Date: August 11, 2011
Location: Bryant Park
Video interview by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
For DooBeeDoo it is always interesting to know how foreign musicians feel and think about NY’s music scene and life in this city. This time Sohrab interviews the 25 years old Swiss vibraphonist Lucas Jeanpierre. In the three videos Lucas speaks about his background, his three months in NY, his impression of the NY music scene, playing here and there in NY and about his future.
Guarco was born to Uruguayan and Italian parents in Elizabeth, NJ. Growing up in both that immigrant-rich industrial city, and the small beach town of San Luis, Uruguay, he acquired an eclectic taste in music.
Guarco spent years experimenting with a 4-track tape machine creating a vast collection of sonic collages, dense reggae loops, wild drum-machine drones, and flowing psychedelic delayscapes. At 21, Guarco decided to go back to Montevideo, Uruguay to study folklore guitar, and to write new material for what would be his debut release.
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Text and interview by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi August 3, 2011 at the Lincoln Center (NY)
Drummer, composer, educator and band leader (Asphalt Orchestra, Red Baraat and Sunny Jain Collective) Sunny Jain, a native of Rochester, New York, now living and working in New York City, is one of the South Asian-American jazz musicians who brings Jazz and the ancient sounds of India together. His Punjabi roots and appreciation for Bollywood classics and Indian dance rhythms can be heard in his work. In general his music is very eclectic fusing Jazz with Indian music integrating drum & bass, progressive rock, Brazilian and West African rhythms.
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Text by Rob Pulwer
Maybe it’s only fitting that one of the most influential musicians of all time had a hand in the creation of electronic music, even though it was nowhere near his scene. The oeuvre of Miles Davis is, yet, still cherished predominantly by hard bop fiends and fusion fans. Although he spent the majority of his career playing variations of those styles, there is one record that stands out from the rest of his catalogue by virtue of its mission, accomplishments, and subsequent oblivion from accolade and popular memory: On the Corner.
The record, released in 1972, was Davis’ attempt to lure young, African-American city dwellers back to the jazz they had forsaken for other genres (among which was the funk that his own fusion escapades helped to engender). Although the record features a variety of canonical jazz musicians (Jack Dejohnette, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock, among others), much of the music is anchored by rhythms very similar to today’s drum-n-bass. Davis and his producers, themselves innovators in electronic music, experimented with looping and splicing tracks, making OTC one of the first records to prominently feature these now-widespread audio manipulation techniques. Interestingly, Davis himself is only sparingly on the record, and then mostly as background noise.
Electro friends probably opt to stay away from Miles Davis’ music just as much as his followers tend to shy away from the electro scene. Unfortunately, OTC has been tucked away into the back of Davis’ catalogue, garnering little play and even less discussion as to its place in the jazz canon. It is fair to say that this record has had minimal impact on jazz, at least compared to Davis’ other records. I see that comparison as problematic in and of itself; this record shouldn’t be talked about as jazz or by jazz people. Electro fans owe it to themselves to check out this precursor to any and all of their favorite bands, even if it bears the name of that guy their high school band director was always harping on; this is, simply, one of the first, and thus by extension, one of the most important, accessible electronic music records ever made.
Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
A month ago I went to the Summer Stage in Central Park to check out Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. After short I felt that Yo-Yo wasn’t my thing for the night. So I left and decided to take a walk in the park. While walking I heard some drum sounds which sounded like Korean traditional drums. I followed the drum sounds to find out who was playing. After two, three minutes I found three young men playing two tenor saxophones and a simple drum set.
From the moment I walked towards them I knew it was going to be an exciting outdoor concert… Blasting their drums and saxes, Moon Hooch, which was the name of the band, thrilled the people around them.They were playing energy music. It was fun watching three young enthuastic musicians who played so passionate. They proved that music is still essential in our lifes. Hope they don’t lose this positive energy and keep going.
