The protest song “Malcolm’s gone” not only pays tribute to one of the most influential black leaders, but provocatively likens him, as a Muslim and so-called enemy of the state, to Jesus Christ.
Articles on Jazz
Displaying 61 - 80 of 96 articles
Miles Davis’s 1971 album A Tribute to Jack Johnson sits uneasily within both jazz and rock genres, but its indefinable nature should be celebrated.
South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela made an impact across the world during his decades-long musical career.
When they arrived in Europe in the early 1960s, South African jazz outfit the Blue Notes revolutionised the London scene. Half a century later, their music is coming home in several new projects.
Other than church, the pipe organ is often perceived as belonging in horror movies. But there’s more to the instrument that spans most musical genres.
Two of South Africa’s finest musicians, Johnny Mekoa and Ray Phiri, died recently. The permeable terrain between genres their careers negotiated, is being replaced by rigid marketing categories.
Women are disturbingly under-represented in Australian jazz, with relatively few female composers and instrumentalists. What’s holding them back? And what can be done about it?
The story of African-American music is a story of eclipsing expectations and subverting norms.
The Scottish capital is reopening a well kept secret: one of the world’s finest collections of vintage sound machines.
Just as Fitzgerald’s career was taking off, jazz was under attack for its purported connection to drug culture. If she wanted to become a mainstream superstar, she needed to make a choice.
Something really magical is happening at the intersection between jazz and hip-hop at the moment. Many of the artists involved will be playing at Africa’s foremost jazz festival.
After winning his Grammy in 1996, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder said, ‘I don’t think this means anything.’ Was he right?
No film could be more perfectly circular, more self-congratulatory and more suited to the time.
We all need a little trip to La La Land.
In a gloomy year filled, a number of artists with an Afrofuturist perspective gave hope with inspired works of art.
Sometimes album sleeves reveal little about the music. Instead they illuminate the society it came from, exposing unexpected stories of people, art forms and struggles.
Janis Joplin was once voted the ‘Ugliest Man on Campus’. Sharon Jones was told she was ‘too old, too fat, too short, too black’ to succeed in music. Two documentaries chart the lives of these extraordinary women.
‘Bitches Brew’ and ‘Live-Evil’, two albums from Miles Davis’ electric period, have more than musicological significance. They challenge the listener to think beyond aesthetics and form.
It places Davis in a continuing, living history of African-American sound, rather than planting him on a pedestal.
A detailed look at one of the musician’s most celebrated performances gives a glimpse of the dedication which allowed talent to flourish.
Top contributors
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Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria
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Lecturer of English. PhD Candidate in Afrofuturism and African Studies, University of the Western Cape
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Senior Lecturer in Music, Southern Cross University
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Professor of Music, Carleton University
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Associate Professor of Music Business and Entrepreneurship, University of Florida
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Lecturer in music and popular music: composition, orchestration, analysis and popular music history., University of Liverpool
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Professor of Music (post-1900), University of Glasgow
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Reader in Music, Politics and Society, Newcastle University
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Assistant Teaching Professor of Music, Penn State
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Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Drexel University
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Assistant Professor in Critical Practice, Coventry University
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Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, Penn State
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Lecturer of American Studies, University of Copenhagen
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Senior Lecturer in Music, The Open University
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Senior Lecturer in Music, Goldsmiths, University of London