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September 26, 2015

Red Rodney (9.27.15)

Liner Notes

By: Rabbi Neil Blumofe

Red Rodney was an American bebop and hard bop trumpet player who made came up with mentors like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. In his lifetime he saw much hardship, including the loss of his wife and daughter in a car accident, and the loss of many of his contemporaries in the jazz world.

In this edition of Liner Notes, Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe talks about what it means to be a “survivor”, and how jazz, and specifically bebop, allows us to confront oppression through resistance, revolution, and reckoning.

September 18, 2015

Steve Coleman (9.20.15)

Liner Notes

By: Rabbi Neil Blumofe

Steve Coleman is an American saxophonist, composer, and band leader who’s work bridges the gaps between spirituality, culture, and time. In this edition of Liner Notes, Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe talks about the significance of Coleman’s work in our lives today. He suggests that through the music of Steve Coleman we can understand the complexities of our lives and identities, both as meaning everything and nothing in the same moment.

September 17, 2015

Oliver Lake (9.13.15)

Liner Notes

By: Rabbi Neil Blumofe

Oliver Lake is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and poet who co-founded The World Saxophone Quartet in 1977. In this edition of Liner Notes, Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe talks about the way in which Lake’s music offered a portal for us to understand the civil rights movement and social justice through art. When listening to Oliver Lake and The World Saxophone Quartet we’re are able to understand how to create profound statements without words.

August 22, 2015

Abbey Lincoln (8.23.15)

Liner Notes

By: Rabbi Neil Blumofe

Abbey Lincoln was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress, who is known for adding a poignant voice to the conversation surrounding the civil rights movement during the 1960s in America. She was a controversial and often marginalized figure, especially following her work on, We Insist, which she, and drummer Max Roach produced in response to the exploitation and oppression of black Americans.

In this edition of Liner Notes, Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe, encourages us to find our voice through the music of Abbey Lincoln. To understand that it matters, to speak out, to break the silence around injustice. Acknowledging that ultimately, in order to heal, one must name the affliction and fully know the illness.

July 20, 2015

Ma. Rainey (07.19.15)

Liner Notes

By: Rabbi Neil Blumofe

Ma. Rainey, born Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett, April 26, 1886, was one of the first recorded Blues singers of the 20th century. Her deep, soulful voice is as distinctive as her lyrics, that were considered controversial at the time. Although she is known as “The Mother of The Blues”, her sound laid the foundation for much of the early jazz vocal style. She recorded with Louis Armstrong, and was a big influence on the work of Bob Dylan.

In this edition of Liner Notes, Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe, talks about the life and legacy of Ma. Rainey, and highlights what her approach to her art can teach us today.

July 4, 2015

Jazz: Freedom and Liberty (7.5.15)

Liner Notes

By: Rabbi Neil Blumofe

In this edition of Liner Notes, Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe, talks about the relationship between jazz and the idea of freedom in America.

He quotes how Duke Ellington describes jazz as,  “a good barometer of freedom.” Ellington said, “In its beginnings, the United States of America spawned certain ideals of freedom and independence through which, eventually, jazz was evolved, and the music is so free that many people say it is the only unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom yet produced in this country.”

As we celebrate this nation and the freedom and liberty we enjoy, may we also contemplate the ways in which we still carry around chains, and operate within the prisons of past oppression. Knowing that true emancipation can only be obtained, through the most difficult of all forms of liberation, freeing ourselves from ourselves.

 

June 26, 2015

Andrew Hill (6.28.15)

Liner Notes

By: Rabbi Neil Blumofe

Andrew Hill was an American jazz pianist and performer, who’s innovative approach to composition, was not only shared on his records and in the clubs, but also in the classroom. In this edition of Liner Notes, Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe, talks about what the life, legacy and perspective of Andrew Hill can teach us about how we, not only approach music, but life also.

June 15, 2015

Tonight at Noon (6.7.15)

Liner Notes

By: Rabbi Neil Blumofe

Tonight at Noon is an album by jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus, released on the Atlantic label in 1965. The record includes tunes that are melodic and easy, and yet tinged with a dark sentiment that makes you feel as if you are enjoying a beautiful sunset, whilst sitting atop a volcano.

The title Mingus chose for the album almost outlives the music, in subsequent movie titles and book titles about his life. In this edition of Liner Notes, Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe talks about what the album, and it’s title evoke in us.

There is a mystery in the night that Mingus is urging us to see as normal, perhaps in an effort to demystify the jazz conversation, by saying “noon” is not something to be afraid of. “Noon” is happening right here at night and it’s just as acceptable and respectable as anything that happens during the day. In essence, he is taking the darkness out of the night.

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