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Bowie’s Changes – the Many Lives of a Rock Artist: David Bowie IS, the Brooklyn Museum

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Bowie’s Changes – the Many Lives of a Rock Artist: David Bowie IS, the Brooklyn Museum

When it comes to approach of identity-definition, there are two kinds of artists.

The first kind develops his/her craft and his idiom as far as they can go, and then, once sensing that the craft and idiom have within themselves some kind of success-potential for communication of ideas and sentiments, settles upon them. The artist decides to perfect his/her selected approach - and perform it and publish it - again and again and again. And it works well. Audiences who dig it do dig it and don’t ask questions.

The second kind possesses and revels in his/her craft and his idiom as parts of him/herself, and then, once sensing their abilities and limitations in terms of potential for artistic achievement, rejects them. The artist decides that s/he will reinvent the selected craft - and dress it in different fabrics and colors and styles - again and again and again. And it works well. Audiences who dig it do dig it, mostly, and ask an ongoing plethora of ever-changing questions as they bear witness to the eternal evolution of the artist’s craft.

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Steve's Blues

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Steve's Blues

Before the Steve Miller Band, there was the Steve Miller Blues Band.  Before the Joker, before the Space Cowboy, before Maurice, there was Steve – guitarist extraordinaire, young, beautiful, and insanely talented, with an intense affinity for and knowledge of American Blues and Roots music.  This Steve, in conjunction with Jazz at Lincoln Center, has been responsible for shining a bright light on the important historical and artistic roles that Blues guitar has played in American history - and, stemming from that, the role that Blues guitar has played in Steve Miller’s artistic journey.  Some musicians seem to move further and further away from their creative roots and influences as they become more and more grounded in their lasting legacy, a legacy that propels itself into the future.  But Steve is smarter than them; he always was.

Live at the Jazz Standard, NYC: The Donny McCaslin Group (Wednesday 4/8 Early Set)

At one point during Wednesday night’s first set at the Jazz Standard, in which the Donny McCaslin Group performed, tenor saxophonist McCaslin referred to the group’s recent experiences as “a celebration.” The Group has released a new album entitled Fast Future; the group has released a new album that might as well be entitled Most Incredibly New, Most Groundbreaking, Pretty Brilliant Work of 2015, So Far. 

Ray LaMontagne Live at the Beacon Theatre

For those of us who are retrospectively inclined music-wise, last Friday night at the Beacon Theater was a dream come true. Ray LaMontagne put on a show akin to those we might imagine were performed back in 1971 when guitars reigned supreme, or perhaps back in 1968 when light shows were still a thing.