Jazz
St. Vincent Shares New Song “The Eddy” From Damien Chazelle’s Netflix Series: Stream
St. Vincent, Austin City Limits 2018, photo by Amy Price Damien Chazelle’s new series The Eddy has finally landed on Netflix. But, so has its soundtrack, which is currently streaming over on Spotify. Among the many jazzy selections is the show’s title track sung by the one and only St. Vincent. Those twiddling their thumbs for new music from Annie Clark should be stoked at this one. “The Eddy” gives Clark a chance to put down the guitar and zero in on the sultry side of her vocals, which sound primed for a James Bond film. Stream the track below. If you need more St. Vinny content, Clark recently launched that new Shower Sessions podcast, and also covered Prince’s “Controversy” for the star-studded collection, Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince. [embedded content] As for The Eddy,...
Kamasi Washington Scored the Michelle Obama Documentary Becoming
Multi-instrumentalist and jazz composer Kamasi Washington has written the score for the new Michelle Obama documentary Becoming. The Netflix film drops today, while the score will be released on May 15th. Based on the former First Lady’s memoir of the same name, Becoming picks up where the 2018 book left off, following Obama on a 34-city promotional tour while revisiting some of the memoir’s most striking moments. It was directed by Nadia Hallgren, who knew she wanted to work with Kamasi Washington before she put the book down. She said in a statement, “Mrs. Obama loves music, and when I read the line in her book ‘And heaven, as I envisioned it, had to be a place full of jazz,’ I knew immediately Kamasi was the artist that could interpret her experience musically.” In a press rel...
Damien Chazelle’s Netflix Series The Eddy Is A Mess Without the Music: Review
The Pitch: The Academy Award-winning wunderkind director Damien Chazelle has made his name largely on films all about jazz, from his 2009 indie debut Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench to 2014’s searing music-school drama Whiplash and to 2016’s widescreen musical throwback La La Land. But with The Eddy, he’s one of the lead behind-the-scenes voices on an eight-episode limited streaming series set largely in a smoky Parisian nightclub whose creative leader is a mercurial ex-jazz pianist (André Holland) with a dark past, a troubled daughter, and thugs threatening him. So, to paraphrase Barton Fink, it’s an Oscar-winning director, one of the best actors of his generation, and Netflix. Whaddya need, a road map? The Language of Music: The first thing to know about The Eddy is that, apparentl...
A Lesson on Failing With the Worst Orchestra in the World
Listen via Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Radio Public The Portsmouth Sinfonia billed themselves as “indisputably, the worst orchestra in the world.” They have brought joy into the lives of millions. In the fifth episode of Ghost Echoes, we learn about the importance and healing effects of failure. For more episodes of Ghost Echoes, subscribe now! Follow on Facebook | Twitter | Podchaser Music and Sound Notes: — The recording of Vivaldi’s Concerto for two trumpets heard here is NOT Matthew Parsons and his colleague Glenn Skelton. It is in fact Michel Rondeau (presumably double tracked) and organist Alaine Letendre, sourced from Musopen. — Here’s Chi-Chi Nwanoku’s BBC performance of Failing by Tom Johnson. — The snippets heard shortly after are from “It Never Entered My Mind” perform...
Center Stage Gave Us Zoe Saldana, Mandy Moore, and the Dance Film of a Generation
On May 12, 2000 many lives were changed forever. But most of us didn’t know it, because we were too young to get ourselves to a movie theater without a ride from our parents. On May 12, 2000, the motion picture Center Stage came to theaters. The teen movie focuses on Jody Sawyer and her fellow students at the American Ballet Academy (ABA). Only the best of the best get in, and every student is fighting for a spot in the company. Unfortunately Jody has bad feet, but is reluctantly accepted into the school because of her stage presence. Along the way, Jody discovers jazz, and has a romantic relationship with Cooper Nielsen, the male star of the company and teacher. In that a man helps a woman discover jazz, it’s sort of like La La Land, but more deserving of accidentally being announced as t...