Friday, February 03, 2012

Review: Icons Among Us























I flipped my lid when I stumbled across a copy of Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense at my local library. I'd been eager to see the documentary for a couple years. Alas, it wasn't quite as definitive as I'd hoped. Some of the footage that had piqued my interest in various clips at YouTube didn't make the cut. (The material is presumably available on the deluxe edition.) And the finished product seems disjointed- it skips about randomly. My favorite bits include Donald Harrison creating a symphony with just his voice and a bucket on his front porch in post-Katrina New Orleans, Terence Blanchard's scathing insights, Bugge Wesseltoft's excellent performance and the opportunity to hear Courtney Pine speak for the first time. As anyone familiar with Plastic Sax already knows, I subscribe to the film's assertion that there's no shortage of essential jazz #BAM being played today even if hardly anyone is listening. Here's an eight-minute trailer for the film.


---
F*cked Up and Mission of Burma are the acts that have me excited about the 2012 edition of the Middle of the Map festival.

---
Don Cornelius loomed large in my childhood.

---
The new Leonard Cohen album is absurdly rewarding.

---
God bless the Free Music Archive. Check out Raw Music International's Kenyan Underground compilation.

---
The new music video for The Element makes Kansas City look beautiful. (Tip via Tony's Kansas City.)

---
Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

4 comments:

bigsteveno said...

Thanks for the heads-up on the Raw Music. Weird thing about the Leonard Cohen link -- the CD is $8.99 and the download is $10.99.

Happy In Bag said...

I've noticed similar price disparities in recent months, Steve. I wish there was a site that rated physical packaging. I'd spring for a hard copy of Old Ideas if I could confirm that it contained more than a thin four-page insert.

Gary said...

Thanks for the "Icons Among Us" tip, Bill. As much as a I stalk the library catalogue online that one slipped through the cracks. It's added to Shindler's list.

Happy In Bag said...

It may be a mess, Gary, but it's essential.