Pharoah
I almost interviewed Pharoah Sanders once. Derek Walmsley, my editor at The Wire, asked me to try and set up a conversation in mid-2014. I didn’t know if Sanders had a manager or a publicist or any...
View ArticleHoly Tongue
Mark Stewart died last month at 62. I didn’t know much about him — for example, I was shocked to learn that he was 6’6”. I owned one of his albums, Metatron, when I was in high school. I bought it...
View ArticleThe Brotz & The Gnawa
What does religious music mean to the unbeliever? I’ve spent a significant portion of my life considering this question, and speaking only for myself, the answer varies. I was raised Roman Catholic,...
View ArticlePurple Trap
In case you hadn’t heard, John Zorn (who turned 70 on September 2) has at long last allowed his Tzadik label’s catalog to appear on streaming services like Spotify and Tidal. With close to 1000...
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