Author Archives: Adam Reifsteck

Charles Mingus

A Homage to Charles Mingus’ “Fables of Faubus”

Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, July 15th, 2022)

“Fables of Faubus” by Charles Mingus. From Mingus Ah Um (1959) and Presents Charles Mingus (1961)

Oh, Lord, don’t let ’em shoot us!
Oh, Lord, don’t let ’em stab us!
Oh, Lord, no more swastikas!
Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!
Name me someone who’s ridiculous, Dannie.
Governor Faubus!
Why is he so sick and ridiculous?
He won’t permit integrated schools.
Then he’s a fool! Boo! Nazi Fascist supremists!
Boo! Ku Klux Klan (with your Jim Crow plan)
Name me a handful that’s ridiculous, Dannie Richmond.
Faubus, Rockefeller, Eisenhower
Why are they so sick and ridiculous?
Two, four, six, eight:
They brainwash and teach you hate.
H-E-L-L-O, Hello.

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William Parker

MFM “SPEAKS OUT” Podcast EP40: William Parker on the Spiritual Essence of Music and Improvisation

William Parker“Music is Defined as Anything that is Beautiful, and What Makes Something Beautiful is Music”

In this episode of MFM Speaks Out, Dawoud Kringle interviews William Parker; bassist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, performer, and music educator.

Topics discussed:

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Report: MFM ZOOM Talk Event #3 with Bassists Jerome Harris and Randy Landau

On Monday July 18th, 2022, MFM hosted the latest Music is Essential ZOOM webinar: “Bass: The Joys of the Bottom Line” Special guest speakers were bassists Jerome Harris and Randy Landau .

Jerome Harris and Randy LandauJerome Harris first major professional performing experience came as bass guitarist with the iconic jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins in 1978. Harris has played on over seventy recordings and performed on six continents, working with Jack DeJohnette, David Krakauer, Bill Frisell, Paul Motian, Leni Stern, Martha Redbone, Ray Anderson, Julius Hemphill, Amina Claudine Myers, Ned Rothenberg, Oliver Lake, and many others.
He has taught at Hampshire College, William Paterson University, Lehman College (City University of New York), and the Alternative Guitar Summit Camp. Harris
 is also a music activist functioning as MWA’s President and has been a member of Local 802 for a while.

Randy Landau has been free lancing, for the most part, in NYC since 1978.Jerome Harris and Randy Landau
He has worked with Chuck Berry, Paul Anka, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendrick, Loretta Devine,Patti LaBelle, James Taylor, Bette Midler, Dave Stewart, Kelli O’Hara, Anika Noni Rose, to Larry Coryell, L. Subramanium, Gary Burton, and New York Voices. Randy’s many Broadway and national-tour credits include The Bridges of Madison County, First Date, Ghost: The Musical, Billy Elliot: The Musical, High Fidelity, In My Life, Spamalot, Legally Blonde, Man of La Mancha, Bombay Dreams, Rent, City of Angels, Aida, and many more. Landau has played on all the cast recordings of Jason Robert’s band’s 
Songs For A New World, and The Last 5 Years. He released two solo albums, Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes, and How We React and how We recover. Randy’s next collaboration with JRB will be The Connector, which will have its debut in winter of 2023. He is also playing with the local Orchestral bass chair for The Who, and beginning a production of Tom Kitt and Cameron Crow’s Almost Famous, opening on Broadway fall of 2022. Landau is also a member of MFM and of the Local 802.

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Editorial: Gen Z, Music, the Metaverse, and Survival 

The sooner musicians accept that the world is moving on with or without us, the sooner our music – and our ability to profit monetarily – will be able to move forward.

An Editorial by Dawoud Kringle

I have a social media account with https://www.imvu.com. This platform is pretty much metaverse based. Now, for my taste this particular social media thing is bullshit. Most of the friend requests I get are clearly scammers, and I’m NOT putting money into building my metaverse presence on IMVU. So I don’t really do anything with it. This may change, but for now, it’s a toy I almost never play with.

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Report: MFM Zoom Webinar #10 w. Adam Reifsteck and Jeffrey Green Report

“Keep It Simple!” – Jeffrey Green

Report by Dawoud Kringle

Adam Reifsteck and Jeffrey GreenOn Friday, July 8th, 2022, MFM presented its tenth Zoom Webinar. The theme was How to Set Up One’s Home Studio. The speakers were two MFM members whose qualifications in this area can only be described as exemplary: Adam Reifsteck  (musician, composer, producer, owner of Teknofonik Records) and Jeffrey Green (musician, composer, Sweetwater sales rep, whom I interviewed for Episode 32 of the MFM Speaks Out podcast https://mfmspeaksout.simplecast.com/episodes/jeffreygreen-83cmut5o). Reifsteck also hosted the event.

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