Category Archives: Commentary

Improvised Music

An Editorial: The Future of Improvisational Music

Text by Dawoud Kringle

Andre Benjamin (a.k.a. Andre 3000) succeeded with the Atlanta-based hip-hop duo Outkast, collaborated with Beyonce and Erykah Badu, and made his mark as an actor. In 2023, he shocked the music world by releasing New Blue Sun, an all-instrumental collaboration with Carlos Nino, where he played flute. Nothing could have prepared audiences for one of the greatest rappers in hip hop making a bold move into ambient, flute based improvisational music. And against all odds, it was a great success.

Musicians have been improvising music for thousands of years. I could (and occasionally have) write about the musical traditions of ancient and classical cultures where musicians were expected to improvise. In the last several decades, jazz, some arcane offshoots of rock music, and all variations and subgenres have established improvisation as a mainstay in its canon.

Continue reading →

Some Thoughts about “Janis” by Country Joe & The Fish

Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, 9/26/2024)

“Janis” by Country Joe & The Fish, from I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ to Die (rel late, 1967)

Into my life on waves of electrical sound
And flashing light she came
Into my life with the twist of a dial
The wave of her hand, the warmth of her smile.

Continue reading →

Who Are Free Design (1967-1972)?

Text by Bruce  Gallanter  (Downtown Music Gallery, August 22, 2024)

“The Hook” by Free Design . From their reunion album, Cosmic Peekaboo (released in 2001)

All the pretty young singers with their popular songs
Kind of short on meaning but the beat goes on
You really have to love them – but not for very long
They’d like to thank their managers
And fans, and friends and yawn…

Continue reading →

John Mayall

RIP: John Mayall UK’s Godfather of the Blues

Blues rock pioneer John Mayall has passed.

Text by Dawoud Kringle

John Mayall was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK on 29 November 1933, and grew up in Cheadle Hulme. His father, Murray Mayall, was a guitarist. He taught himself to play the piano, guitars, and harmonica after immersing himself in the music of American blues players such as Lead Belly, Albert Ammons, Eddie Lang, and Pinetop Smith.

Continue reading →

R.I.P.: James Chance of the Contortions Remembered

Text by Dawoud Kringle

James Chance Saxophonist, bandleader of The Contortions and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and No Wave pioneer James Chance passed away.

Born James Alan Siegfried in Milwaukee, Chance began studying piano in elementary school and in his teens began playing the alto saxophone. He attended Michigan State University and Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee where he formed the James Siegfried Quintet and Death, a Stooges-influenced group. He would later study with jazz saxophonist David Murray.

He moved to New York in 1975 and began using the stage name James Chance. A year later he formed Teenage Jesus and the Jerks with singer Lydia Lunch. In 1977 he formed the first version of the Contortions.

Continue reading →