Cultureteca 22.03.20
As COVID-19 put the world under lockdown, at the start of the week global cases of coronavirus surpassed those in the former epicentre of China, as the worldwide total beyond China reached...
Cultureteca 08.03.20
Chastened but not deterred, Paris Fashion Week promised something of a respite for the ragged fashionistas who were able to make the trek over from Milan. With Lombardy the epicentre of a...
Behind the Song: Charles Mingus – ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’
Charles Mingus wrote ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ as an elegy for the pioneering jazz saxophonist Lester Young, who died in March 1959, two months prior to the recording sessions for what would...
Great Album Covers: Mingus Ah Um
From the buoyant gospel of ‘Better Git It In Your Soul’ and the mournful grace of ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ to the caustic protest song ‘Fables of Faubus’, on Mingus Ah Um...
In Performance: Nina Simone – ‘I Loves You, Porgy’
Of those songs which became standards and entered into the Great American Songbook from the folk opera Porgy and Bess, few have inspired such vital renderings as ‘I Loves You, Porgy’. While...
Daily Visual 11.06.15: The Death of Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman died today, at the age of 85. The cause of his death was reportedly cardiac arrest. Coleman was born on 9 March 1930 in Fort Worth, Texas. His formative years...
Behind the Song: Van Morrison – ‘Crazy Love’
‘Crazy Love’ is the third track from Moondance, Van Morrison’s second proper solo release. Astral Weeks had appeared on Warner Bros. in November 1968; with Blowin’ Your Mind! a compilation of recordings Morrison had...
Christmas Music: Five Popular Songs & Five Alternative Albums
Elvis Presley leers atop my list of the five best popular Christmas recordings. ‘Blue Christmas’, written in 1948 by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson, is ostensibly a rejoinder to ‘White Christmas’, with...