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Stefon Harris & Sonic Creed Bring the Jazz: Miller Theatre Columbia University School of Arts

Saturday January 30th, 8 PM, Miller Theatre, the Columbia University School of Arts is the place to be. Vibraphonist and composer Stefon Harris takes the stage with his new band Sonic Creed. I don't feel the need to talk this cat Stefon Harris up. You should be in the know already. He is where it is happening. My man has armed himself with a new band. The Music Gods annointed them with the name Sonic Creed and them mothers and Mr. Harris plan to lay a whole bunch of funk, postbop, R & B tinged jazz on you. That is if you are at the Miller Theatre at Colubia University School of Arts at 8 in the PM, dig?
By Thomas Swan

  • Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong and the Search for Musical Expression and Self

    A lot of jazz aficinados even find John Coltrane hard to listen to. His volcanic torrent of notes, pushing hard to escape from his saxophone, can overwhelm even the most liberal minded of listeners. This upheavel was Coltrane's attempt to purge his soul and gain a synesthesia with his subconscious. Miles Davis turmoil was also present on the very surface of his music, skimming off the top, exposing raw nerve. Unlike Coltrane, Davis was calculating about what he was exposing in his search. He was careful, guarded and mistrustful. Louis Armstrong completes the triangle. No outward agenda, at least musically speaking, Armstrong was the shaman. Only if you were paying attention did you see his self, the abandoned orphan looking for a mother figure through musical expression.
    By Thomas Swan

  • H. Jon Benjamin Records Jazz Album, Releases 'Well I Should Have' via Sub Pop Records

    Stand-up albums be damned, this is true comedy at its finest. Yes, H. Jon Benjamin is trying his hand at the piano in the form of an--er--avant-garde jazz album entitled "Well I Should Have." Released via Sub Pop Records, he doesn't even know how to play. Mind you, that detail may not even matter.
    By Ian Holubiak