Tag: Vol. 22 No. 19

It’s hard to avoid thinking of Shrimp Boat as a benchmark by which to measure the decline of an “alternative” rock scene that has become more and more a marketplace for boring cliches about girls, boys, sex, drugs, rebellion, and so on. In a way, though, it’s unfair to compare SB to other rock acts, […]

The Pakistani-born Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is regarded as the greatest living exponent of qawwali, the devotional music of the mystical Sufi strain of Islam in southern Asia. Working with an ensemble of tabla drums, reed organ, and handclapping chorus, Nusrat sings the various lyrics of the Sufi devotional repertoire, which uses the images and […]

Referring to trumpeter Claudio Roditi as a “Brazilian jazzman” runs the same risk as calling the Cubs “perpetual contenders”–while technically true, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Yes, Roditi hails from Brazil, and his expertise in native rhythms serves him well in the multi-culti 90s. But this shouldn’t detract from Roditi’s credentials as a master […]

It’s not easy to describe or categorize Gerhard Stabler’s music. Take his druber…, for instance: Scored for “eight active screamers, violoncello, and tape,” the 20-minute work–whose title loosely translates as “beyond”–comments on the act of screaming and the emotions it conveys and evokes. In its first half, the screamers clamor for attention with their primal […]

This is a homecoming celebration for a major bluesman who left Chicago for Paris in the early 80s and has performed here precious few times since then. Allison cut his teeth in the 50s and 60s playing with such greats as Freddie King and Magic Sam, but he emerged into the “mainstream” (i.e., white) consciousness […]