Dec 17, 2024 9:58 AM
Tabla Master Zakir Hussain, 73, Succumbs to Illness
Tabla master Ustad Zakir Hussain, one of India’s reigning cultural ambassadors and a revered figure worldwide…
Reedist Tim Berne said he’s rethinking the way he books tours and runs a band in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic upending air travel.
(Photo: Courtesy of Artist)The uncertainty has made Berne think differently about running a band in the future.
“I don’t really want to front plane tickets on any tour anymore. … I’m going to think twice about that,” he said. “The other thing is, I’m also 65. So, I’ve been doing this for a while, and I’m in the latter part of my [career]. So, do I want to go to Europe five times a year, and travel around and fly all over the place? I’m a little hesitant about that in the immediate future, at least.”
Concerns over prices and lingering worries about the pandemic are compounding some musicians’ anxieties about returning to normal touring. And although vibraphonist Warren Wolf, who recently released Reincarnation on Mack Avenue, still has some gigs on the books, he’s got just as many reservations.
“I’m scheduled to play Dazzle at the end of July. And, you know, personally I have to talk with each one of my band members to see how they feel about flying,” Wolf said in April about a booking in Denver that has since been canceled. “And, you know, we have a gig actually right before—we play Vail. And I have to talk to each one of these guys; I’ll say, How do you guys feel, Number 1, about flying? They’ll say either yes or no. And then I have the next question: Once we get to [Colorado], how do you guys feel about all being in the car for two hours, all together? And, you know, it seems like most people are OK. Me personally, I live my life just moving forward. I mean, I understand the fear and what’s at stake. Eventually, I think, all of us are gonna have to deal with it, we’re gonna have to come out—sure, we’re going to take precautions. But we’re going to have to move past this at some point. Who knows when that will be.”
Dealing with rearranging other flights wasn’t problematic for Wolf, who, in addition to leading his own ensemble and playing in the SFJAZZ Collective, teaches at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He does, however, think that this moment’s instability requires a bit more understanding from carriers.
“I just wish the airlines would lighten up a little bit and just give most folks refunds … because giving us 12 months [to reschedule flights] is typically great,” he began, “but if it’s 12 months and we don’t exactly know what’s gonna happen in the future, then it’s kind of like, What’s up?” DB
“Watching people like Max Roach or Elvin Jones and seeing how they utilize the whole drum kit in a very rhythmic and melodic way and how they stretched time — that was a huge inspiration to me,” Hussain said in DownBeat.
Dec 17, 2024 9:58 AM
Tabla master Ustad Zakir Hussain, one of India’s reigning cultural ambassadors and a revered figure worldwide…
“I love doing ballads,” Mike Stern says. “It’s just a part of me, some part of emotionally how I feel sometimes.”
Dec 3, 2024 12:52 PM
Stories of major shifts and rebirths among musicians during the past five years are common, from weathering the…
Queen Latifah extols Harlem and the Apollo Theater at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors.
Dec 12, 2024 1:58 AM
Cuban-American jazz trumpet legend Arturo Sandoval and Harlem’s Apollo Theater were among the honorees at the 2024…
“With jazz I thought it must be OK to be Black, for the first time,” says singer Sofia Jernberg.
Jan 2, 2025 10:50 AM
On Musho (Intakt), her recent duo album with pianist Alexander Hawkins, singer Sofia Jernberg interprets traditional…
Robertson had a penetrating, pliant sound with a remarkable softness at its center.
Dec 11, 2024 10:34 AM
Herb Robertson, a trumpeter and flugelhornist known for his wide-lens explorations of the avant-garde, died Dec. 10. He…
