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Giovanni Russonello

Articles written by the author

Kenya The New York Times world
19 Aug 2024
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is starting to stand out in Iowa, as Friday’s New York Times/Siena College poll shows. But she isn’t standing alone — at least not yet.
5 Takeaways From the Latest Iowa Poll
Kenya The New York Times entertainment
18 Aug 2024
WASHINGTON — Receiving a Jazz Master accolade from the National Endowment for the Arts this spring at the Kennedy Center, Abdullah Ibrahim delivered his acceptance speech in under two minutes. The South African pianist thanked his mother and grandmother, then his fellow musicians and fans. All of them had fed his quest, he said, “to strive for perfection.”
Abdullah Ibrahim: A Lifetime of Dreams and Resistance at the Piano
Kenya The New York Times entertainment
18 Aug 2024
If jazz for you means tradition and inheritance, maybe Herbie Hancock can change your mind. At the very least, he’d like to make you think twice about what “tradition” means. The pianist and composer has never been interested in upholding any stylistic conventions — “I like to break things,” he said when we spoke last week — but he does insist on a few trusty ideals. For him, jazz will always mean cross-pollination, adventurism and faith in what’s ahead.
Herbie Hancock Is Still Breaking Rules
Kenya The New York Times entertainment
18 Aug 2024
The name Blue Note Records calls to mind a once-regnant sound in jazz: the hard-bop of the 1950s and ’60s, with its springy four-beat swing rhythm, its spare-but-lush horn harmonies, its flinty, percussive piano playing. Imagine a smoky room with a horn player blowing fiercely over a strolling standup bass, and you’re hearing the Blue Note sound. Think of a modernist, cobalt-hued album cover, with blocky title text and a photo of a studious young musician hunkered over an instrument, and you’...
Blue Note Records at 80: Can a Symbol of Jazz's Past Help Shape Its Future?
Kenya The New York Times entertainment
18 Aug 2024
<em xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The most storied label in jazz turns 80 this year. This is some of the music that shaped its legacy.</em>
Kenya The New York Times entertainment
18 Aug 2024
Nat King Cole made some of the most ubiquitous recordings in American history as a star for Capitol Records in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. But the vast trove of music he recorded in the years before joining Capitol has always remained something of a mystery.
Kenya The New York Times world
17 Aug 2024
Dorothy Masuka, a vocalist and songwriter who blazed a trail for female pop stars in South Africa and became a dogged advocate of the struggle against apartheid, died Saturday at her home in Johannesburg. She was 83.
Dorothy Masuka, South African Singer and Activist, Dies at 83
Kenya The New York Times world
17 Aug 2024
Kiyoshi Koyama, widely regarded as Japan’s pre-eminent jazz journalist, who covered the music’s development throughout the 1960s and ‘70s before becoming a producer of archival albums, died Feb. 3 in Kashiwa, Japan. He was 82.
Kenya The New York Times world
26 May 2024
Support for removing President Donald Trump from office has leapt since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened an impeachment inquiry against him, but his Republican backers appear to represent an increasingly loyal minority, according to polls released this week.
Impeachment Polls Show a Steady Rise in Support
Kenya The New York Times world
26 May 2024
Support for removing President Donald Trump from office has leapt since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened an impeachment inquiry against him, but his Republican backers appear to represent an increasingly loyal minority, according to polls released this week.
Support for Impeachment Is Rising, Polls Show
Kenya The New York Times world
9 Oct 2021
Oliver Mtukudzi, whose singing and guitar playing harnessed influences from across Southern Africa to create the most popular musical style in Zimbabwe, died Jan. 23 in Harare, the nation’s capital. He was 66.
Kenya The New York Times world
10 Aug 2021
Clydie King, whose peppery but plain-spoken backing vocals helped define hits like the Rolling Stones’ “Tumbling Dice,” Linda Ronstadt’s “You’re No Good” and — despite her reservations about it — Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama,” died Jan. 7 in Monrovia, California. She was 75.