Recently at DFSBP

Jeremy Pelt's 'Griot,' new reviews of Alice Coltrane and Shabaka, and more

First, thanks so much for tuning in to this space, whether you’re a returning reader or new subscriber. Second, thanks for bearing with what will inevitably be a sporadic publishing schedule for this newsletter. I’m now working as a full-time freelancer, so deadlines come first! But I’ll do my best to share thoughts here whenever I can. For now, I’m keeping the newsletter fully free, in part because of the natural irregularity described above.

Speaking of freelancing, I wanted to share a few recent pieces that I’ve published elsewhere lately, including:

-A New York Times feature on the origins of and inspirations behind Griot, the trumpeter Jeremy Pelt’s ongoing series of books featuring his interviews with fellow jazz musicians. I really can’t overstate how much joy and enrichment I’ve gotten out of these titles in recent years. Check out the piece, and then order yourself some books! I trust you’ll be hooked.

-Pitchfork reviews of a recent Alice Coltrane archival find and the debut solo album by Shabaka Hutchings, both of which I loved.

I was also honored to do some behind-the-scenes writing work for the Jazz Foundation of America’s always-stellar “A Great Night in Harlem” gala, this year featuring the once-in-a-lifetime lineup of Bob Weir (with David Murray, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Steve Jordan!), the Sun Ra Arkestra, the Charles Tolliver Big Band featuring Dee Bridgewater, Louis Hayes and Billy Hart, and more.

Please stay tuned for more writing both here and elsewhere coming soon!

And a few quick shout-outs:

-I hoped to have time for a fuller write-up here but that’s looking unlikely right now, so I’ll just say: Brad Mehldau’s recent memoir is a must. One of the most unflinchingly honest music autobiographies I’ve read, all genres included, with a tone that alternates between gut-wrenching and almost prayerfully reverent. Also loved Mehldau’s conversation with Rick Beato, who’s been putting out some seriously impressive content lately across the board.

-Cheers and thanks to my friend and fellow writer Clifford Allen for keeping free/experimental music alive in the Hudson Valley with his ongoing “So, What Do You Think?” series at Tubby’s in Kingston. Just caught a fantastic SWDYT double bill last night featuring Wendy Eisenberg and Caroline Davis’ magical, utterly unclassifiable duo, plus the extremely dialed-in improv quartet Swoon, featuring gabby fluke-mogul, Joanna Mattrey, Chris Williams and Patrick Shiroishi. Next up: Joe McPhee with Michael Foster’s the Ghost on May 5th! And cheers and gratitude as well to James Keepnews for his Elysium Furnace Works series, regularly presenting heavy-duty avant-jazz in Poughkeepsie and elsewhere, including a revelatory recent McPhee show.

-I’m in the midst of one of my periodic Descendents/ALL immersions, orbiting around Saturday’s thrilling Brooklyn Paramount show by the former and a deep and informative interview with Chad Price, longtime frontman of the latter, courtesy of You Don’t Know Mojack, a podcast dealing with all things SST and SST-adjacent. Check out their Patreon page to hear. I feel so perennially inspired by these intertwined bands and their 40-plus-year commitment to excellence. (If any of this is up your alley, you might enjoy these two stories I published at Rolling Stone a while back!)

In closing: On the subject of the sort of obscure but immensely satisfying jazz finds I wrote about last time — which, as some friends and I have realized, are best described with the increasingly widespread crate-diggers’ term “cheap heat” — I highly recommend a browse through the Mainstream Records Bandcamp page. Countless 1970s gems here, many of them produced by Bob Shad (Judd Apatow’s grandfather!). I’m particularly taken with Curtis Fuller’s Crankin’, Reggie Moore’s Furioso, Harold Land’s Choma (Burn), Barry Miles’ White Heat and Buddy Terry’s Awareness (a Mainstream title I discovered through this page but that was reissued by We Want Sounds), but man, there is just so much to explore here, from an era in jazz that’s only starting to be properly excavated and understood.

That’s it for now — thanks again for stopping by!