers (drums). B+(***) [sp] Stanley Cowell: It's Time (2011 [2012], SteepleChase): The pianist started appearing on the Danish label in 1989, eventually recording 16 albums for them. Many were trios, this one with Tom DiCarlo (bass) and Chris Brown (drums). B+(**) [sp] Joe Fiedler: Will Be Fire (2023, Multiphonics Music): Trombonist, experiments with effects here, adding tuba (Marcus Rojas) to reinforce the bottom, along with Pete McCann (guitar) and Jeff Davis (drums). Seems like good ideas with mixed results. B+(**) [bc] John Hicks: After the Morning (1979, West): Pianist (1941-2006), led 30 albums, played on more than 300, started with Art Blakey and Betty Carter, but I know him best for his later work with David Murray and several albums he led. This duo with Walter Booker Jr. (bass) plus drums on one tracks was the first album released under his name, but not the first he recorded. B+(**) [sp] Cecil Payne: Patterns of Jazz (1956 [1959], Savoy): Baritone saxophonist, possibly his first album -- originally released in 1956 as Cecil Payne Quartet and Quintet, reissued as Cecil Payne in 1957, and again under this title in 1991. Starts as a quartet with Duke Jordan (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), and Art Taylor (drums), back half adds Kenny Dorham (trumpet). Bebop but ballads too, with a horn built more for comfort than for speed. B+(***) [yt] Cecil Payne: Cerupa (1993 [1995], Delmark): After a couple albums on Muse 1973-76, the baritone saxophonist languished through the 1980s (one album on Stash) before his comeback in his 70s, with this the first of four 1995-2001 albums for Delmark. Eric Alexander (tenor sax, 25 at the time) is a driving force, allowing him to switch to flute on two tracks, and Harold Mabern (piano) is vibrant. B+(**) [sp] Dudu Pukwana and Zila: Life in Bracknell & Willisau (1983, Jika): South African alto saxophonist (1938-90), went into exile with the Blue Notes for a career that spanned and fused his native township jive with avant-jazz. Two festival sets from England and Switzerland, featuring credit for vocalist Pinise Saul, the band including Harry Beckett (trumpet) and Django Bates (piano) as well as African percussionists. A- [yt] Harold Vick: Steppin' Out (1963 [1996], Blue Note): The tenor saxophonist's one (and only) Blue Note album, his first of fewer than a dozen (through 1977), doesn't stray far from his many side credits, especially those in organ-led soul jazz groups: many with Jack McDuff, more with Jimmy McGriff and John Patton, who plays here, along with Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Grant Green (guitar), and Ben Dixon (drums). B+(**) [sp] Grade (or other) changes: New Orleans Party Classics (1955-91 [1992], Rhino): Nowhere near as classic as Rhino's 3-LP (later 2-CD) The Best of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues (the CDs came out in 1988, the LP titles never made it into my database, but most likely appeared in 1987 as A History of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues), so this is an afterthought, which I initially devalued. As with many Rhino comps of this period, this scoops up obscurities, and extends well past the classic period: e.g., the Wild Tchoupitoulas, Dr. John doing "Iko Iko," the Dirty Dozen Brass Band doing "Lil Eliza Jane," but they also include "Sea Cruise," which I have on at least a dozen comps. It's not all great, but hits more than it misses, and it's proven a great way to start off more than a few days. Top earworm: Oliver Morgan's "Who Shot the LaLa." Song that finally erased the minus from my upgrade: "Second Line -- Pt. 1" by Stop, Inc. [was: B+] A [cd] Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
Ask a question, or send a comment. Wednesday, April 30, 2025 Loose TabsThis is an occasional collection of newsworthy links and comments, much less systematic than what I attempted in my late Speaking of Which posts. The new name comes from my extensive use of browser tabs. When I get around to cleaning up, I often find tabs opened to old articles I might want to comment on and/or refer back to. So these posts are mostly housecleaning, but may also serve as a very limited but persistent record of what 20+ years ago I started calling "the end of the American empire" and nowadays feels more like "the end of civilization." I collect these bits in a draft file, and flush them out when periodically. My previous one appeared 13 days ago, on April 17. Index to major articles:
I picked up this quote from a fundraising appeal from The Intercept, and it seemed like a good opening quote:
This brings to mind the phrase Fuck You Money. I mean, if anyone has it, if such a thing exists, that would have to be the richest man on earth. Elon Musk certainly acts like he thinks he has it. He thinks he answers to no one, and that everyone else must bow before him. And sure, he does get away with it much of the time, but that's mostly deference given by people who his accept his worldview and values. This is especially amusing where it comes to Trump. Back in 2015, Trump was the guy who thought he had "fuck you money." He was by far the richest guy running for president, which allowed him to boast that he was the only truly free candidate, the only one who could do what he wanted simply because he thought it would be the right thing to do, while every other candidate was beholden to other richer guys, who ultimately pulled their strings. Of course, the big problem with that theory was that he had no clue as to what the right thing to do was, and anyone who put trust in him on that score was soon proven to be a fool. But it also turned out that Trump wasn't rich (let alone principled) enough to stand up to richer folk -- especially as he sees the presidency mostly as something to be monetized. (Perhaps at first it was more about stroking his ego, but even a world class narcissist can grow weary of that.) In the end, Trump not only doesn't have "fuck you money," he's just another toady. On the other hand, Musk is just one person in a world of billions, most way beyond his reach or influence -- which doesn't mean he's beyond the reach or effect of all of them. By making himself so conspicuous, he's also made himself a symbol of much of what's wrong with the world today, and as such, he's made himself a target. Bill Barclay: [03/04] China's Dangerous Inflection Point: "Is China's growth model exhausted?" I was trying to look up the author here, as some friends have arranged for him to come to Wichita and speak on Trump and the financial system. Aside from him being involved in DSA, and writing a lot for Dollars & Sense, I had no idea what he thought or why. I still can't tell you much. He starts by positing two views of China, then lays out a lot of facts without tipping his hand for any sort of predictions. The best I can say is that makes him less wrong than virtually every other American to venture an opinion on China in the last 20-30 years. The simple explanation for why American economists and pundits are so often wrong about China is that they assume that everything depends on sustained growth, and the only way to achieve that is the way we did it, through free markets and individualist greed -- which, sure, lead to increasing inequality, ecological and social waste, and periodic financial crises. But after the depredations of the colonial period, and the chaos of Mao's false starts, China has actually proven that enlightened state direction of the economy can outperform the west, both in terms of absolute growth and in qualitative improvements to the lives of its people. Liberalizing markets has been part of their tool kit, and inequality has been a side-effect they have tolerated, perhaps even indulged, but not to the point of surrendering power and purpose (as has happened in the US, Europe, and especially Russia). What central direction can do is perhaps best illustrated in the rapid shift from massive development of coal to solar power -- a shift we understood the need for fifty years ago but have only made fitful headway on due to the corrupt influence of money on politics. So when Barclay argues that China needs to shift to an increase in consumer goods spending in order to sustain growth rates, he's assuming that American-like consumer spending would not just be a good thing but the only possible good thing. Still, I have to wonder whether even sympathetic observers aren't blinded by their biases. I don't see much real reporting on China, and I'm not privy to any internal discussions on long-term strategy, but several things suggest to me that they're not just following the standard model of nation building (like, say, Japan did from the 1860s through the disaster of WWII) but have reframed it to different ends (as one might expect of communists, had the Russians not spoiled that thought -- perhaps the different residual legacies of Tsarism and Confucianism have something to do with this?). While I've seen reports of increasing inequality and a frayed safety net, some things make me doubt that the rich have anything similar to the degree of power they hold in the US, Europe, Russia, and their poorer dependencies. While China has allowed entrepreneurs to develop where they could, the state has followed a plan focusing mostly on infrastructural development, systematically spreading from the vital cities to the countryside. Barclay singles out their focus on housing, but doesn't explain whether they've followed the American model (which is to grow through larger and more expensive houses) or by focusing on more efficient urban living. Housing is only a growth market as long as you can keep people moving to bigger and better houses. But just moving people from country to city is a one-time proposition, which seems to be what China's planners have done. Similarly, China's shift from intensive coal development to solar shows not only a willingness to think of long-term efficiencies, but that they're willing to move away from sunk costs -- which in our vaunted democracy are attached to powerful political interests, making it impossible for us to do anything as simple as passing a carbon tax. Another example of how China has been able to avoid getting trapped by crass economic interests is the pandemic response. Looking back, it was inevitable that the small business class in America would mount a huge backlash against the inconveniences of pandemic response, but China was willing to take the economic hit to impose a much more restrictive regime, thus saving millions of lives (all the while being chided by American economists for stunting growth, although in the end they fared better than most, even by such narrow measures). PS: I looked up Barclay because some friends had invited him to come to Wichita and speak on "the international financial system, the dollar, trade, crises and Trump's (on again/off again) tariffs." He did, and gave a pretty general explanation that mostly aligned with things I already knew, with occasional political asides that I largely agreed with. In particular, his explanation of why some tariffs might work while Trump's will only cause chaos and turbulence was pretty much what I've been saying for months -- although lately, as I noted last time on Levitz, I'm coming around to the view that tariffs are bad political tools, especially given that it's often possible to come up with better ones. I considered asking a question on this and/or a couple other points, but as usual wound up tongue-tied and silent. China never came up. Eli Clifton: [03-18] The Israeli-American Trump mega-donor behind speech crackdowns: "Miriam Adelson is more than a funder of the Maccabee Task Force, she's also its president." Given that Adelson is the biggest funder of both Trump and Netanyahu, it's getting hard to tell which is the dog and which is the tail. That one person could have so much malign influence over two "democracies" is one of the greatest absurdities of our times. By the way:
By the way, I wrote this entry after writing the closely related entry on the Lambert tweet below, but before I wrote the intro bit on Musk above -- much of which could apply just as well to Adelson, who like Musk is much richer than Trump, but who is less inclined to make herself into the story -- although as one of the top sponsors of both Trump and Netanyahu, she has as much as anyone to answer for. Jeff Faux: [03-24] Time for a Progressive Rethink: "Anger at the Democratic Party's inept leadership and subservience to Big Money has been rising since the election. But the left also must examine our own role in enabling Trump." No doubt, but it's hard to read pieces like this without eyes glazing over, especially with lines like "Ultimately the 'identity vs. class' debates are sterile. Both are needed to create a political majority." I'd put more focus on:
These are very general statements, but it should be easy to see how they apply to any given policy area. Take health care, for instance. You can probably fill that form out yourself, in actual terms, without recourse to slogans like ACA or MFA. Chris Bertram: [03-29] Trump's war on immigrants is the cancellation of free society. Avi Shlaim: [04-04] Israel's road to genocide: This is a chapter from Shlaim's new book, Genocide in Gaza: Israel's Long War on Palestine. I should note that I was alerted to this by Adam Tooze: [04-13] Chartbook 375 Swords of Iron - Avi Shlaim & Jamie Stern-Weiner on Israel's war on Gaza, which reproduces the chapter but not the endnotes. If you have any doubts that this is genocide, and intended as such, you really owe it to yourself to read this piece. It is crystal clear on this very point, and anyone who continues to excuse or rationalize the Israeli government's behavior on this point should be ashamed.
Sarah Jones: [04-17] Pronatalism Isn't a Solution, It's a Problem: "We don't need more Elon Musk babies. We need reproductive justice." Ana Marie Cox: [04-17] How the Radical Right Captured the Culture: "Blame Hollywood's 'unwokening' and the extraordinary rise of right-wing podcasters on slop: intellectually bereft, emotionally sterile content that's shaped by data and optimized for clicks." Long article with a lot of references I don't really get, so this is hard to recognize, or even to relate to much of what passes for culture these days.
Jeffrey St Clair: [04-18] Roaming Charges: Trump's Penal Colony. Another weekly installment in Trump's catalog of horrors. I get the temptation not just to look away but to warily regard Trump's gross attacks on allegedly illegal people as some kind of trap, meant to provoke the sort of hysterical reaction he can easily dismiss -- after all, to his base, who but the wildly caricatured "radical left" could possibly defend the miscreants he is "saving America" from? And aren't there many more facets of his agenda, especially economic matters, that Democrats could oppose while expecting more popular support? But as St Clair makes clear, what's at stake here isn't immigration policy. It's whether the legal system can limit presidential power, and whether that power can run roughshod over the fundamental civil and political rights of any and all people in or subject to the USA. Unfortunately, Trump's criminal abuses of power are hard to explain to most people, partly because when focused on arbitrary individuals we fail to see how that may affect us, and partly because generalities, like the threat to democracy, tend to sail over our heads. (It's not like previously existing democracy really gave us much power to begin with.) We need to find effective ways of talking about Trump's fundamentally criminal-minded abuse of power. But we also need to find some alternatives beyond the widely discredited status quo ante.
Joshua Frank: [04-18] They're Coming for Us: Media Censorship in the Age of Palestinian Genocide. Starts with an example from the hard sell of the Iraq War, but as I recall there was considerable debate and debunking at the time, even if major outlets like the New York Times were totally in league with the Bush regime. A more telling example was the near total stifling of any response short of all-out war in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. (One example was how Susan Sontag was pilloried for so much as questioning Bush's labeling of the hijackers as "cowards.") While most people recognize today that the Iraq War, like the McCarthy witch hunts and the WWII internment of Japanese-Americans, was a mistake, the far more consequential decision to answer small-scale terrorism with global war is still rarely examined. Moreover, 9/11 has left the government with some legal tools that Trump is already abusing, as in the charge that anyone critical of Israel is criminally liable for aiding and abetting terrorists (Hamas, a group that has often proved more useful to Israel than to the Palestinians). But it's not just Trump, and not just the government: Israel has been using its influence to stifle free speech about a list of issues running from BDS to genocide in a quest for thought control that Trump is only too happy to jump onto. Rob Urie: [04-18] Social Democracy isn't Going to Save the West. I figured from the title this would be mostly about Europe, but the examples mostly come from the neoliberal wing of the Democratic Party, which is to say the one that pines for bipartisan unity with like-minded Republicans, while making sure that nothing gets passed that doesn't benefit corporate sponsors. The chart on the increasing erosion of Medicare to privatized "Advantage" plans is especially sobering. Matt Sledge: [04-19] The Galaxy Brains of the Trump White House Want to Use Tariffs to Buy Bitcoin. The graft behind crypto is too obvious to even give a second thought to, so why do we keep getting deluged with articles like this, on proposals that people with any sense whatsoever should have nipped in the bud?
Antonio Hitchens: [04-21] How Trump Worship Took Hold in Washington: "The President is at the center of a brazenly transactional ecosystem that rewards flattery and locksktep loyalty." Anna Phillips: [04-21] Why Texas is seeing eye-popping insurance hikes: "Worsening storms fueled by climate change, coupled with inflation, are driving some of the highest home insurance costs in the country." I pretty easy prediction at this point is that the home insurance industry is going to go broke, losing enormous numbers of customers who can no longer afford insurance, and ultimately failing even those who can. The only politically acceptable solution is for the government to shore up the industry with reinsurance, which given the industry's profit needs will be very expensive and wasteful. But the right-wingers will scream bloody murder over socialism, and governments will be hard pressed to come up with the funds. Natalie Allison: [04-21] The story behind JD Vance's unexpected visit with Pope Francis: "Vance and Francis had publicly disagreed in recent months on immigration policies and other aspects of church teaching." Still no details here on how Vance managed to kill the pope and win the debate. Perhaps Rick Wilson's book [Everything Trump Touches Dies] has some clues? [PS: Next day tweet: Dalai Lama Quietly Cancels Scheduled Meeting With JD Vance"] I've paid very little attention to the Pope's death, but some of the first reactions focused on his concern for Palestinians and his opposition to war in general and genocide especially.
Ryan Cooper: [04-21] Pete Hegseth May Be Too Incompetent Even for Trump: "Turns out Fox News loudmouths are bad at running the military." I'd expect them to be bad at running anything. As for the military, there are reasons to hope that Hegseth's vanity and incompetence won't have a lot of effect: the organization is very big and complex, so his ability to deal with things on a detailed level is slim; it has its own ingrained way of doing things -- a distinctive culture and worldview -- that makes it very resistant to change; it engages very little with the public, in large part because it doesn't do anything actually useful; and its mission or purpose is largely exempt from the Trumpist ideological crusade, so his people don't see a need to deliberately break things. While all government bureaucracies develop internal mores and logic that offers some resilience against incompetent management and perhaps even misguided policy dictates, few are well fortified as the military against the direct attacks Trump and Musk have launched elsewhere. More on Hegseth and the military:
Will Stone: [04-21] With CDC injury prevention team gutted, 'we will not know what is killing us'. With a bit of effort I could probably find dozens of similar stories. The following are short links easily found near this piece:
Some other typical Trump mishaps briefly noted:
Greg Grandin: [04-22] The Long History of Lawlessness in US Policy Toward Latin America: "By shipping immigrants to Nayib Bukele's megaprison in El Salvador, Trump is using a far-right ally for his own ends." After a brief intro on the outsourcing of terror prisons -- not prisons for terrorists, but institutions to terrorize prisoners -- this moves on the history, noting that "in Latin America, the line between fighting and facilitating fascism has been fungible." Dave DeCamp: [04-24] US Military Bombed Boats Off the Coast of Somalia Using New Trump Authorities: Evidently, Trump has extended warmaking authority to military commanders outside officially designated combat zones (Iraq and Syria), so AFRICOM commanders no longer have to seek permission to bomb "suspects." Anatol Lieven: [04-24] Ukraine and Europe can't afford to refuse Trump's peace plan: "It's actually common sense, including putting Crimea on the table." In olden days, I would automatically link to anything by Lieven, but I haven't been following Ukraine lately -- although it's certainly my impression that neither the facts nor my views have changed in quite some time. The war is bad for all concerned, and needs to be ended as soon as possible. The solution not only needs to preclude future war, but to leave the US, Europe, Ukraine, and Russia on terms friendly enough that they can cooperate with each other in the future. That means that no side should walk away thinking it has won or lost much of anything. The obvious face-saving solution would be for a cease fire that recognizes the current lines of control. I guess we can call that the "Trump plan" if that helps, but that much as been obvious for a couple years now. Not in the immediate plan but very desirable would be a series of plebiscites that could legitimize the current lines and turn them into actual borders. My pet scheme is to do this twice: once in about six months, and again in about five years. These should take place in all contested parts of Ukraine. (Kherson, for instance, is divided, but mostly controlled by Ukraine. The current division could be preserved, or one side could choose to switch to the other. Russia could also request votes in other Ukraine territories, like Odesa.) The second round would allow for second thoughts, especially if the occupying power did a lousy job of rebuilding war-torn areas. One can argue over details, but my guess is that the votes would go as expected (which would be consistent with pre-2014 voting in Ukraine). Both Russia and Ukraine should welcome immigrants from areas where their people lost. No need to impose any non-discrimination regime on either side (other than to allow exit), as the Minsk accords tried to protect Russians in Ukraine (a sore-point in Ukraine, which largely scuttled the deal, leading to the 2022 war). Russia and Ukraine need to emerge from the deal with normalized civil relations. Ukraine can join the EU if they (and the EU) want. I don't care whether they join NATO or not, but NATO should become less adversarial toward Russia, perhaps through negotiating arms reduction and economic cooperation deals. (My general attitude is "Fuck NATO": it shouldn't exist, but since it does, and since Russia took the bait and sees it as a threat, and has in turn, especially in attacking Ukraine, contributed to the mutual suspicion, the whole thing should be wound down carefully.) Sooner or later, US sanctions should also be wound down, and the US should ultimately get out of the business of sanctioning other countries. Trump, of course, promised to end the war "in a day," which was never likely, not because someone sensible couldn't pull it off in quick order (not a day, given the paperwork, but a few weeks would have been realistic), but because Trump's an ill-mannered, arrogant nincompoop who neither understands anything nor cares about doing the right thing.
Ha-Joon Chang: [04-24] There Should Be No Return to Free Trade: A Jacobin interview with the Korean economist, who was one of the first to understand that so-called Free Trade was something much different from the win-win proposition it was presented as (e.g., see Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade the the Secret History of Capitalism, from 2007, among his other books). Annie Zaleski: [04-24] David Thomas, Pere Ubu's defiantly original leader, dies at 71. One of my all-time favorite groups, starting from their first album, The Modern Dance (1978), which was some kind of personal ideal: a combination of concepts, aesthetics, and sounds perfectly in tune with my thinking and aspirations at the time. Also in obituaries this week:
Sarah Jones: [04-24] 'Education's Version of Predatory Lending': "Vouchers don't help students. Their real purpose is more sinister, says a former supporter." Interview with Josh Cowen, author of The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers. David Dayen: [04-24] The Permanent Tariff Damage: "Trump tries to walk back his tariffs after supply chain collapse and threats of empty store shelves. But reversing course entirely may not be possible."
Christian Farias: [04-26] Judge Dugan's Arrest Has Nothing to Do With Public Safety: She was arrested for allegedly "obstructed the functions of ICE by concealing a person the agency wanted to arrest while that person, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, was in Dugan's courtroom facing her in an unrelated matter." There is also an Updates file on this. Some more tidbits from the Trump Injustice Department:
Ross Barkan: [04-26] Trump's Most Unhinged Policy May Be Starving MAGA Arkansas of Disaster Relief: "Snuffing out FEMA is causing some collateral damage." Some jokes are funny in one context but not at all funny in another. Ronald Reagan's line about "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" was pretty funny when you didn't actually need the help, but it's actually a line that's been laughed at by no one ever in the wake of a natural disaster. Charity may help a bit, but it's mostly accompanied by opportunists and hustlers, and most of the money sticks to the fingers of whoever's handling it. And while the almighty market might eventually organize a somewhat optimal response, that's only in time frames where we all die. Disaster relief is one thing where we all automatically look to government for help. After a decade-plus as governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton knew that well enough that he made FEMA Director a Cabinet-level position. GW Bush then staffed it with shady cronies and their screw ups sunk his presidency even worse than Iraq. With its energy policies, Trump is guaranteeing that there will be ever more and worse natural disasters, and that a many Americans will blame him directly. Still, trashing FEMA shows a level of cluelessness that is mind-boggling. Remember how the winning campaign slogan of 2024 was "Trump will fix it!"? But since taking office, all he's done has been to break things further, perversely going out of the way to break the very organizations that had been set up to fix problems when they arise. Matt Sledge: [04-26] Marco Rubio Silences Every Last Little Criticism of Israel at State Department: "he singled out a human rights office that he said had become a platform for 'left-wing activists' to pursue 'arms embargoes' on Israel: The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor." AP: [04-27] White House journalists celebrate the First Amendment at the annual press dinner: I've always regarded this as a preposterously hideous event meant to glorify the absolutely lowest scum of the journalism profession: the people who do nothing with their lives other than wait hat-in-hand for the White House to spoon feed bits of self-important propaganda. The only saving grace was that sometimes stand-up comic might hit a funny bone, or some other nerve. But then the dinner would wind up with the sitting president trying his own hand at telling jokes on themselves. (The only line I remember was from GW Bush: "This is an impressive crowd: the have's and have-more's. Some people call you the elites. I call you my base.") As I recall, Trump broke tradition, and was a no-show. For some reason, the only president who had worked as a professional comic didn't have the confidence to risk appearing. Their initial idea this year was Amber Ruffin, but the timid Fourth Estate peremptorily cancelled her, yet still had the gall to pose their dinner as a celebration of free speech. And what better way to do this than by giving themselves awards for their courage? I wouldn't normally bother with this, but of all the stories they could have broke even from their rarefied perches, these are the ones they chose:
So, Gaza is bad, because it looks bad for Biden, but everything looks bad for Biden, and Trump was only newsworthy as a sympathetic victim. [PS: I looked at some of Zurcher's reporting, which was pretty anodyne. You get no sense of the pain and agony at the root of the story, because all anyone cares about is how it inconveniences the handful of political figures the reporter is assigned to cover.] Nathan Tayhlor Pemberton: [04-28] Why the Right Fantasizes About Death and Destruction: "In Richard Seymour's Disaster Nationalism, he attempts to diagnose the apocalyptic nature of conservatism around the world." There is probably something here, although the tendency to psychologize issues is always suspicious. On the other hand, when he offers Israel as an example, it's easy enough to connect the dots (my emphasis added):
The American right has been building and peddling its own version of this dreamwork from Reagan through Trump, although come to think of it, the disorienting fantasies go back to the ridiculous Birchers and Randians in the 1950s, which led to the Goldwater campaign in 1964. The popular breakthroughs came with Nixon, who claimed support from a "silent majority," and Reagan, who promised deliverance from the unsettling troubles of the 1960s and 1970s. His "it's morning in America" offered us a tranquilizer to mask the pain he administered, as many Americans turned to comforting fantasies. Even when it wore off, Americans were left dazed and confused -- a condition only made worse when Democrats like Clinton and Obama tried to sell their own branded versions of American fantasyland rather than expose what the right was actually doing. I never for a moment bought into Reagan's spiel: my stock line at the time was "the only boom industry in America is fraud." If you missed the moment, the book I recommend is Will Bunch: Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy, mostly because he sees right through Reagan and cuts him no slack -- unlike the more "nuanced" but still useful books by Rick Perlstein and Gary Wills (both did better with Nixon, especially the latter's Nixon Agonistes, as he was a much more complex, arguably even tragic but in no sense sympathetic, figure). I had so little respect for Reagan that I long resisted the idea that his election delineated an era in American history: even though my days as a starry-eyed American idealist ended quite definitively in the late 1960s, I couldn't fully accept that America was capable of making such a bad turn. I only let go of that naivete when I realized the extent to which Clinton and Obama saw themselves as perfecting an idealized Reaganite dream. Only just today, about 50 pages into Carlos Lozada's The Washington Book, did it occur to me that Obama's presidency was mostly an attempt to write a happy ending to the Reagan Revolution and rescue the American Dream. He, of course, failed, as the American people had watched the same movie but chose instead the Trump ending, where the bad guys triumph and burn the whole set down. This might be a good point to mention:
Branko Marcetic: [04-28] How Joe Biden Gave Us a Second Trump Term: A Current Affairs interview with just about the only writer who bothered in 2020 to publish a book on the Democratic Party presidential nominee, Yesterday's Man: The Case Against Joe Biden. More recently, Marcetic has written a two-part assessment of Biden's term [01-17]: At Home, Joe Biden Squandered Countless Opportunities, and On Foreign Policy, Biden Leaves a Global Trail of Destruction. I don't really feel like rehashing all this now, but it's here for future reference. Herb Scribner/Praveena Somasundaram: [04-29] Trump administration fires Holocaust Museum board members picked by Biden: "The White House said it will replace former board members, including former second gentleman Doug Emhoff, 'with steadfast supporters of the State of Israel'." All part of their redefinition of "genocide" according not to what is done but to who does it, so they can convert the horror most people feel when faced with genocide to antisemitism that might convince diaspora Jews to move to their supposedly safe haven in Israel. Not that they had much to worry about with Biden appointees, but Trump likes this idea so much he wants to hog all the credit for promoting it. Recall that the US Holocaust Museum was created by Jimmy Carter as a sop to get Israel to sign the peace deal with Egypt. Of course, Americans were horrified by the Nazi Judeocide, but it also had the convenience of swearing eternal memory there while deliberately overlooking holocausts much closer to home. Zack Beauchamp: [04-29] How Trump lost Canada: "Trump's '51st state' talk brought Canada's Liberals back from the dead -- and undermined a key American alliance." Nick Turse: [04-30] The First Forever War: "The Vietnam War Is Still Killing People, 50 Years Later." Scattered tweets:
One more tweet: [04-21] This started as a bullet item above, but turned into its own section: Daniel Lambert: [Image from National Review reads: "Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap projected an antisemitic message onstage at Coachella this weekend. It read: 'Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F*** Israel, Free Palestine.'" The two statements are unequivocally true, way beyond any conceivable doubt. The conclusion doesn't necessarily follow: it's not one that I personally endorse -- but it is not uncommon or unnatural that when two countries commit and rationalize genocide, that other people would denounce the aggressors -- most want them to be stopped, and many want to see them punished, both for their own crimes and as a warning to others -- and would find themselves in sympathy with the victims. But the only conclusions that actually matter are the ones backed with power. Even prominent politicians who clearly oppose genocide have little if any effect as long as Netanyahu's administration has enjoyed blank check support from Biden and Trump, and both political establishments are isolated from public disapproval. The idea of treating any criticism of Israel as antisemitism is a cynical smoke screen to deny, and increasingly to banish, dissent from current political policy. If anything is antisemtic, it is the attempt to link all Jews everywhere to the genocidal policies of Netanyahu and his allies in Israel. While most people can see through this ploy, the net effect is surely to promote more antisemitism -- which for Zionists is actually a feature, as they depend on antisemitism to drive Jews from the diaspora to Israel. (Which fits in nicely with the desire of traditional antisemites on Europe and America.) The thing to understand here is that the people who are trying to define criticism of Israel (and American policy supporting Israel) are not just acting in bad faith, but are promoting widespread, indiscriminate anti-Jewish blowback. As such, they are acting against the best interests of most Jews worldwide, and against however may Jews who disagree with Netanyahu and his mob within Israel. If your prime interest is solidarity with Palestinians, you're unlikely to care about this antisemitism line -- either you recognize it as rubbish, or perhaps you take the bait and start making your own generalizations about Jewish support for Israel. But if you actually care about Israel, even if you're very reluctant to acknowledge its long troubled history, you need to recognize that this ploy it first and foremost a scheme to keep you in line and under control. Netanyahu has build his whole career on making and keeping enemies. He knows how to use their hate for his own purposes. What he can't handle is his (well, Israel's) friends turning on him, because when they do, he's finished, and so is his genocidal war. This antisemitism ploy is a thin reed to hang his political future on, not least because it's patently ridiculous, but as long as Trump is cashing Adelson's checks, the fix seems to be in -- giving them the illusion of winning even while public opinion is heading steadily the other direction. By the way, consider this piece:
PS: Kneecap published a statement, so let's file it here:
I'll note that while much of what they've said is indeed "absolutely clear," two lines are open to wide interpretation: "Fuck Israel" and "Free Palestine." I personally wouldn't read anything more than the minimum into such phrases. "Fuck Israel" goes beyond opposing genocide to expressing contempt for the rationalizations Israel's supporters offer for their racism and genocide. "Free Palestine" expresses the hope that Palestinians can live in peace and freedom in the lands they call home. I see no reason they can't enjoy that freedom in lands also inhabited by Israelis, but that seems to be up to the Israelis, whose desires to kill and expel Palestinians are no longer latent within Zionist ideology, but have been shamelessly exposed over the last 18 months. That anyone could interpret such coarse slogans as meaning that Palestinians seek to do unto all Israelis what some Israelis are currently doing pretty indiscriminately to all Palestinians in Gaza and many in the other Occupied Territories just shows how hegemonic Israel's paranoid propaganda has become. The one quibble I have with Kneecap's statement is that I wouldn't stop at "20,000 murdered children" as I am every bit as offended by the countless murdered adults -- even the so-called "militants" (which Israel seems to blanket define as any male 15-60, a typically gross generalization; not would I exempt actual militants -- while I have no more sympathy for them than I have for Israel's, or anyone's, soldiers, I have no doubt but that they were driven to fight by Israeli injustice, and that nearly all of them would put down their arms if given the chance to live in a free and just society). In any case, the solution is never to kill your way to "victory." It is to establish a fair and equitable system of justice, while letting past fears and hates subside into history. When I opened this file, I left myself an extra day to add a few new pieces. In particular, I was thinking that as Trump's regime passes its 100-day mark, we'd be deluged with summaries, and that would be a good way to close. Trump himself celebrated the milestone with a rally -- see Trump rallies supporters in Michigan to mark 100 days in office -- where he bragged: "We've just gotten started. You haven't seen anything yet." By the way, the "100 days" benchmark was largely invented in response to the first 100 days of Franklin Roosevelt's first term, in 1933. For a good history, see Jonathan Alter: The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope. (There is a new piece by Alter below.) Roosevelt had won a landslide election in November, which also produced large Democratic majorities in Congress (also, many of the Republicans who survived, especially in the Senate, were on the progressive side of the GOP), but couldn't take office until March. During that period, Herbert Hoover not only remained as president, he doubled down on doing nothing to stop the depression. Roosevelt was Hoover's polar opposite: a politician with a strong belief that government could and should act dramatically to help people and improve the economy, but with few fixed ideas about what to do, a willingness to try things, and to make changes according to whatever worked best. The most immediate problem there was the banking system, which was nearing total collapse. His handling of the banking crisis was probably the single most brilliant exercise of presidential power ever. He did three things: he declared a "bank holiday," briefly closing the banks to halt the panic that was causing banks to fail due to runs on savings; he went on the radio, and patiently and expertly explained to people how banking works, and why they need to show some patience, so he could reopen the banks without triggering a panic; and he passed a major bill regulating the banking system (known as Carter-Glass, the law that Bill Clinton repealed, leading to the collapse of the financial system in 2008), which included Federal Deposit Insurance (a rare case where the very existence of insurance prevents it from ever having to pay out). That was just one of 15 bills, many major, that Roosevelt signed in his 100 days. He went on to do much more during his long presidency (including Social Security, and leading the fight in WWII), but those 100 days were especially remarkable: unprecedented, and a yardstick that no later president has some close to matching. Trump, in contrast, has passed no significant legislation, nor has he made any remotely successful efforts to mold public opinion. What he has done has been to use (and abuse) his executive powers to an extraordinary, unprecedented degree, further exposing the long-time shift of power from Congress to the Executive Branch, and the inability of Congress and/or the Courts to function as any sort of limit on presidential power (largely due to Trump's absolute domination of the Republican Party, which enjoys narrow majorities in Congress and an effectively packed Court system). Not a lot of really good summaries to date, but here are a few more pieces:
Let's close with a quote from Carlos Lozada: The Washington Book: How to Read Politics and Politicians, p. 61, from 2015, when he read "The Collected Works of Donald Trump":
I don't want to quibble, but I'm having trouble fitting "respect" into this puzzle. Everything else, sure, and you could skip 2,000 pages and still get there. There is much more quotable here, but it looks like you can find the original article here. For a more recent reading of Trump's oeuvre, see John Ganz: [04-07] Dog Eat Dog: "The books of Donald Trump." Most of us know orders of magnitude more about Trump now than we did ten years ago, but with little more than his ghost-written books, Lozada's picture is already as complete and astute as Ganz's. That suggests he's extraordinarily shallow and transparent to anyone who gives him the least bit of critical thought. Which leaves one wondering why millions of voters can't see through him? Or do they just not care? Current count: 180 links, 11956 words (14518 total) Ask a question, or send a comment. Monday, April 28, 2025 Music Week
Music: Current count 44107 [44070) rated (+37), 25 [24] unrated (+1). Last Monday I could anticipate, and to some extent dread, a full schedule of forthcoming events. We did finally get some help with the yard, and got quite a lot done, not that much feels finished. I saw my eye doctor, who seemed much more pleased with the surgery results than I am. I can drive without glasses for the first time ever, and driving at night is much improved. I still have a bit of astigmatism, so he wrote me a new prescription which he says will be "amazing," but I haven't filled it yet. For reading and computer he suggested I try over-the-counter "readers," which I already had, but so far they aren't much help. The computer distance is by far my worst case now, and it remains very frustrating -- not so much when I'm just typing words in, as I'm doing now, as when I need to read and copy information. That especially impacts time-wasting activities like listmaking and blogging, which it what I tend to do when I can't figure out what else to do. There was a very nice memorial service for Francis Davis on Friday, which we were able to follow on Zoom. One of the speakers there was Allen Lowe, who later posted this on Facebook. He starts with "I'm not going to say much here," then goes on for seven paragraphs. [PS: Also on Substack: A Tribute to Francis Davis.] I've also just seen this screed on Facebook. I'm not finding this particular one on his Substack, but I am finding this (knocking Phil Freeman for his "Trumpian approach to music writing" -- whatever that's supposed to mean) and this (disparaging most other critics, except for a list of eight, at least two departed, and three I've never heard of). I've subscribed, unpaid, which I understand means I'll only get to read every other post. His pieces are so scattershot that's probably just as well. I'm sitting on an invitation to write something of my own re Davis, but for now am beset by more than the usual FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt, an acronym I heard a lot in business management circles). One thing I have noted is the extraordinary consistency among the various obits I've read. I don't disagree with anything I've read, but I've been trying to figure out if I have anything more to add, and thus far I don't have much. One thing for sure is that I have very little to contribute in terms of personal anecdotes. We've had a long relationship, but it's mostly been focused on poll business, so if/when I do start writing, it's likely to be more on what the poll does, how it works, and why we value it. I got one question about whether I'd be taking over the poll. The obvious answer is that I already did that, a couple years ago, when Francis became too ill to keep it going. The question now is whether we continue it, and the answer there seems to be yes, at least for now. I've been wanting to do some website work, but like so many of my projects, that's just been hanging in limbo. I won't go into the long list of things I should work on this week, but for now I'll just note that I have enough pent-up Loose Tabs for a post. Further out is another Books post, which is probably good because I haven't updated the index for the previous one yet. In terms of indexing drudgery, I'll note that I did manage to add February to the 2025 Streamnotes index, but with the closing of the April 2025 file, I'm still two months behind. I should note the death of David Thomas, of Pere Ubu. Of all of the late-1970s punk-era bands, they were the one I felt closest to, and the loss of Thomas seems to be affecting me most personally. Still, I haven't started replaying records yet, although that may well happen next week. (My most played record this past week was Have Moicy!, although I didn't start with it until a week or two after Michael Hurley's death.) One thing I could see myself indulging in is Pere Ubu's Bandcamp, which has several dozen bootleg show tapes. Any suggestions of where to start? I don't have much to add on this week's music, other than to note that the 1970s Strata-East catalog is being reissued, and I expect to look much deeper into it. I also wound up looking at Craft's reissues from the Prestige/Bluesville catalog, which in one case led me back to an old Yazoo collection I had missed. I should look deeper into both of those catalogs. New records reviewed this week: Archer: Sudden Dusk (2024 [2025], Aerophonic): Another group led by Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis (soprano, tenor, baritone), this one with Terrie Ex (guitar), Jon Rune Strøm (bass), and Tollef Østvang (drums). Rempis has been producing 3-5 outstanding albums every year, and this is another, with the guitar especially energizing. A- [cd] Charlie Ballantine: East by Midwest (2024 [2025], Origin): Guitarist, albums since 2015, has a metallic tone that is neither here nor there, but not without interest. B+(**) Ludovica Bertone: Migration Tales (2023 [2025], Endectomorph Music): Italian violinist, based in New York, second album, composed most songs, sings some, backing group includes Milena Casado (trumpet), Julieta Eugenio (tenor sax), and Marta Sanchez (piano). B+(***) [cd] Blockhead: It's Only a Midlife Crisis if Your Life Is Mid (2025, Future Archive): Hip-hop producer Tony Simon, from New York, prolific since 2004, both on his own and with others like Aesop Rock. Six tracks, 35:05. B+(**) [sp] Marilyn Crispell/Thommy Andersson/Michala Østergaard-Nilsen: The Cave (2022 [2025], ILK Music): Pianist, originally from Philadelphia, was an essential part of Anthony Braxton's famed 1980s quartet, has a long list of records on her own, but I was surprised to find nothing else in my database under her name since 2018 -- I've missed a few albums, and others are filed under other names. With bass and drums here. Despite the billing order, the drummer is the composer and "visionary." B+(*) [sp] Korham Futaci: Heavyweight Rehearsal Tapes (2024 [2025], PUMA): Turkish saxophonist, a founder of the avant group Konstrukt, leads his own quartet here with Baris Ertürk (reeds), bass, and drums. The title is both on point and a bit too modest, as these pieces are powerful, with bits of rock and folk in the foundation, and the improv is polished enough. A- [sp] Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson: What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow (2025, Nonesuch): Subtitled "Fiddle and Banjo Music of North Carolina," both started out in Carolina Chocolate Drops, he on fiddle, she on banjo. This is a purist throwback. B+(***) [sp] Ghais Guevara: Goyard Ibn Said (2025, Fat Possum): Rapper Jaja Gha'is Robinson, from Philadelphia, fifth album since 2020. B+(***) [sp] Phil Haynes/Ben Monder: Transition[s] (2024 [2025], Corner Store Jazz): Drummer, started in late 1980s, has a wide range of interesting work. Duo here with guitar, tends toward mild-mannered drone, which you don't notice much and remember even less. B [cd] Phil Haynes: Return to Electric (2024 [2025], Corner Store Jazz): Drummer, leads a trio with Steve Salerno (guitar) and Drew Gress (bass). B+(**) [cd] Daniel Herskedal: Movements of Air (2023 [2025], Edition): Tuba player from Norway, well over a dozen albums since 2010. Trio with piano (Eyolf Dale) and drums (Helge Horbakken). Pretty mild, atmospheric even. B [sp] Hiromi's Sonicwonder: Out There (2025, Telarc): Japanese pianist, surname Uehara, 18th album since 2003, a flashy performer with some crossover potential, but unclear how well that's worked out. Much more unclear here, like the label (Discogs says Telarc but other sources Concord Jazz), artist credit (with, without, or "feat." Sonicwonder), who (probably Adam O'Farrill on trumpet), where, when, or why -- questions that mostly fall below my level of indifference. B [sp] Larry June, 2 Chainz & The Alchemist: Life Is Beautiful (2025, The Freeminded/ALC/Empire): Rapper from San Francisco, Larry Hendricks III, dozen-plus albums since 2010, joined here by Atlanta rapper Tauheed Epps and producer Alan Maman. B+(**) [sp] Nancy Kelly: Be Cool (2024 [2025], Origin): Standards singer, half-dozen widely separated albums since 1988, picks some memorable songs and sings them with style and verve. Also, two with Houston Person. B+(**) [cd] Alison Krauss & Union Station: Arcadia (2025, Down the Road): Bluegrass fiddler and singer, first album 1985 (when she was 14), adopted band name in 1989, bestselling albums are two with Robert Plant, but was a Grammy favorite long before. Some vocals by Russell Moore. B+(**) [sp] Medler Sextet: River Paths (2024 [2025], OA2): Bassist Ben Medler and tenor saxophonist Michelle Medler lead a postbop sextet through six original compositions (5 by Ben), with a nod to Mingus, George Russell, and Gil Evans. With Paul Mazzio (trumpet), John Moak (trombone), Clay Giberson (piano), and Todd Bishop (drums). B+(**) [cd] Tobias Meinhart: Sonic River (2024 [2025], Sonic River): German saxophonist (tenor, soprano, alto flute), several albums since 2015, backed by piano-bass-drums, plus guitar (Charles Altura) on half, with Sara Serpa singing two tunes. B+(**) [cd] Leszek Możdżer/Lars Danielsson/Zohar Fresco: Beamo (2023 [2025], ACT Music): Polish pianist, many albums starting 1996, in a trio with bass (or cello/viola da gamba) and drums (frame drum/percussion). Quite nice, but I could do without the singalong. B+(*) [sp] Napoleon Da Legend & Giallo Point: F.L.A.W. (2025, Legendary): Rapper Karim Bourhane, born in Paris, later based in DC, couple dozen albums since 2013. Discogs has a long list of albums by Giallo Point (since 2014), but nothing more. Title an acronym for "Following Lies Always Wounds." B+(***) [sp] Arturo O'Farrill/The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra: Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (2022 [2025], Zoho): Pianist, born after his parents left Cuba but he's carried the national legacy to America. His connection to Bley was that he played in her big band 1979-83. He's recorded three commissioned suites here, one ("Blue Palestine") written by Bley shortly before her death, and first recorded here, along with two of his own, which fit together into a coherent whole. B+(***) [sp] Alberto Pinton's Relentless: Allt Större Klarhet (2024 [2025], Moserobie): Baritone saxophonist, originally from Italy, moved to Sweden in 1984, Discogs only credits him with three albums but there are dozens more behind group facades, including this one, a quartet with piano (Alex Zithson), bass (Vilhelm Bromander), and drums (Konrad Agnas). Nice resonance on his main instrument, I'm a bit less pleased with the clarinets and flutes. B+(***) [cd] Pitch, Rhythm and Consciousness: Sextet (2024 [2025], Reva): Originally Tony Jones (tenor sax) and Charles Burnham (violin), they added Kenny Wolleson (drums) for 2011's Trio, and Marika Hughes (cello) for 2019's Quartet. This time they've added Jessica Jones (tenor sax) and Rashaan Carter (bass). B+(**) [cd] Private Property: Private Property (2025, Kraakeslottet Platekompagni): Norwegian trio of Guro Kvåle (vocals/trombone), Nicolas Leirtrø (bass), and Øyvind Leite (drums), first album. Vocals run punk-to-hardcore, everything else just free jazz intense and sometimes nasty. B+(***) [bc] Michael Sarian: Esquina (2024 [2025], Greenleaf Music): Trumpet player, half-dozen albums since 2020, quartet with Santiago Leibson (keyboards), Marty Kenney (electric bass), and Nathan Ellman Bell (drums), on three pieces stretched out to 51:24. B+(**) [sp] Ray Suhy/Lewis Porter Quartet: What Happens Next (2023 [2025], Sunnyside): Guitar and piano, backed by Joris Teepe (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums), both frequently on Allen Lowe albums, with Porter going back to 1993 in Aardvark Jazz Orchestra. Third group album. B+(*) [sp] Unity Quartet [Helio Alves/Guilherme Monteiro/Gili Lopes/Alex Kautz]: Samba of Sorts (2022 [2025], Sunnyside): Piano, guitar, bass and drums, the first two from Brazil, the group filled out in Brooklyn, for a nice program of samba standards, with one original song credit for each. B+(**) [cd] Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: Scrapper Blackwell: Mr. Scrapper's Blues (1962 [2025], Craft): Blackwell and Leroy Carr recorded their last session together in February, 1935, and split up on bad terms. Carr died a couple months later, and Blackwell didn't record again until 1958, when the rediscovery of long dormant blues singers like Skip James, Son House, and Mississippi John Hurt was just getting underway. This is his best-preserved session, shortly before his own death, a solo performance which nicely shows off his distinctive guitar and vocals, and includes a bit of him on piano. A- [sp] Blind Gary Davis: Harlem Street Singer (1960 [2024], Craft): Blues singer-guitarist (1896-1972), from South Carolina, lost his eyesight as a child, moved to North Carolina in the 1920s, was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1933, with most of his later recordings credited to Reverend Gary Davis, a title reinforced by his uniquely oratorical style of singing. His early recordings are worth seeking -- see The Complete Early Recordings of Rev. Gary Davis (1935-40, Yazoo) -- but he recorded some in the 1950s (Pure Religion and Bad Company, from 1957, is perhaps his most famous) and much more in the folk-blues boom of the 1960s. This was the first of several albums on Prestige's Bluesville label, and he's in especially imposing form here. A [sp] Vince Guaraldi Trio: Jazz Impreassions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964 [2025], Craft, 2CD): Jazz pianist (1928-76), started in the early 1950s with Cal Tjader, went on to release his first Trio album in 1956. In 1964, he got the job of writing music for a documentary based on the Peanuts comic strip, and produced this album (now greatly expanded with outtakes), which led to many more. His trio included Monty Budwig (bass) and Colin Bailey (drums). A nice piano jazz collection, with or without back story. B+(**) [bc] Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver/Stanley Cowell/Cecil McBee/Jimmy Hopps]: Music Inc. (1970 [2025], Strata-East): First album released on the label, which was founded in 1971 by Tolliver (trumpet) and Cowell (piano), at a time when previously dominant labels were dropping like flies, and young musicians who had just come of age on the late-1960s avant-garde were desperate for an outlet. The label ultimately released 50+ albums -- an important catalog in American jazz history which has long been neglected. Recently, Mack Avenue picked up the catalog and have started reissuing records, starting here. Group (with a different bassist) dates back to Toliver's 1969 album, The Ringer, and can be credited here, but the musician names are also on the cover, so I would normally credit them. I wound up with this credit line based on a later album. But while Toliver and Cowell used Music Inc. for various quartets from 1969-76, here they're joined by a "supporting orchestra" that turns this into a big band (plus a little extra brass, including Howard Johnson on tuba). It's a bit overkill for my taste. B+(**) [sp] Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver/Stanley Cowell/Cecil McBee/Jimmy Hopps]: Live at Sluggs' Volume I & II (1970 [2025], Strata-East): Trumpet/piano/bass/drums quartet, originally released on two separate LPs, total 6 tracks, 68:09, now reissued on one CD or 2-LP, the digital adding 3 bonus tracks (41:29, so 109:38 total). B+(***) [sp] The Soul and Songs of Curtis Mayfield: The Spirit of Chicago (1958-64 [2024], Craft): Twenty-seven songs written or co-written by Mayfield, the co-writes are with Jerry Butler, who sings most of the songs, either solo or in the Impressions. I went with the various artists designation because none were released under Mayfield's name -- Butler also has duets with Berry Everett, and there are two sides each by Gene Chandler and Wade Flemons. One of my all-time favorite albums is Anthology, a 2-CD set from 1993 that fortifies Mayfield's solo work with a bunch of Impressions hits. I recognize a few of them here (and they're simply fabulous), but mostly this is less familiar material, and not nearly as great. B+(**) [bc] Old music: Scrapper Blackwell: The Virtuoso Guitar of Scrapper Blackwell (1925-34 [1991], Yazoo): Blues guitarist and singer (1903-62), born in South Carolina but grew up in Indiana, most remembered for his 1928 "Kokomo Blues," like many bluesmen his career splits into a classic period (1928-34, documented here) and a late revival (1958-62, when he was shot and killed in an unsolved mugging). Much of his early work was done with pianist Leroy Carr, who generally got top billing, leaving this as the main entry under his name. Fourteen songs -- eight originally released under his name, two credited to Carr (but with Blackwell vocals), three to Black Bottom McPhail, one to Tommie Bradley. Robert Santelli listed this at 44 in his top 100 blues albums, and I see little reason to disagree. A- [sp] Dean & Britta: L'Avventura (2003, Jet Set): Originally credited to Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham, they played bass and guitar in Luna, both sang, got married in 2006, this the first of five albums through 2024 (plus three EPs and three soundtracks, plus more albums in Luna. She had been in a couple other bands before Luna, and she wrote two songs here (to Wareham's three). Best cuts have a touch of Go-Betweens. B+(**) [sp] Dean & Britta: Back Numbers (2007, Rounder): Second duo album, most songs co-written (plus covers from Donovan and the Troggs, among others), the vocals divided evenly, the songs so unassuming they slip past you a bit too readily. B+(*) [sp] Dean & Britta/Sonic Boom: A Peace of Us (2024, Carpark): "A holiday season bonanza of winter songs for modern times," which is to say this is mostly a Christmas album minus the crass commercialization: first side ends with "Stille Nacht," second side with "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." Sonic Boom is British producer Pete Kember, whose old groups were Spacemen 3 (1980s) and Spectrum (1990s), although more recently he's mostly been working with Panda Bear. B+(*) [sp] Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
Ask a question, or send a comment. Monday, April 21, 2025 Music Week
Music: Current count 44070 [44035) rated (+35), 24 [33] unrated (-9). I'm still in taking-it-easy mode, hoping that a few more days (or weeks or months) will aid in recovering from recent traumas -- I'm more optimistic about the eye surgery and the end of winter (although the last couple days have been pretty miserable) than about the world at large -- and give me time to plot a sensible path forward. I go to see the optometrist mid-week, which should give me a second opinion, some numbers, and possibly some answers on my eyes. My impression is mostly favorable. I watch TV and go on walks without glasses. I can drive either with or without -- probably a bit better without, but with is good enough I've kept using them. I can still read, not great but no worse than before. (I've never used glasses for reading, so one question is whether they'd make a difference now.) Computer work is still iffy, so I might need some correction just for that. Many things are brighter, and that can cause some strain. It's also a good excuse not to kick myself for not getting much writing or programming done. I did manage to publish a Loose Tabs on Thursday, and have added a couple items over the weekend, including a couple obituaries/remembrances of the late Francis Davis. I have a longstanding project to update and upgrade his Jazz Critics Poll website. That's on hold for the moment as we try to figure out what to do without him. Meanwhile, I've already collected a couple bits for the next Loose Tabs post. No regular schedule, but the outlet is there if I need it. I'm expecting this week to be super lightweight. Aside from the doctor, I have some house work scheduled, and some shopping planned. I found some interesting things in the demo queue this week, although the A- albums (except for Dean Wareham) barely made the lower reaches the A-list. Several misses were also quite close, probably hampered by limited plays, with one becoming the first HM I posted a link to on Bluesky. I'm up to 96 followers there. New records reviewed this week: Benefits: Constant Noise (2025, Invada): North English duo, ominous spoken word vocals with electropop beats. B+(**) [sp] Peter Brötzmann/Jason Adasiewicz/Steve Noble/John Edwards: The Quartet: Cafe Oto, London, February, 10 & 11, 2023 (2023 [2025], Otoroku): German saxophonist, one of the founders of the European avant-garde, recorded an enormous amount from 1967 up to his death, at 82, in June, 2023, a few months after this two-night, four set performance (140:28, available on 2-CD, with a 4-LP box and a 2-LP edit in the works), backed with vibes, drums, and bass. Hard to make fine distinctions among his work, but this seems like the sort of monumental capstone one can only imagine a career ending with. A- [bc] Anla Courtis Ja Lehtisalo: 1972 (2022-24 [2025], Full Connect): Duo, two long-established experimental guitarists (plus long list of other instruments), both born in 1972 ("an era when sound was an experiment"), the former in Argentina, the latter in Finland (first name Jussi; "ja" here seems to be Finnish for "and"). Some remarkable rough-hewn ambient for a world on edge. A- [bc] Christopher Dammann: Sextet (2024 [2025], Out of Your Head): Free jazz bassist from Chicago, first album, but has side-credits going back to 2014 (3.5.7 Ensemble, which I vaguely recall). Group here with trumpet (James Davis), two saxophonists (Jon Irabagon and Edward Wilkerson Jr), piano (Mabel Kwan), and drums (Scott Clark). Starts solid, stays solid, until the end when they almost break out. B+(***) [cd] John Dikeman/Sun-Mi Hong/Aaron Lumley/Marta Warelis: Old Adam on Turtle Island (2022 [2025], Relative Pitch): Dutch, or at least Amsterdam-based, improv group, respectively: sax, drums, bass, piano. B [bc] Trygve Fiske Sextet: The Flowers. The Dance. The Rumble and the Stumble. (2025, Slaraffensongs): Norwegian bassist, side credits from 2004, not clear how many (if any) he should be considered leader of (he's used Waldemar as middle name, and two albums are credited to Waldemar 4). This with Per Texas Johansson, Erik Kimestad Pedersen, Morten Qvenild, Oscar Gronberg, and Hans Hulbækmo. B+(**) [sp] Food House: Two House (2025, self-released): I've seen this co-credited to Gupi and Fraxiom, but as far as I can tell, they are Food House, not extra hangers on. Hyperpop, or bubblegum bass, or cartoon music sent schizophrenically awry. Not my thing, but probably more amusing than Skrillex. B [sp] GFOTY: Influenzer (2025, Girlfriend): British glitch-pop singer-songwriter Polly-Louisa Salmon, goes by acronym for GirlFriend of the Year, I heard (but didn't much like) a 2016 EP, which was followed by a 2019 mini-album and now two LPs. I don't get the attraction of glitchy hyperpop but I'm not totally lost here, or totally disinterested, but this could wear thin. B+(*) [sp] The Hemphill Stringtet: Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (2023 [2025], Out of Your Head): Hemphill (1938-95) was an alto saxophonist, but also notable as a composer, arranger, and organizer -- a co-founder of the Black Artist Group (BAG) in St. Louis, and later of the World Saxophone Quartet, where he was de facto leader even if others, like David Murray, were better known. Some of his early recordings were duos with Abdul Wadud on cello, so the notion of forming a string quartet to play his music must have seemed natural. Two violins (Curtis Stewart and Sam Bardfeld), viola (Stephanie Griffin), and cello (Tomeka Reid). Although the notes say "all music by Julius Hemphill," a big chunk of it was originally composed by Mingus, and more was improvised. B+(***) [cd] Jacob Felix Heule/Teté Leguía/Sanishta Rivero/Martín Escalante: An Inscrutable Bodily Discomforting Thing (2021 [2025], Kettle Hole): Percussionist, from Oakland, ten or so albums since 2004, mostly collaborations, Bill Orcutt is about as famous as they get, and another 30 or so side credits. The others play: bass, voice/electronics, sax. One 40:11 piece which gets uncomfortably noisy but then backs off a bit and haves fun with the mess. B+(***) [cd] Homeboy Sandman & Illingsworth: Dancing Tree (2025, self-released, EP): Four tracks, 13:58. "Money don't make you rich." "You can only learn from experience/ so be curious." "Who wants to sit here and think that we can do something? It's fun to just blame somebody else." B+(***) [bc] Homeboy Sandman & Yeyts.: Corn Hole Legend (2025, self-released, EP): Five tracks, 10:14. Nice song about Thanksgiving. B+(*) [bc] Eunhye Jeong/Michael Bisio Duo: Morning Bells Whistle Bright (2023 [2025], ESP-Disk): Piano and bass duo, with one solo track each, but also joined for four tracks (three in the middle, plus the closer) by Joe McPhee (tenor sax) and Jay Rosen (drums). In some ways this seems slight, but every detail signifies. A- [cd] Ingrid Laubrock: Purposing the Air (2022-24 [2025], Pyroclastic, 2CD): German saxophonist, based in New York, many albums since 1998, none like this one, where she composed music for the poetry of Erica Hunt, each set performed by a vocal-instrument duo: Fay Victor and Mariel Roberts (cello), Sara Serpa and Matt Mitchell (piano), Theo Bleckmann and Ben Monder (guitar), and Rachel Calloway and Ari Streisfeld (violin). No saxophone that I noticed, although I have little patience for this style of art song. B- [cd] Will Mason Quartet: Hemlocks, Peacocks (2024 [2025], New Focus): Drummer, lives in Rhode Island, side credits since 2009, at least one previous album as leader, this a quartet with Anna Webber (tenor sax), Daniel Fisher-Lochhead (alto sax), and deVon Russell Gray (keyboards), on a multi-movement composition inspired by LaMonte Young. B+(**) [bc] Joe McPhee & Paal Nilssen-Love: I Love Noise (2022 [2024], PNL): Spoken word intro: "I love noise, because it can be organized into music"; "I think my love of noise is always in the process of becoming." Such generalizations evolve into a sermon on jazz history, touching on Coltrane and Ayler, with drum accents, until McPhee ultimately (19 minutes in) lets his tenor sax take over. B+(***) [bc] Paal Nilssen-Love Circus With the Ex Guitars: Turn Thy Loose (2024 [2025], PNL): Norwegian drummer from the Thing and many other groups, premiered this septet in a 2021 recording, replacing his guitarist with not just Andy Moor and Terrie Hessells -- who recorded as "the Ex Guitars" in Lean Left with Ken Vandermark-- but also Arnold de Boer, all of the Dutch postpunk group the Ex. The vocals (Juliana Venter, also de Boer) don't bother me here, and may even be a plus, but the pauses and quiet spots seem like a waste, especially compared to what they can do at full blast. B+(***) [bc] Adam O'Farrill: For These Steets (2022 [2025], Out of Your Head): Trumpet player, father and grandfather were famous Cuban musicians, which he also knows a thing or two about, but he's more likely to hang out with free jazz types, collecting here a pretty stellar octet: Mary Halvorson (guitar), Patricia Brennan (vibes), David Leon (alto sax/flute), Kevin Sun (tenor sax/clarinet), Kalun Laung (trombone/euphonium), Tyrone Allen II (bass), and Tomas Fujiwara (drums). I'm struggling, as my instinct says this is too fancy, but the only thing that might keep this from becoming one of the year's top-rated albums is that it's on a tiny label few have heard of. (Note that Brennan and Halvorson have won two of the last three FDJC Polls.) A- [cd] Samo Salamon & Ra Kalam Bob Moses Orchestra: Dream Suites Vol. 1 (2023 [2025], Samo): Guitarist and percussionist wrote three long pieces (24:46, 13:38, 17:12) for large ensembles of 19, 16. and 18, total 27 musicians, nearly all familiar names, which add marks of individuality to the collective reverie. A- [cd] Jaysun Silver: No Excuses (2025, self-released): Punkish, lo-fi, first album after an EP, 10 short songs in 19:07, has a sense of humor (Bandcamp page says "Brooklyn's best musician" and uses tags "amazing, classic, masterpiece"). B+(*) [bc] Skrillex: Fuck U Skrillex U Think Ur Andy Warhol but Ur Not!! <3 (2025, Atlantic/Owsla): Electronica producer Sonny Moore, from Los Angeles, gained a measure of fame for a series of 2011-14 albums, then nothing until a pair in 2023 and now this, which I am assured is "continuously engaging and hilariously silly" -- traits I didn't come remotely close to being able to confirm. B- [sp] The Third Mind: Live Mind (2024 [2025], Yep Roc): Roots rock band, best known members are Dave Alvin (from Blasters, with a long solo career) and Victor KRummenacher (from Camper van Beethoven), with vocals by Jesse Sykes, who fronted the Sweet Thereafter for several 2003-11 albums. B+(**) [sp] The Tubs: Cotton Crown (2025, Trouble in Mind): Welsh indie band, Owen Williams is singer-guitarist, second album. Some jangle. B+(*) [sp] Mathilde Grooss Viddal/Friensemblet: Tri Vendur Blés Ho I Den Høgaste Sky (2025, Losen): Norwegian saxophonist, has a half-dozen albums since 2006, leads a ten-piece group through a set of pieces based on folk themes, where the folksingers (for better or worse) seem to have the upper hand. B+(*) [sp] Dean Wareham: That's the Price of Loving Me (2025, Carpark): Singer-songwriter, originally from New Zealand, moved to New York as a teenager, founded the bands Galaxie 500 (1988-90) and Luna (1992-2006 & 2017, overlapping several albums as Dean & Britta)), with solo albums since 2013, this his fourth, produced by the mononymous Kramer in a sonic nod to Galaxie 500. Actually reminded me more of the Go-Betweens, but calmer and in its own way weirder. The song in German is another plus for me, even before I identified it as a Nico cover. A- [sp] Christian Winther: Sculptures From Under the City Ice (2025, Earthly Habit): Norwegian singer-songwriter, plays guitar, has a couple of previous albums. Group includes a jazz drummer I recognize, and the album eventually skews that direction, although I also wound up thinking of Arto Lindsay's skronk. B+(**) [sp] Wolf Eyes: Wolf Eyes X Anthony Braxton (2025, ESP-Disk): The former is an electronic music duo from Detroit, Nate Young (electronics, vocals, harmonica) and John Olson (pipes, electronics) that has an insane number of albums since 1998 (Discogs says 130). The saxophonist you most likely know has even more albums, going back to 1968. I'm on record as hating his 1971 solo album, For Alto, but acknowledge that among the few people who can stand such harsh horror are huge fans -- it garnered a rare Penguin Guide Crown. This is every bit as ugly, and possibly as remarkable. B+(*) [cd] Y: Y (2025, Hideous Mink, EP): English group, first release, 4 songs, 13:30, vocals recall Lydia Lunch, maybe because rhythm touches on New York no wave, goosed with sax riffs. B+(*) [sp] James Zito: Zito's Jump (2024 [2025], self-released): Guitarist, based in New York, seems to be his first album -- Discogs led me to a trumpet player of that name, 1923-2014, who played in many big bands, from Tommy Dorsey to Gerald Wilson -- a mainstream quintet with Chris Lewis (tenor sax/flute), Luther Allison (piano), Rodney Whitaker (bass), and Joe Farnsworth (drums). Mostly originals, but they liked "After You've Gone" enough to include it twice. B+(*) [cd] Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: Peter Brötzmann Trio: Hurricane (2015 [2025], Old Heaven Books): As with Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, I expect that the late German saxophonist's posthumous oeuvre will eventually match, in quantity if not in quality, what he released during his lifetime -- in his case a relatively long one. This was recorded at a festival in Shenzhen, with Sabu Toyozumi on drums and Jason Adasiewicz on vibraphone, for a bit of tinkle that first struck me as an oriental touch, but adds its own dimension. As for the title, this barely reaches Category 1 intensity, which is the way I prefer him. B+(***) [bc] Charles Mingus: Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977 [2025], Resonance, 2CD): A tremendous bassist from the start, his genius period as a composer ran from roughly 1956-64, although he got a second wind in the early 1970s with a new quartet that went independent under the joint leadership of George Adams and Don Pullen. His health soon deteriorated, and he died in 1979 (age 56), so anything from his last few years doesn't come with great expectations. I found this one unsettling at first, but flashes of brilliance kept surfacing, most from compositions that undoubtedly have been done better elsewhere, but he had an uncanny knack for breathing fresh life into everything he touched. And for making small groups -- this one especially notable for Jack Walrath (trumpet) and Ricky Ford (tenor sax). Also, he closes both sets with his own solo piano. A- [cd] Charles Mingus: Reincarnations (1960 [2024], Candid): The bassist, coming off a peak year that included Blues and Roots on Atlantic and Mingus Ah Um on Columbia recorded three albums for Nat Hentoff's label in 1960 -- two nearly as good as his masterpieces, plus a third set of scraps. After the revived label reissued the catalog, they found more scraps, which they fashioned into Incarnations, and more scraps here: five tracks, 48:30, with various musicians, notably Eric Dolphy (3 tracks, on flute, bass clarinet, and alto sax), and Roy Eldridge (2 tracks, on trumpet). B+(**) [sp] Spectacular Diagnostics: Raw Game [Ten Year Edition] (2015 [2025], Vinyl Digital): Chicago hip-hop producer Robert Krums, reissue of first album, twelve tracks with nearly as many guest rappers (including Jeremiah Jae, Quelle Chris, Vic Spencer, Westwide Gunn & Conway the Machine). B+(***) Old music: Charles Mingus/Max Roach/Eric Dolphy/Roy Eldridge/Jo Jones [Jazz Artists Guild]: Newport Rebels (1961 [2024], Candid): Hard to parse this album cover, as the title could be the group name or vice versa, or either could be "Jazz Artists Guild," but the names are too big to ignore -- although Jones is the only one to play on all five tracks, and other notables show up on the roster here and there, including Booker Little, Kenny Dorham, Benny Bailey, Jimmy Knepper, Tommy Flanagan, Abbey Lincoln, and a couple lesser-knowns (like Peck Morrison on bass, twice), but I don't see where Roach plays. B+(***) [sp] Charles Mingus: Charles Mingus and the Newport Rebels (1960 [2010], Candid): Another compilation from the same sessions, but of six songs, only one appeared on Newport Rebels, and while the cast of characters is similar (Dolphy, Eldridge, Flanagan, Knepper, Jones, and Richmond appear here), some new names also slip in (from the cover: Ted Cuson, Booker Ervin, Paul Bley). B+(**) [sp] Charles Mingus: The Complete Town Hall Concert (1962 [1994], Blue Note): This was reportedly a "live workshop" of music meant to be recorded later, including two parts of a two-hour composition ("Epitaph") that was ultimately recorded by Gunther Schuller in 1989. But when United Artists released 36 minutes of this in 1962, it was widely deemed a disaster, with this later 68-minute CD merely aimed "to clean up the mess." A very big band: 7 trumpets, 6 trombones, 10 reeds (including an oboe), 2 pianists (Jaki Byard and Toshiko Akiyoshi), 2 bassists (Mingus plus Milt Hinton), Dannie Richmond on drums (but with extra percussionists), just one guitar (Les Spann). B+(*) [sp] Phew: Phew (1981, Pass): Japanese singer Hiromi Moritani, started in post-punk group Aunt Sally, recorded this first album with members of Can (Conny Plank, Holger Czukay, Jaki Liebezeit), kept the name as an alias for more albums after 1987, including work with Anton Fier, Bill Laswell, Jim O'Rourke, and members of Raincoats, Boredoms, and Einstürzende Neubauten. This is very much part of the moment when bands like Cabaret Voltaire were being formed. Probably someone to study further. B+(***) [sp] Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
Ask a question, or send a comment. Thursday, April 17, 2025 Loose TabsI wound up spending much of today processing and responding to the news that Francis Davis has died. Nate Chinen's piece, cited below, is beautifully written and covers much of what needs to be said. I will probably write more over the next couple weeks, but at the moment, I'm having trouble composing myself. I do much appreciate the notes I've seen so far, and will go back over them in due course. One side effect of this is that I took a good look at obituaries so far this year, and came up with the fairly long list below. The biggest surprise for me was another notable jazz critic, Larry Appelbaum, who has voted in every Jazz Critics Poll since its inception, so I counted him as another old and dear friend. As these occasional posts are never really done, their timing is pretty arbitrary. But I figured I had enough saved up, and might as well call it a day. (Well, it slipped a day, so I wound up adding a few things, but nothing major.) PS: I updated the section on Francis Davis below, as the New York Times proved better late than never. I've added a sidebar link to Loose Tabs, which should make it easier for me to start each one of these with some line like "it's been 11 days since my last confession." I have a draft file to collect items until next next time. While it will be updated whenever I bother to update the website, but there's no real reason to not to make the link public. (There is also one for books.) One piece I want to go ahead and share here is:
Select internal links:
Eric Levitz: [01-10] Have the past 10 years of Democratic politics been a disaster? "A conversation with Matthew Yglesias." I found this tab open from back in January, but never really got through it, and still haven't. At some point, I want to go back over all of Levitz's "Rebuild" pieces, as I think they're about half right, and the wrong half is probably the more interesting, at least to write about. Given the interviewee, this one is probably more than half wrong. Yglesias is a very smart, very productive guy who has from the very beginning always been one step ahead of where internet punditry is going. I read all of his Vox stuff with great interest, most of what came before, but not a lot of what came after. He's always had a good feel for where the neoliberal money was going, and with his Substack newsletter, his Bloomberg columns, and his hyper-Friedmanesque One Billion Americans book, he's clearly arrived as an oracle for the cosmopolitan liberal set. Still, in glomming onto his own special donor class, he's kind of lost touch with everyone else. His prescription that what Democrats need is to give up on the left gestures of Hillary-Biden-Harris and return to solid Obama moderation is incredible on every front. David Klion: [03-10] The Loyalist: "The cruel world according to Stephen Miller." Review of Jean Guerrero's book, Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda. Jeremy R Hammond: [03-27] How Trump Greenlighted the Resumption of Israel's Gaza Genocide. David A Graham: [04-01] The Top Goal of Project 2025 Is Still to Come: "The now-famous white paper has proved to be a good road map for what the administration has done so far, and what may yet be on the way." Note that Graham has a 160 pp. book on this coming out April 22: The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America. Hamilton Nolan: [04-01] Divergence From the Interests of Capital: "Trump will ultimately make rich people poorer. Why?" This is a fairly quick overview, and he didn't even get to some big things, like climate change. Just who do you think owns all that beach front property that's going to get liquidated? Who needs to be able to afford disaster insurance? What about capital investments in in things like agriculture that will have to move as climates shift? And then, when it all goes to hell, whose heads will be on the line when the mob rises up? Since Clinton, Democrats have been telling their rich donors that they're better off with Democrats in power, and they have at least 30 years of data to prove their point. But are the rich listening? Some, but most still prefer the Republicans, because by degrading and humiliating the poor, they make the rich feel more important, more powerful, richer. Batya Unger-Sargon: [04-02] I Used to Hate Trump. Now I'm a MAGA Lefty. "The president is giving the working class its best shot at the American Dream in 60 years. That's why I support him." That's all I could read before hitting the paywall -- looks like "TheFreePress" isn't free after all.Author "appears regularly on Fox News," and has published two books: Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy (2021), and Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women (2024), both on right-wing Encounter Books. For more of her spiel, look here. If you want to take this more seriously than it deserves: Kyle Kulinski/Nathan J Robinson: [03-25] 'MAGA Lefty' Is Not a Thing. Ben Ehrenreich: [04-03] You Don't Get Trump Without Gaza: "Fascism doesn't just appear. It must be invited in -- and the bipartisan repression of the anti-genocide movement did just that." This is a brilliant piece, setting up its main argument with a recap of Brecht's Arturi Ui, about the improbable rise of a Trump-like -- sure, he was thinking of Hitler, but he hadn't seen Trump yet -- to take over Chicago gangland's "Cauliflower Trust":
Much more quotable here, including "The Atlantic, the thinking man's propaganda organ for the exterminatory wars of empire." I don't recall reading that particular Brecht play, but I've read many, and recognize the title. In my relative ignorance, I've been thinking of Trump more in terms of Ubu Roi, but farce, no matter how grotesque, can only last in an environment deprived of power. Ofer Aderet: [04-04] Looking Back, Israeli Historian Tom Segev Thinks Zionism Was a Mistake: "For decades, historian Tom Segev has critically documented momentous events involving Jews, Israel and its neighbors. Recently, he has also looked back at his own life story. Now, at 80, he weighs in on the current state of the nation." Yair Rosenberg: [04-04] Trump's Jewish Cover Story: "The Trump administration has not surgically targeted these failings at America's universities for rectification; it has exploited them to justify the institution's decimation." I have no doubt that most Jews in America -- perhaps even most of those who wholeheartedly defend Israel's decimation of Gaza -- feel uneasy about being used as the pretext for Trump's wholesale attack on freedom of speech at elite universities, but the author doesn't just say that, he repeats blatant slanders -- e.g., "those behind Columbia's encampment repeatedly cheered Hamas's murders of civilians" -- against students whose "crime" was nothing more or less than protesting against Netanyahu's continuing systematic crimes against humanity in Gaza, and the unconditional support Biden provided (a policy which Trump has continued, as he had promised to do). Rob Lee: [04-06] We Still Live in Nixonland: An Interview with Rick Perlstein. Some interesting notes on his writing process, although it's hard to imagine the massive notes his actual books are reduced from. Still no date on the much-promised leap into the "last 25 years" (Bush II to Trump, skipping Reagan's presidency, Bush I, and the anti-Clinton insanity, which could easily fill several volumes). Spencer Ackerman: [04-07] El Salvador and the Dark Lessons of Guantanamo: "CECOT, the Salvadoran slavery-prison now used for migrant renditions, reflects 2002-4-era Gitmo -- with some updates." John Ganz: [04-07] Dog Eat Dog: "The books of Donald Trump." One of those "I read this shit so you don't have to," in case you ever felt the need. Also: DD Guttenplan/John Ganz: [04-21] John Ganz on the Books of Donald Trump: Podcast audio (no transcript). Andrew Cockburn: [04-07] The fix is in for new Air Force F-47 -- and so is the failure: "Just wait for the unstoppable lobby preventing any future effort to strangle this boondoggle in the cradle." Paul Krugman:
Richard Silverstein: [04-08] Why the world should boycott Trump's America. I understand the sentiment, but I'm not sure the logic works. Boycotts are more likely to cause self-harm than to intimidate their targets, especially ones that pile arrogance on top of a sense of victimhood. Israel is the prime example here, but the US shares both traits, plus two more novel factors: massive size, which would take an incredibly huge boycott to move, and heterogeneity (for lack of a better word), which makes it hard to focus pain on the people actually responsible for the offense. No nation is democratic enough that inflicting pain on its poor will have any real effect on its leaders. Boycotts and sanctions are more likely to rally support for the rulers, while marginalizing internal opposition, and squandering any influence and leverage you might actually have. The cases where such tactics have actually worked are few and far between. About the only thing that can be said for them is that they give one the satisfaction (or moral smugness) of doing something where there are no practical alternatives. On the other hand, if one actually does have leverage -- as, say, Japan does in hosting US bases, or the US does in supplying Israel arms -- wouldn't it be much better to use that leverage to mitigate bad behavior than to strike a mere public stance of moral merit?
Vanesse Ague: [04-09] Big Ears Festival 2025 Reminds Us to Open Ourselves to Wild and Wonderful Sounds. TJ Dawe: [04-09] I Didn't Think Things Would Get This Chaotic When We Elected President Donkey Kong: I'm not sure whether the quality of thinking declined dramatically in 2024 or was never really there in the first place. It could just be that we were lulled into complacency, knowing that even "the most powerful person in the world" wouldn't possibly be allowed to disrupt, much less destroy, business as usual. After all, we had "checks and balances" -- not just a Constitution designed to obstruct change, but a system of campaign finance and lobbying to make sure no reform got too radical. After all, the system had proven robust enough to contain Trump in his first term. Why not let the people have some fun with the illusory power of their votes?
Some of this I can explain through a model that I've long had about how the presidency operates. At first, the job seems overwhelming, so an incoming president is effectively a prisoner of his staff. Sure, they're supposed to be his staff, but they immediately become independent agents, able to limit and filter his choices, and each new person they get him to pick further limits his options. I could give you examples from any presidency since FDR (who, for reasons we don't need to go into here, was a rather different case from another era), but Trump I offers by far the most ludicrous examples, starting with Reince Priebus and the so-called "adults" -- at least they were able to derail some of Trump's more outrageous whims, like H-bombing hurricanes, or "solving" the pandemic by no longer counting deaths. Still, over time, presidents reclaim the power of the office, which in principle they had all along. They tune out tasks they can delegate, and start to press for their own way on matters they care about. Even the most devious staff remind them they're in control, and they can replace anyone who doesn't suit them. Where most presidents start with administrations of old party regulars, they gradually wind up with personality cults. Clinton and Obama offer good examples of this -- which is probably why their personal successes correlate with partisan ruin -- but they at least valued competency. Trump demands even more sycophancy, but with him it's untethered to reality. Trump may be some kind of genius at political messaging -- at least in the Fox universe -- but that's all he knows and/or cares about. This model usually works smoothly through a second term, but before that ends, the president has turned into a lame duck, and often not just metaphorically, dulling the ego inflation. Some presidents (like Wilson, Eisenhower, and less dramatically Reagan) are further slowed by health issues. But Trump, at least for the moment, is supercharged. His four years out of office have given him all the publicity he had as president but saddled him with none of the responsibility for the many things he would have screwed up. It also gave Republicans time to sort themselves out so Trump has been able to start his second term with a full slate of fanatic followers and enables. This is a combination we've never seen before, and hardly anyone is prepared for what's coming. Donkey Kong is a fanciful metaphor for what's happening. It only seems funny because we know it's not real. But it's hard to come up with anything more real that more accurately reflects the depth of thought that Trump is putting in, because nothing like this has ever worked before. Melissa Gira Grant: [04-10] The sickening Reason Trump's Team Treats ICE Raids Like Reality TV: "This isn't only about entertainment for sadists. Kristi Noem's right-wing content creation allows the administration to terrorize more people than then can logistically deport." The one thing you can be sure of with Trump is that if he/they do something that looks bad, that's because they want it to look bad. Thinking through implications and consequences is way beyond them, but they live and breathe for gut reactions. Timothy Noah: [04-10] The Sick Psychology Behind Trump's Tariff Chaos: "This isn't trade strategy. It's Munchausen syndrome by proxy." Clever, but groping for reasoning where little exists. Eric Levitz: [04-10] The problem with the "progressive" case for tariffs: "Democrats shouldn't echo Trump's myths about trade." I've been somewhat inclined to humor Trump on the tariff question, not because I thought he had a clue what he was doing, or cared about anything more than throwing his presidential weight around, but because I've generally seen trade losses as bad for workers, and because I've never trusted the kneejerk free trade biases of economists. The one caution I always sounded was that tariffs only make sense if you have a national economic plan designed to take advantage of the specific tariffs. That sort of thing has been done most successfully in East Asia, but Americans tend to hate the idea of economic planning (except in the war industry), so there is little chance of doing that here. (Biden's use of tariffs to support clean energy development, semiconductors, etc., tried to do just that. How successfully, I don't know, but they were sane programs. Trump's is not.) Nonetheless, Levitz has largely convinced me, first that tariffs are a bad tool, and second that they are bad politics. If I had to write a big piece, I'd probably explain it all differently, but our conclusions would converge. There are other tools which get you to the ends desired much more directly. As for the politics, it really doesn't pay to humor people like Trump. We went through a whole round of this in the 1980s and 1990s when conservatives were all hepped up on markets, and Democrats thought, hey, we can work with that. Indeed, they could -- markets tend to level out, making choices more competitive and efficient, so it was easy to come up with policies based on market mechanisms, like carbon credit trading, or the ACA. Several problems there: one is that real businesses hate free markets, which is why they do everything possible to rig them, and dismantling their cheats is even harder once you agree to the market principle in the first place; second is that it shifts focus from deliberate public interest planning, where you can simply decide to do whatever it is you want to do, and the "invisible hand," which turns out to require a lot of greasing of palms; third is that when you implement market-based reforms, folks credit the market and not the reformers, so you don't build up any political capital for fixing problems. Obama got blamed for every little hiccup in ACA, most of which were the result of private companies gaming the system, and got none for delivering better health care while saving us billions of dollars, which the program actually did do. One of the points I should have worked in above is that Trump's tariffs are not going to produce "good manufacturing jobs." Even if he does manage to generate more domestic manufacturing, it will only be in highly automated plants with minimally skilled workers, who will have little if any union leverage. And even that is only likely to happen after the companies have shaken down government at all levels for tax breaks and subsidies, along with the promise of continuing tariffs to keep their captive market from becoming uncompetitive. I should also note that the main problem with the trade deals that Clinton and Obama negotiated had nothing to do with reducing tariffs. The real problem was that they were designed to facilitate capital outflows, so American finance capital (much of which, by the 1990s, was coming back from abroad) could globalize and protect their business interests from regulation by other countries, while ensuring that other countries would have to pay patent and copyright tribute to IP owners. The result was a vast expansion of inequality not just in the US but everywhere. On the other hand, if what we wanted to do was to reduce inequality and improve standards of living everywhere, a good way to start would be by negotiating a very different kind of trade deal, as Stiglitz has pointed out in books like Globalization and Its Discontents (2002), Fair Trade for All: How Trade Can Promote Development (2006), and Making Globalization Work (2006). Sasha Abramsky: [04-11] America Is Now One Giant Milgram Experiment: Back in the 1960s, Stanley Milgram "sought to understand whether ordinary Americans could be convinced to inflict pain on strangers -- in the parameters of the experiment, escalating electric shocks -- simply because a person in authority ordered them to do so." He found that they could, would, and did, which is to say they'd be as willing to follow Nazi leaders as "the Good Germans" under Hitler. This is one more facet of why the Trump/Fascism analogies continue to haunt us. Sure, Hitler was sui generis, but the history of his and others' fascist regimes has many parallels with right-wing reactionaries here and now. Liza Featherstone: [04-11] Why Billionaire Trumpers Love This Dire Wolf Rubbish: "No, dire wolves are not 'back.' But pretending they can be brought back is a good excuse to gut regulations that protect real endangered species."
Cory Doctorow: [04-11] The IP Laws That Stop Disenshittification: I trust I'm not alone in not being able to parse that title. The main subject is anticircumvention laws, which are extensions to IP laws (patents, trademarks, copyrights, etc.) which prevent you not only from copying and/or reselling products, they also aim to keep you from figuring out how they work, especially so you can repair them. Personally, I'd go even further, and tear down the entire IP edifice. But laws that force you to serve the business interests of monopolists are especially vile, on the level of slavery. Melody Schreiber: [04-11] Measles Is Spreading, and RFK Jr. Is Praising Quacks: "For every semi-endorsement of vaccines, the Health and Human Services secretary seems to add several more nonsensical statements to muddy the waters." Alan MacLeod: [04-11] With Yemen Attack, US Continues Long History of Deliberately Bombing Hospitals. The history lesson goes back to "Clinton's war on hospitals," and on into Latin America. Other articles found in this vicinity, by MacLeod and others:
Jeffrey St Clair: [04-11] Roaming Charges: Who Shot the Tariffs? Short answer to his question is: the bond market. Wasn't that the same excuse Clinton gave for his lurch to the right after winning in 1992? (Although he has a long quote showing that Clinton's "lurch" was lubricated by Wall Street money at least a year earlier.) One quote: "Trump's really emphasizing the poor in Standard and Poor's, as if he wants to make Poor the new Standard." Another: "Those MAGA people are going to be so broke after Trump's tariffs start to bite they'll have to rent the libs instead of owning them." Also:
Dean Baker: [04-13] The Trump Plan: Unchecked Power to Total Jerks: Of many posts worth reading this week, we'll start with the highest-level, most self-evident title. Also see, all by Baker:
George Monbiot: [04-13] Rightwing populists will keep winning until we grasp this truth about human nature: And which truth is that? He blames economic inequality, and I have no doubt that's the underappreciated problem, but what is the mechanism by which impoverished people gravitate toward demagogues who will only make them poorer and more miserable? Garrett Graff: [04-15] Has America Reached the End of the Road? "Donald Trump has forced the one crisis that will tell us who we are." Author calls his blog Doomsday Scenario. (Graff's book Raven Rock was about Cold War plans to preserve essential elements of government in the event of nuclear war.) I'm afraid I'm a bit jaundiced regarding posts like this: I've been watching the train wreck of American democracy at least since the mid-1960s, so I tend to be a bit impatient with people who only think to scream right now. Many similar posts on the site, if you still need to catch up (and yes, it's serious this time, not that it ever wasn't). I was steered to this one by No More Mister Nice Blog, which continues as one of the best blogs anywhere:
Ed Kilgore:
Nia Prater: [04-16] The Trump Administration Starts Targeting Democrats for Prosecution: First up, NY Attorney General Letitia James. Nate Chinen: [04-16] Francis Davis, a figurehead of jazz criticism, has died. This is a very substantial review of the eminent jazz critic's life and work, published before I could even compose myself to post a brief notice on the Jazz Critics Poll website. I will try to write something more in due course, but start here. A couple more obituaries for Davis:
As I collect more of these, I'll add them to the notice here. At some point, I'll add a few words of my own, and find them a more permanent home. Obituaries: [04-16] Back when I was doing this weekly, I wound up having enough notable obituaries to have a regular section. Since I stopped -- not just writing but reading newspapers -- I've been blissfully ignorant of lots of things I had previously tracked (not least the NBA season; I only looked up who was playing in the Super Bowl the day before, when my wife anounced her intention to watch it). However, I did finally take a look at the New York Times Obituary page today. I only decided to collect a list here after I ran across a surprise name that I felt I had to mention (long-time jazz critic Larry Appelbaum; I started the search looking for Francis Davis, whose obituary wasn't available, but should be soon). So I've gone back and combed through the page to compile a select list (or two, or three). The first just picks out people I know about, but who (in general) weren't so famous that I knew they had died. The second are more people I wasn't aware of, but possibly should have been, so I can partially compensate by bringing them to your attention. Finally, the third is just a checklist of names I did recognize but didn't include in the first two.
Second list (names I wasn't aware of but who seemed especially noteworthy):
Finally, other names I recognize (no links, but easy enough to look up; * don't have NYT obituaries but noted in Wikipedia and/or Jazz Passings), grouped roughly by categories: Actors/Movies: Richard Chamberlain, Gene Hackman, Val Kilmer, David Lynch, Joan Plowright, Tony Roberts; Music: Eddie Adcock, Susan Alcorn, Roy Ayers, Dave Bargeron, Clem Burke, Jerry Butler, Marianne Faithfull, Roberta Flack, George Freeman*, Irv Gotti, Bunky Green*, Garth Hudson, David Johansen, Gwen McRae, Melba Montgomery, Sam Moore, Mike Ratledge*, Howard Riley*, Angie Stone, D'Wayne Wiggins, Brenton Wood*, Peter Yarrow, Jesse Colin Young; Politics: Richard L Armitage, David Boren, Kitty Dukakis, Raul M Grijalva, J Bennett Johnston, Jean-Marie Le Pen, Alan K Simpson; Sports: George Foreman, Lenny Randle, Boris Spassky, Jeff Torborg, Bob Uecker, Bob Veale, Fay Vincent, Gus Williams; Writers (Fiction): Barry Michael Cooper, Jennifer Johnston, Mario Vargas Llosa, Tom Robbins, Joseph Wambaugh; Writers (Non-Fiction): Edward Countryman, Jesse Kornbluth, David Schneiderman. Saree Makdisi: [04-17] Trump's War on the Palestine Movement Is Something Entirely New: "Never before has a government repressed its citizens' free speech and academic freedom so brutally in order to protect an entirely different country." The "different country" bit might be right, but one could counter that under Miriam Adelson they're just separate fronts for the same trust. But everything else we've seen as bad or worse in the post-WWI and post-WWII red scares, including the use of deportation and travel bans. What is most useful here is the reminder that pro-Zionists have been compiling lists and pressing academic institutions to cancel critics of Israel for a long time now. Current count: 134 links, 7428 words (9320 total) Ask a question, or send a comment. Monday, April 14, 2025 Music Week
Music: Current count 44035 [44005) rated (+30), 33 [26] unrated (+7). I had my second cataract surgery on Tuesday. When I took the tape off that evening, it was bright and blurry, but less dramatically so than after the first eye. I had some bruising below the eye, but it seemed minor. I was more struck by how creepy the loose, aged skin of the eyelids seemed. What I had feared was the the if the right eye recovery was as slow as the left seemed, I could have diminished vision for a few weeks. (It had been about a month now, and the left eye was still blurry, although the amount of light passing through the lens was more, and bluer.) But the blurriness in the right eye cleared up right away that morning. When I went to see the doctor, he not only cleared me to drive, but told me I could drive without glasses. I drove home with glasses, deeming them close enough to what I was used to, but I've since stopped using them for walks and TV. I haven't done much driving since, but haven't had any problems. I have an appointment to see my regular optometrist a couple weeks out, so I expect we'll get some better measurements then. The biggest question is what, if anything, the expensive toric lens in the left eye has done. It was supposed to correct for significant astigmatism -- which the right eye had very little of, so we went with the standard lens there. The expectation is that I will need glasses for reading, although in the past I've never used them. (I didn't need them at first; while my bifocals help a little, it usually suffices to hold the book a bit closer.) I've been reading OK, both with and without glasses, all through this period. What seems more likely is that I'll want glasses for the computer screen -- a focal distance of about 30 inches (I would have guessed less, but just measured it). I seem to be having more trouble with computer work this week (or month) -- although there could be other factors at work, including psychological ones. I'm going through a period where I have very little inspiration to do much of anything, or even to assign any blame for my sloth. Speaking of which, this week's haul is down a fair amount from the last couple weeks, although 30 albums has long been my definition of a solid week's work. Most of the A-list came late in the week, thanks to Robert Christgau's Consumer Guide. Two of those records got lower grades at first, raised more on reflection than on further listening. [PS: Also upgraded: The Delines.] I should also mention Dan Weiss' RiotRiot Report, which I haven't really worked my way through yet -- but I'm pleased to see the Ex and YHWH Nailgun (and Mekons, rated much higher here), and probably need the extra encouragement to get to Skrillex. I perhaps should note an unusual degree of ambivalence about this week's grades. I could just as easily have upgraded the Art Pepper and/or the Kenny Dorham live set. Instead of giving the latter a third play, I went into his back catalog, and didn't so much get diminishing returns as flagging interest. Same thing for Birchall: pick any one of his albums and it's likely to sound fabulous, but play five in a row and they all start to sound the same. I know Pepper well enough to hedge my bets. I hardly know Diblo Dibala at all. While I have very little real work to show for last week, I did manage to go back and fill out my long-neglected Streamnotes: Year 2024 Index, from which I had skipped the last four months. I still haven't done any for 2025 yet (other than to create the empty file). I've almost always done these on the same day I opened a new monthly file, but as they take 2-3 hours each, I started putting them off. While the indexes may not be of much use to readers, they help me find old reviews (avoiding inadvertent re-reviews, or at least helping with re-grading; I've already found several records I reviewed for a second time). I'd promise to catch up this week, but this is one of those computer tasks that I'm having eye trouble with. No plans for the upcoming week. Good chance I will publish a "Loose Tabs" later in the week. I've collected a few items for it, and they don't have a lot of shelf life. Unlikely I'll do a books post this week, although I would like to get back to it. More useful would be to get to my planning documents, especially the one for household tasks. New records reviewed this week: MC Paul Barman: Tectonic Texts (2025, Househusband): Rapper, still remembered for his wit and wordplay in 2000-02 albums (first, It's Very Stimulating, a 18:01 EP). Words still dance, even if a bit herky-jerk, or maybe that's the beats? B+(***) [sp] Basic: Dream City (2025, No Quarter, EP): Trio led by guitarist Chris Forsyth, whose records date back to 1998, and percussionist Mikel Patrick Avery, released a group album in 2024 (This Is Basic), follow that up here with a 3-cut, 26:48 EP with new bassist Douglas McCombs. B+(*) [sp] Nat Birchall Unity Ensemble: New World (2023 [2024], Ancient Archive of Sound): British tenor saxophonist, has a 1999 debut but picked up the pace around 2010, "a Coltrane devotee of the highest order," never more so than in this explicit tribute, his core group a quartet plus extra percussion, on this occasion joined by Alan Skidmore (tenor sax) and Mark Wastell (percussion). B+(***) [bc] Nat Birchall: Dimensions of the Drums: Roots Reggae Instrumentals (2024, Ancient Archive of Sound): Another facet of the British saxophonist's work, assembling these mild-to-sublime rhythm tracks single-handedly. B+(***) [sp] Corook: Committed to a Bit (2025, Atlantic): Singer-songwriter, started lo-fi c. 2021 that hardly matters here. Trans, which figures into subject matter too much not to mention, especially as the point seems to be to uncover common humanity without (or even with?) the distractions of gender. A- [sp] Silke Eberhard Trio: Being-a-Ning (2024 [2025], Intakt): Alto saxophonist, trio with Jan Roder (bass) and Kay Lübke (drums). Original pieces, with a hint of freebop Monk. B+(***) [sp] Craig Finn: Always Been (2025, Tamarac/Thirty Tigers): Singer-songwriter from Minneapolis, started in 1990s with Lifter Puller, moved to New York in 2001 and started the Hold Steady, still a going concern but since 2012 he's also been releasing solo albums, this his sixth. Not a lot of difference between the two, as the band albums feature the same detailed storytelling, and if the music is a bit mellower here, it's still cut from the same cloth. Both are nearly peerless. A- [sp] Ayumi Ishito: Roboquarians Vol. 2 (2021 [2025], 577): Tenor saxophonist from Japan, studied at Berklee and moved to New York in 2010. Several albums since 2015, including a previous volume by this "avant-punk style" trio, with George Draguns (guitar) and Kevin Shea (drums). More guitar than sax here. B+(*) [bc] Clemens Kuratle Ydivide: The Default (2024 [2025], Intakt): Swiss drummer, also electronics, debut 2016, second group album, quintet with alto sax (Dee Bryne), piano (Elliot Gavin), guitar (Chris Guilfoyle), and bass (Lukas Traxel). B+(**) [sp] Andy Fairweather Low: The Invisible Bluesman (2025, Last Music): British singer-songwriter, started in Amen Corner, had a notable series of solo albums 1973-76, after which he mostly did session work and tours, ranging from Chris Barber to Roger Waters, Bill Wyman, Joe Cocker, and Eric Clapton. He's put out occasional records on his own since 2004, with 2023's Flang Dang a high point. That was an album of originals, but this one is just a set of blues covers -- probably close to what he's been playing for Clapton, and probably better than Clapton can do without him. [PS: I haven't sought out Clapton since I hated 461 Ocean Boulevard in 1974, although I did enjoy two later albums: 1994's From the Cradle, and 2011's Play the Blues, filed under Wynton Marsalis. I've only heard one other post-1974 album, 2004's Me and Mr. Johnson.] B+(***) [sp] Myra Melford: Splash (2024 [2025], Intakt): Pianist, got on my radar c. 1990, when Francis Davis wrote a Village Voice Jazz Consumer Guide, and and gave her and Allen Lowe the pick hit slots. Trio with Michael Formanek (bass) and Ches Smith (drums/vibes). B+(***) [sp] Gurf Morlix: A Taste of Ashes (2024 [2025], Rootball): Roots-rock singer-songwriter, used to play drums and husband to Lucinda Williams, has been on his own, producing a new album nearly every year since 2000. B+(**) [sp] Elias Stemeseder/Christian Lillinger + Craig Taborn: Umbra III: Live Setting (2021 [2025], Intakt): Swiss pianist, German drummer, both also electronics, only surnames on the album cover so I've tended to credit them as Stemeseder Lillinger, but I usually add the missing names to the credit rather than having to rewrite them in the review. The "Live Setting" is in very small print, but seemed worth noting. Taborn plays piano here, moving Stemeseder over to spinet, synth, and effects. B+(**) [sp] Macie Stewart: When the Distance Is Blue (2023-24 [2025], International Anthem): Pianist, sometimes prepared, also violin and voice, third album since 2020, backed by strings (viola, cello, bass). B+(*) [sp] Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: Champeta w/Edna Martinez: Diblo Dibala Special ([2024], NAS): Website shows 25 programs currated and introduced by DJ Martinez, exploring the Colombian "champeta": "rhythms and influences are said to have arrived with the sailors from West Africa in the 1960s and 70s." This one focuses on the Congolese soukous star (b. 1954; best known in US for Loketo's Super Soukous (1989), but probably includes other artists, in a continuous mix aside from the branding. It's really terrific, probably improved by the editing, but is it real? Not as far as I can tell, which makes it hard to recommend. A- [os] Kenny Dorham: Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957 [2025], Resonance): Bebop trumpet player (1924-72), a 1951 Modern Jazz Trumpets compilation added him to Fats Navarro, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis, and he remained one of the top players into the 1960s. Hard bop quintet here with Sonny Red (alto sax), Cedar Walton (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Dennis Charles (drums). Strong showing, but perhaps more so for the sax. B+(***) [cd] Paul Dunmall/Paul Rogers/Tony Levin: The Good Feelings (2009 [2024], 577): British saxophonist (here plays tenor and soprano, bass and Bb clarinet), backed with bass and drums (before the drummer died in 2011, so this is in some sense a belated tribute). B+(**) [bc] Joe Henderson: Multiple (1973 [2025], Craft): Major tenor saxophonist (1937-2001), made his reputation in a series of now-classic Blue Note albums 1963-66, moved on to an extended run at Milestone 1968-77, had an unaccountably spotty decade-plus after that -- a couple albums on European labels, one more for Blue Note (The State of the Tenor, which pretty much was) -- before Verve picked him up in 1991, giving him the living legend treatment (but saddling him with concepts that I found less satisfying: tributes to Strayhorn, Davis, and Jobim; a big band; Porgy & Bess). I'm far less familiar with the Milestones, although he easily aced his entry in 2006's Milestone Profiles series, so I didn't even recognize this title (a Penguin Guide ***). It may have been easy to dismiss due to the then-fashionable electric keyboards/bass/guitar, congas, bits of soprano sax, flute and vocals. But a rhythm section with Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette shouldn't be dismissed -- they also contributed one song each, to go with three by Henderson. But now you can't help but focus on his tenor sax -- the Penguin Guide line is that he always sounds like he's in the middle of a great solo -- an this is certainly a good example. But I also have to admit I'm also digging Larry Willis' funky electric piano. A- [sp] Freddie Hubbard: On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967 [2025], Resonance, 2CD): Trumpet player (1938-2008), opened with a bang on Blue Note in 1960 and was everywhere doing everything with everyone for a few years, although nothing in my database I especially like between Blue Spirits (1965) and Red Clay (1970). Quintet here with Bennie Maupin (tenor sax), Kenny Barron (piano), Herbie Lewis (bass), and Freddie Waits (drums). While this is nice enough, and I'm always up for long takes of "Summertime" and "Bye Bye Blackbird," nothing here really turned my head. B+(**) [cd] Rob Mazurek: Alternate Moon Cycles [IA11 Edition] (2012 [2025], International Anthem): Cornet player, started c. 1995, early on mostly for his Chicago Underground groups, later for larger groups like Exploding Star Orchestra. This came out as the label's first LP in 2014 (2 tracks, 30:45), the digital reissue adding a 20:13 bonus track. Trio with Matt Lux (electric bass) and Mikel Patrick Avery (organ). Ambient. B+(**) [sp] Mac Miller: Balloonerism (2014 [2025], REMember Music/Warner): Rapper Malcolm McCormick (1992-2018), seventh album, second posthumous release, As with 2018's Circles, seems better dead than alive. B+(***) [sp] Art Pepper: Geneva 1980 (1980 [2025], Omnivore): Alto saxophonist, spent much of his prime years in jail, but made classic albums when he was out in 1956 and 1960, and finally got back on track around 1975 -- an album called Living Legend -- and went on to record a huge amount of extraordinary jazz up to his death (at 56) in 1982: The Complete Galaxy Recordings is a 16-CD box which chock full of delights, a bounty more than matched by the steady stream of live shots from those years. This adds 10 tracks, 126 minutes, of previously unreleased material from his first tour of Europe, with his regular touring quartet: Milcho Leviev (piano), Tony Dumas (bass), and Carl Burnett (drums). He is terrific, as usual, mostly playing his originals, with only minor reservations for sound, the less inspired band, and the fact that there is so much similar material already available -- or maybe just that I only played it once. B+(***) [sp] Old music: Nat Birchall Unity Ensemble: Spiritual Progressions (2021 [2022], Ancient Archive of Sound): Tenor saxophonist, from Manchester, plays "spiritual jazz," where the spirit was embodied by John Coltrane, but extends all the way back to Africa. First group album, a quintet with Adam Fairhall (piano), Michael Bardon (bass), Paul Hession (drums), and Lascelle Gordon (percussion), where Birchall is also credited with wood flutes, singing bowls, mbira, balaphon, gunibri, and percussion. B+(**) [bc] Nat Birchall: The Infinite (2022 [202]3, Ancient Archive of Sound): One of several solo albums, where he lays down rhythm tracks with keyboards, bass, drums, and percussion, then dubs in his tenor sax (or soprano, or bass clarinet). B+(**) [bc] Nat Birchall: Songs of the Ancestors: Afro Trane Chapter 2 (2023, Ancient Archive of Sound): Solo again, with some organ for piano, a full range of saxophones, and two Coltrane pieces in addition to three by Birchall and one trad. B+(**) [bc] Kenny Dorham: Blues in Bebop (1946-56 [1998], Savoy Jazz): Early sessions from 1946, with one track from Billy Eckstine's big band, more with Sonny Stitt, a few scraps from 1949 (a session with Kenny Clarke and Milt Jackson, plus a couple Royal Roost shots with Charlie Parker) and 1956 (a side-credit with Cecil Payne). Some good work here, but only the Parker cuts turned my head. B+(**) [sp] Kenny Dorham: Jazz Contrasts (1957 [1992], Riverside/OJC): Six tracks, four with Sonny Rollins (tenor sax), who gets a small print "with" down in the corner, and probably a picture in front of a harp (actually played by Betty Glamman on three tracks, including the two with no Rollins). B+(**) [sp] Kenny Dorham: Quiet Kenny (1959 [1986], New Jazz/OJC): Not really a ballad album, but let's say mid-tempo, the trumpet clear and articulate in a quartet with Tommy Flanagan (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Art Taylor (drums). CD adds a nice "Mack the Knife." B+(***) [sp] Kenny Dorham: Jazz Contemporary (1960, Time): Original LP -- trumpet with baritone sax (Charles Davis), piano (Steve Kuhn), bass (Jimmy Garrison or Butch Warren), and drums (Buddy Enlow) -- had six tracks (39:28), but at some point four alternate takes got tacked on (at least by 2000 in Japan). Nice contrast in the horns here. B+(***) [sp] Kenny Dorham: Whistle Stop (1961 [2014], Blue Note): This is closer to the hard bop album I was expecting, with Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Kenny Drew (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Philly Joe Jones (drums). B+(***) [sp] Grade (or other) changes: The Delines: Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom (2025, Decor): Americana band from Portlant, sixth album since 2014, Amy Boone is the singer but Willy Vlautin, who has a reputation as a novelist (seven since 2006), is the songwriter. Scant reason for excitement here, but the songs have a quiet majesty, especially when the horn arrangements kick in. [was: B+(**)] A- [sp] Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
Ask a question, or send a comment. -- next |
) for bullet
items which seem most promising.
Andrew Boyd: I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate
Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor (paperback, 2023,
New Society): Subtitle continues: "An existential manual for tragic
optimists, can-do pessimists, and compassionate doomers." In other
words, this is the current state of the climate change crisis, one
where we no longer have the luxury of thinking that we're only talking
about a distant, easily manageable future but have seen enough to start
realizing how unprepared we are even for what's happening now. Boyd
starts out with several charts that plot "progress" vs. time, and
winds up with the one I grabbed and pasted stage right. I'm not much
of a catastrophist here, so that view may seem excessive, even where
his point is "gallows humor." But what does matter to me is whether
we face the very real problems in ways that work collectively, or
stick with the current favorite, which is for everyone to buy guns
and fend for themselves.
