Clik here to view.
They Say It’s Wonderful: Hartman and Coltrane, an Appreciation
Over the past month or so, I have listened to John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, one of the greatest jazz vocal albums ever made, about once a day. I haven’t tired of it, which is a testament to its...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Freedom and Light
I saw Ravi Shankar at Carnegie Hall in 1966 or 1967. Because of the Beatles, of course. And I learned so much about music from that one concert. Not that the lesson stayed with me; it wasn’t like that....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Elegy for Lee
In 1965, celebrated jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan released the song “Speedball” on his album The Gigolo. A year earlier, the title track from his album The Sidewinder had become the biggest hit in Blue...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meet Me in Treasondale, and Other News
Before there was MFA vs. NYC, there was Flannery O’Connor, discussing the merits of an MFA program: “It can put [a writer] in the way of experienced writers and literary critics, people who are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An Absolute Truth: On Writing a Life of Coltrane
A few years ago I found a used, first-edition hardcover of Dr. Cuthbert Ormond Simpkins’s 1975 book, Coltrane: A Biography, online for $150. I had long admired its feverish, street-pulpy story about...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An Absolute Truth: On Writing a Life of Coltrane
We’re out until January 5, but we’re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2014 while we’re away. We hope you enjoy—and have a happy New Year! A few years ago I found a used, first-edition...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Two Remembrances of Ornette Coleman
Coleman died last week at eighty-five. Coleman in 1971. Photo: JPRoche For nearly fifty years, Ornette Coleman was the philosopher king, the trickster, the barbarian at the gate, the prodigal son....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Coltrane Home in Dix Hills
The deceptively ordinary house where Coltrane composed A Love Supreme. Coltrane’s unassuming house in Dix Hills. In an empty corner of a modest home in suburban New York, hiding beneath a construction...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Game of the Name
Every month, the Daily features a puzzle by Dylan Hicks. The first list of correct answers wins a year’s subscription to The Paris Review. (In the event that no one can get every answer, the list with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What Our Contributors Are Reading This Summer
Christine and the Queens. When I watch Christine and the Queens, I feel joy in its purest form. Her best songs are perfect pop constructions laced with a delicious, defiant queerness, and unlike most...
View Article
