Jazz/Blues
BLOGARRHEA: Brilliant New Documentary, 'Sinatra: All Or Nothing At All,' is American History
Staple Singers Get Much Deserved 'Faith & Grace' Boxed Set on Stax/Concord Records [REVIEW]
Time to give thanks to The Staple Singers whose first comprehensive boxed set, 'Faith & Grace: A Family Journey 1953-1976' (Stax/Concord), contains 80 songs on four CDs and one extremely rare 7" vinyl single: "Faith and Grace" b/w "These Are They." It marks the first time this single has ever been released in any format since they originally had 500 pressed and sold them as a 78 r.p.m. at gigs. Carnegie Hall 125th Anniversary: Weill Institute's Music Connections - Lullaby Project
Commissioned for the birth of Bertha Faber's second son, with Clara Schumann at the piano, Brahms' "Lullaby" was first heard some 150 years ago. Absent that night in Vienna, you'll still recall its gentle, E-flat waltz from your own childhood. Likewise, you weren't there last April for the world premiere of "Sweet Like Honey Buns." But that's just because its funky, electric guitar-led hook, care of composer Daniel Levy and a young mother named Vetaya, was first performed at Rikers Island. The end result of Carnegie Hall's Lullaby Project, songs like "Honey Buns," LaToria's "Mommy's Boys, Mommy's Blessing" and "Sleep Under the Willow" by Sarah (institutions like prisons and hospitals prefer first names only) are all part of a precious process, intent on helping at-risk women, and often their partners, bond with their babies.
