About a year ago, I began writing Thinking Slowly, a blog about the implications of social science research for
politics in this country. Unfortunately, I've been inactive for
several months while recovering from an injury. In the last few
days, I've resumed Thinking Slowly. While I'm feeling ambitious, now is a good time to start writing about music.
Blues and the Abstract Truth will be
about my two favorite musical genres, jazz and blues. Blues is
defined broadly to include rhythm and blues and soul music. Other
musical genres may slip in occasionally. I'll be writing about blues and jazz from the beginnings of recorded music up to and including
the present, but you'll find that I'm strongly imprinted on the
post-World War II period—roughly between 1945 and 1970—when when
both of these musical forms exploded in both creativity and
popularity.
You can expect to read reviews of
recent jazz and blues CDs (although I don't hear as much new music as
when I was a disc jockey and I got to listen to all the free stuff
the record companies sent to the radio station.) I'll comment on live
performances I've seen. (I live in Pittsburgh, which has struggling
blues and jazz scenes.) I'll also try to keep you posted on the
latest blues and jazz news. Sadly, that news often includes
obituaries of both prominent and obscure musicians.
In the past, I've discovered that it's
much easier to write about music history than to write about the music
itself. It often seems that I lack the vocabulary to explain why I
like a particular piece of music. I hope you'll bear with me as I
try to learn how to express myself as a music reviewer.
The name of the blog honors the 1961
Impulse LP by composer, arranger and saxophone player Oliver Nelson,
which you can listen to in its entirety on You Tube—and I hope you
will. In spite of my fondness for the title, it will be obvious that
most of what's written here is opinion rather than “abstract
truth.” I look forward to reading your questions, comments and
criticisms.
Last January through June, I posted
five articles about music on Thinking Slowly. I've moved them over
here, where they are a much better fit.
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