By: JJ Sechan Have you ever listened to a piece of music that struck you as so off-putting that you had to leave the room, or worse, so overstimulating that you were ready to scream? You wouldn’t be alone! As Parisian audiences flooded into the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on May 29, 1913, to hear Stravinsky’s…
By: JJ Sechan After attaining celebrity status with the premieres of The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky was once more commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev to write a ballet, this time based on existing music by baroque Italian composers. What started as an insulting chore to the composer became a career-shifting journey of…
By: JJ Sechan Sadly, October saw the loss of several legendary musicians who have shaped the fabric of American music, including bassist Anthony Jackson and singer/multi-instrumentalist D’Angelo. However, today I want to mark the passing of Jack DeJohnette, whose inimitable drumming kicked off the fusion genre and redefined the role of a drummer as an…
