Vinny Golia's improvisational trio was in a small European town one time. "There was actually a chicken fluttering around. We had a gig in this old church. And I said, 'No one's gonna come here. At least it's a cool church.' But by the time we were finished setting up,......
ESTHERO Breath From Another (Work) Excessive talent is received with suspicion in the democratic world of pop, and this Toronto duo makes almost too much good music for a debut. With her creamy voice, heavy-lidded invitation and coltish R&B feel, singer Esthero (accent on syl No. 2) is sort of......
Rock stars act as our surrogate pricks. In both senses. Like actors and athletes but without the expectation of role modeling, they must sleaze their iconic genitalia across the uncivilized world to compensate for John Q. Pubic's enforced abstinence. At the same time, spoiled, flogged and isolated, they must snort......
CHARLIE HADEN AND KENNY BARRONNight and the City (Verve) Charlie Haden is not an underappreciated bassist. It would be foolish to embark on a list of his credits, for fear of leaving out a few thousand. But if everybody loves Haden, how come nobody copies him? His dexterity and speed......
How does it feel to be remixed? At the weird and exciting frontiers of technology, the identities of just about everything including yourself are up for remix. William Gaddis hit a cultural vein when he made art forgery the center of his first epic work, The Recognitions, in the '50s:......
THE RIVERSIDE RECORDS STORY The year Charlie Parker died, 1955, Riverside Records founder Orrin Keepnews signed Thelonious Monk, who would stay for six years and record much of his definitive music for the label. It’s a mark of jazz’s post-bop desperation that Keepnews was able to buy out Monk’s contract......
