Review: JAZZ MODERNISM: FROM ELLINGTON AND ARMSTRONG TO MATISSE AND JOYCE BY ALFRED APPEL JR.
In short: jazz music was part of a global zeitgeist that included Fordist production methods, the literature of James Joyce, Picasso’s paintings and much more. It was called modernism. The book seems to claim that modernism started at jazz and moved outwards from there. Unlikely… but a nice idea.
As far back as the ’40s, conductor Leonard Bernstein and others were debating jazz’s influence on classical music. The debate has persisted since the beginning of modernism in literature and art because of the music’s perceived impact on these art forms.
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iBiquity would like ubiquity for digital radio
A fairly well-balanced article that outlines the current situation in the US regarding the newly approved switch to iBiquity’s IBOC digital radio. What does it mean for us here in New Zealand? Well, the local radio industry would be crazy not to look at this as a serious option if they want to remain more than just audio content providers to bigger companies that will own the means of distribution.
No NZ radio company, no matter how big their parent company, has the budget to launch and maintain a satellite. As terrestrial systems go, the UK-preferred Eureka 147 is pretty much a dog. iBiquity are smart enough to realise that any digital distribution system can contain within it the ability to deliver software upgrades. That’s its biggest selling-point… other systems are locked into hardware that have obsolescence built into them. With things moving as fast as they are, we can’t afford to adopt a hardware-based, non-upgradable format like Eureka. Unlike its AM/FM predecessor, this technology won’t have the luxury of the best part of a century without change to its basic structure.
It’s finally time for the NZ Government to actually have a policy on digital audio broadcasting and point to IBOC as the approved standard. Rant ends.
Last week’s decision by the Federal Communications Commission giving the go-ahead for the new technology developed by iBiquity Digital Corp. could change the future of the medium. Within weeks, 50 radio stations in six major markets will begin broadcasting their signals digitally, using software made by Columbia-based iBiquity. For consumers, digital radio promises far better sound on AM and FM stations, and signals so smooth that bridges and electrical lines won’t interfere with them.
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Handful of music industry relics salvaged from fire
This is such a tragedy. I can’t believe there hasn’t been even a mere mention of this in the local mainstream media. Do people really still not get the degree of impact that hip hop has had musically, politically, culturally and socially over the past 25 years? Pay attention, people!
Leland Robinson stood beside the rain-soaked ruins of his parents’ empire Saturday as a human chain of friends, family, and firefighters passed him the few remaining relics. Golden record albums, multi-platinum plaques, his mother’s Grammy award, and the urn with his father’s ashes were rescued Saturday from the fire that engulfed 96 West St. early Friday morning.
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