On this edition of Liner Notes, Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe remembers the legendary patriarch of New Orleans Jazz, Ellis Marsalis.
neil blumofe
Eddie Palmieri
In this edition of Liner Notes, Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe talks about what the life and music of Palmieri can teach us about identity, the power of movement, and the necessity of community.
Eddie Palmieri is an American pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive.
Jazz & The Art of Movement
Where do we consider being at home? When do we feel that we belong in a place and how quickly can we become dispossessed? In its essence, jazz traces various migrations – some arbitrary, some forced, and some chosen – and beyond appropriation and broad-stroke caricature, reveal difficult truths of identity, well-being, and honest relationship.
Through the artistry of Miles, Monk, and Mingus, both critique and imagination of the American melting pot will be explored – lessons crucial to our current navigation of the difficulties of migration, refugees, and asylum-seeking in our land. What is native land – and beyond the symbols demanding our loyalty, what consistently makes America, great?
Listen back to Views and Brew: Jazz and The Art of Movement recorded live at the historic Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas, with Rabbi and Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe in conversation with Rebecca McInroy. Featuring: Michael Malone, saxophone; Andre Hayward, trombone; Red Young, piano; Scott Laningham, drums.
Austin (2.25.18)
In this edition of Liner Notes Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe talks about the significance of jazz in the “Live Music Capital of The World.”
V&B – Jazz & The Art of Responding
Rabbi and Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe joins a live jazz sextet and KUT’s Rebecca McInroy for a night of great conversation and live music. Through the music of Miles Davis, Abbey Lincoln, Charles Mingus, and others we’ll explore what the tradition of call and response in jazz can teach us about presence, resistance, and the human condition. Featuring Brannen Temple (drums), Nick Clark (Bass), Chris McQueen (guitar), Michael Malone (saxophone), Andre Hayward (trombone) and David Young (trumpet).
Views & Brews: Hollow
A conversation about love, tragedy, hollow earth theory, and the power of humor. KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins Rabbi Neil Blumofe and host of KUT’s The Write Up, Owen Egerton. Owen’s new book Hollow explores how we make sense of devastating loss, and face our own mortality in a fragmented world. Rabbi Blumofe will discuss what mystical interpretations of life and death can teach us about this present moment.
V&B – Jazz & The Art of Family
Join KUT’s Rebecca McInroy along with Rabbi Neil Blumofe and a live jazz quintet, for a night of great conversation and live music as we explore the legacy and influence of the Brothers Jones. Hank, Thad, and Elvin Jones were each supreme musicians – they were also brothers and represent an important legacy in the history of jazz. In our everyday lives, who constitutes our family? How much parental influence do we admit? Beyond blood relationships, who are the people who have our back, who are unconditionally present? How do we collaborate and when do we need our own space to achieve identity? Resisting the atomization of our character, how do we derive meaning and with whom do we gain status as we act?
Featured Musicians: Tom Brechtlein (Drums), Roscoe Beck (Bass), Professor Ben Iram (Piano), Michael Malone (Saxophone), David Young (Trumpet)
T-Bone Walker (5.28.17)
T-Bone Walker was an American Blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who’s sound and technique influenced generations of blues artists and helped create the foundation for what would become rock and roll.
In this installment of Liner Notes Rabbi and jazz historian, Neil Blumofe talks about how the life and legacy of T-Bone Walker can teach us to value being grounded and dedicated to fully knowing ourselves instead of trying to catch up with the latest trends.
V&B: Ornette Coleman & The Art of Entrepreneurship
Saxophonist and innovator Ornette Coleman was a musical trailblazer. Always curious and creative, he inspired a movement of new expression, questioning established practices as he sharpened even the most cutting edge of emotive performance. What do we do with inherited forms? How do we distinguish ourselves and coalesce our vision in the scrutiny and judgment of public taste? What value is there in earning the respect of our colleagues? How far are we willing to go to live our truth? What is genius and what is jive?
Sponsored by KUT radio, Rabbi and Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe in conversation with Rebecca McInroy. Featuring: Michael Malone, saxophone; David Young, trumpet; Red Young, piano; Roscoe Beck, bass; Brannen Temple, drums. Guest featuring Alex Coke, saxophone.
V&B – Louis Armstrong & The Art of the Absurd
Listen back to an evening of music and conversation exploring the complex influence of the great jazz musician Louis Armstrong in shaping the cultural tastes of America. How do we represent? What are the dangers of our self-expression as we navigate taking a stand?
As we look ahead to these new days in America, how do we see misunderstandings, assumptions, and chicanery take root as we seek meaning, value, and security, based upon our country’s framing ideas of liberty and freedom?
Sponsored by KUT radio, Rabbi and Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe in conversation with Rebecca McInroy. Featuring: David Young, trumpet; Michael Malone, saxophone, Andre Hayward, trombone; Sean Giddings, piano; Roscoe Beck, bass; Scott Laningham, drums.
Songs include “Cabaret”, “The Beautiful American”, “Black & Blue”, “Mack the Knife”, “It Don’t Mean A Thing”, and “All of Me”
Cassandra Wilson (12.4.16)
Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz vocalist, composer and songwriter who remains one of the most prominent American voices on the jazz scene.
In this edition of Liner Notes Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe talks about what we can learn from Wilson’s life and work.
V&B – Jazz & The Art of Popularity
It’s after the election. How do we decide who represents us? Who is in, and who is out? Must something be sacrificed to be popular? As we examine the concepts of popularity, fandom, polling, and analytics, we will speak about the creation of culture and the allure of personality in our lives, through the lens of the Downbeat Magazine jazz polls throughout the years. Why is Miles Davis so good? Which Miles Davis do we mean? As we cull our playlists, how much patience do we really have to become connoisseurs, or to discover something new? In this episode of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins Rabbi and Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe in an examination on jazz and the art of popularity.
V&B – Jazz & the Art of the Other [Part One]
Sigmund Freud wrote: “every normal person, in fact, is only normal on the average. One’s ego approximates to that of the psychotic in some part or other and to a greater or lesser extent.” How are we complicit in dehumanizing others, and how are we in turn, dehumanized? How do we cope with the unsettling of our fears and the scars of our traumas — in our amusements, and in the casual conversations that we have?
How does music help us navigate both our civilizing presence and our raw emotions that run much deeper, beneath? How do the experiences of 20th century jazz musicians help to instruct us in the powerful lessons of difference, Othering, and perseverance?
This episode of Views & Brews is a marriage of robust conversation and spectacular music, featuring David Young, trumpet; Andre Hayward, trombone; Michael Malone, saxophone; Sean Giddings, piano; Richard Michael, bass; Scott Laningham, drums; and Rabbi Neil Blumofe, in conversation with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy.
V&B – Jazz & the Art of the Other [Part Two]
Sigmund Freud wrote: “every normal person, in fact, is only normal on the average. One’s ego approximates to that of the psychotic in some part or other and to a greater or lesser extent.” How are we complicit in dehumanizing others, and how are we in turn, dehumanized? How do we cope with the unsettling of our fears and the scars of our traumas — in our amusements, and in the casual conversations that we have?
How does music help us navigate both our civilizing presence and our raw emotions that run much deeper, beneath? How do the experiences of 20th century jazz musicians help to instruct us in the powerful lessons of difference, Othering, and perseverance?
This episode of Views & Brews is a marriage of robust conversation and spectacular music, featuring David Young, trumpet; Andre Hayward, trombone; Michael Malone, saxophone; Sean Giddings, piano; Richard Michael, bass; Scott Laningham, drums; and Rabbi Neil Blumofe, in conversation with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy.
V&B – Miles Davis & The Art of Future (Part Two)
In this edition of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe, and a live jazz quintet, for a night of great conversation and live music focusing on Miles Davis’ Second Quintet. In all Miles Davis represents, he was also a master teacher and inspired generations of instrumentalists. In the second half of the 60’s how did Davis’ Second Quintet respond to free jazz, and turbulent times? And what does this response teach us today?
Featuring the all-star ensemble: David Young, trumpet; Shelley Carrol, saxophone; Ben Irom, piano; Roscoe Beck, bass; Brannen Temple, drums; and Rabbi Neil Blumofe in conversation with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy.
V&B – Jazz & The Art of War
In this episode of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins Rabbi and Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe, and a live jazz quintet (Sam Pankey – Bass, Michael Malone – Saxophone, David Young – Trumpet, Jacob Dupre – Piano, Scott Laningham – Drums) for a night of lively discussion and great live music as they explore jazz during war years – from World War I to Vietnam and beyond. What does this music reveal, and what does it conceal? How are we lured into avoidance, and how are we encouraged to stand our ground, and not sit idly by?
V&B – Jazz & The Atomic Age
In this episode of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins Rabbi/Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe and a live jazz ensemble (Sam Penke – bass, Ephraim Owens – trumpet, Andre Hayward – trombone, Scott Laningham – drums, Mike Malone – saxophone) in a discussion about jazz, post-war paranoia, and the Atomic Age, with a focus on the music of mid-century America, highlighting the work of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. Beyond the old duck and cover drills of the Cold War, how do we cope with the constant threat of existential disaster? How does our music reflect our hopes and our anxieties? How do we distinguish between the treacle of intoxicating propaganda and the ineffable wonder that transforms our soul? What truly, conquers our fears?
Oscar Pettiford (1.31.16)
In this edition of Liner Notes, Rabbi and jazz historian Neil Blumofe talks about the life and legacy of bassist, cellist, and composer Oscar Pettiford.
V&B – Jazz & The Art of the Apocalypse
In this episode of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins Rabbi and Jazz Historian Neil Blumofe, Dr. Steve Friesen (Chair of Bibilical Studies at the University of Texas), Adrian Ruiz, (trumpet) Michael Malone, (saxophone) Sam Pankey, (bass) Rich Harney, (piano) Scott Laningham, (drums) for a night of lively discussion and great live music. What do we listen to when our day is unsure? What is the soundtrack to our anxiety? How can jazz, an organic art form, help us respond to the shadows of apocalypse that seems to shade from every quarter?
V&B: Jazz & the Art of Psychoanalysis
In this episode of Views & Brews, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy joins Rabbi Neil Blumofe, Dr. Judith Coffin, Mark Micale in discussion on the parallel development of psychoanalysis and jazz in the early 20th century. What does it mean to listen? What does it mean to reveal? How can closing our vulnerablities make us more resilient? What happens when Freud meets Coltrane?
Join us as we reflect upon the open and concealed ways that our spirit and minds can join, and listen to standards within the jazz canon.
Musicians: Russell Haight (tenor), Altim Sencalar (trombone), Sean Giddings (piano), Sam Pankey (bass), and David Sierra (drums).