#Lester St. Louis

[sinceileftyoublog]

jaimie branch Album Review: Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war))

(International Anthem)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Though the late trumpeter and composer jaimie branch's third album Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) is a final statement, it's even more effective as an eternal one. It begins with keyboards that sound like church organs, an eerily somber sonic manifestation of irrevocability. As Chad Taylor's rolling drums enter, branch gives us one of her trademark trumpet blares, as if to announce, "I'm here." She wasn't one to spend much more time announcing her presence, though--the track segues into an Afro-Latin style jam, clacking percussion and horns in line with Lester St. Louis' nervy bowed cello. ((world war)) from then on spends most of its runtime just the way branch liked it, in a groove, with some breaks along the way to remind us of the urgency of the moment.

The story behind ((world war)) is bound to become lore. It was recorded in April 2022 during branch's artist residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha. It was almost completed when she unexpectedly passed away later that year; her sister Kate, family, friends, and International Anthem then finished the album as they envisioned branch would have. It's branch's finest statement, both in terms of sonic virtuosity and cohesive ideality. On tracks like "borealis dancing" and "baba louie", the band stunningly changes rhythm and style halfway through, to shuffling hip-hop and funk on the former and from calypso to drippy jazz dub on the latter. Lead single "take over the world" is a masterclass in controlled chaos. branch repeats the refrains "Gonna take over the world / and give it back to the land" with stutters and trills, shouting koans atop simmering cello, driving drums, and Jason Ajemian's chugging bass. Eventually, branch puts delay pedal on her voice, sounding like something straight out of Kid A, uncanny but comforting and hopeful instead of glacial and isolating.

Perhaps the standout track on ((world war)) is "burning grey", which sees branch deliver more mantras atop the musical propulsion, howling like a wolf while begging us, "don't forget the fight". It's when she repeats "I wish I had the time" that she not only unintentionally breaks our hearts, given the context, but puts the onus on us to continue what she started. Midway through, the song collapses in on itself, almost a show of what happens when you do forget the communal mission of the human condition. branch was always inspiring, but on ((world war)), she galvanizes us into action.

[dustedmagazine]

Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones — New Monuments (We Jazz)

The great DC artist, audio scholar and activist Thomas Stanley once described Sun Ra’s concept of the Alter Destiny as “a small chunk of language, a key unlocking large powers and capacities that will allow us to realize sustainable futures that are not subordinate to the same imperial regime that fucked up our planet in the first place. History is the plantation, abolitionist Ra reminds us, and it is time to break loose from these chains and leave.” This is a particularly resonant message today, in an era of late capitalism, deteriorating institutions and genocidal warfare. Yet, the inevitable future promised to us by this seemingly unending quagmire presents a sense of stability in its repetition of failures that enables many of its subjects to cling to its promise even as we further careen into the abyss. Amirtha Kidambi is not one of those people, and in the five years since her previous release with her group Elder Ones — a period marked by the pandemic, the George Floyd protests, and a rapidly-encroaching American fascism — her resolve has only been strengthened. Their record New Monuments is a battle cry for building not a better future, but a different future entirely, one free from the ghosts of colonialism and imperialism.

Kidambi has a background in both new music and DIY, and navigating these disparate worlds has informed her unique approach to improvised music. This is on full display on the opening track “Third Space,” on which Kidambi sings with punk-inflected energy while maintaining complete control and authority over her vocals. The track takes its name from influential postcolonial theorist Homi K. Bhabha’s concept of a liminal space in which, in the context of colonial ambivalence, different cultures interact with each other. The (very) basic gist of this theory is that, in post-colonial society,  culture is constantly moving, never one singular thing and never the property of any singular people. In turn, on this track, and the album as a whole, Kidambi defies any essentialized notion of “Indian music” or Indian jazz (which has become yet another needlessly limiting genre term in this “spiritual jazz” era), and not just by invoking Bhabha. From the moment the record kicks off, new agey world music treacle is left behind on another planet entirely.

On this record, Kidambi is backed by a top group of New York improvisers, including Elder Ones mainstay Matt Nelson on soprano saxophone alongside cellist Lester St. Louis, known for his work in the late Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die group, and Jason Nazary, frequent collaborator of Darius Jones and one half of Jaimie Branch’s Anteloper group. Rounding out the quintet is Eva Lawitts, whose propulsive basswork pushes the multi-part compositions on the album forward. On album centerpiece “Farmer’s Day” the band balances a modal, in-the-pocket groove with loose improvisation, with a particularly dazzling solo from Nazary showing off his impressive and dynamic range as a percussionist. After this solo, the song slows to a crawl as Kidambi invokes the now-yearslong protest movement of Indian farmers against a series of bills designed to weaken working farmers and benefit corporations: “We work from cradle to grave / conditioned like a slave.” This is protest music, as clear in its radical intentions as it can be, but the Elder Ones find plenty of room for beauty in struggle. This is especially true on the title track, which has a synth line that, if isolated, would call to mind the devotional music Alice Coltrane recorded in the 80s. Kidambi asks “in the end is history always doomed to repeat?” The answer she arrives at for this unanswerable question is to “build new monuments to new futures,” an affirmation of the Alter Destiny. Though the struggle is neverending, these new futures are still well within our capabilities. All it takes is a level of fearlessness, something Amirtha Kidambi has shown in spades on this record.

by Levi Dayan

[outofcontextdanandphil]

Dnp destroying the 2024 shared tour bus bedroom hill with horrible top/bottom innuendos

[wholesomednp]

More cute pics i haven't seen here yet x x

[terribleinfluensins]

terrible influence tour confessions archive

ST. LOUIS! submit the sins read aloud at your show by filling out this form ✰

UPDATE: 5/5 found! woo!

[re-pholden-pheal]

oh this pre show is TOP TIER

[starredhowell]

stl tit preshow on twitter!

[jgthirlwell]

06.08.24 Rebekah Heller's Bassoon Ensemble perform The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc, by Julius Eastman, arranged for bassoons by Rebekah. Performers included Maribel Alonso, Trey Coudret, Alexander Davis, Ryan Ghassemi, Joy Guidry, Stephanie Patterson, Sara Schoenbeck, Jamael Smith, Joseph Swift and Francisca Wright. Conducted by Lester St Louis, performed at the Fridman Gallery NYC.

[catharsisincreation]

Any STL Dip & Pip fans wanting to make a groupchat and meet up at the show???

[spilladabalia]

jaimie branch - take over the world

[broadwaydivastournament]

Movie Musical Divas Tournament: Quarterfinals

Judy Garland (1922-1969) Esther Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) | Vicki Lester in A Star is Born (1954) | Hannah Brown in Easter Parade (1948) | Susan Bradley in The Harvey Girls (1946) Additional musicals/singing roles include: Strike Up the Band (1940), Little Nellie Kelly (1940), Ziegfeld Girl (1941), Babes on Broadway (1941), For Me and My Gal (1942), A Star is Born (1954), etc.

"i am sure someone else already submitted her but i had to be sure. the icon the ravishing beauty the scrungly little gal." - anonymous

Eartha Kitt (1927-2008): New Faces (1954, Miss Kitt) | St Louis Blues (1958, Gogo Germaine) Additional musicals/singing roles include: The Chastity Belt (1972)

"YES! Even though she faced bewildering amounts of Hollywood racism, the winner of the Hot & Vintage Movie Women Tournament DID manage to do a couple of movie musicals: New Faces, a fluffy backstage-hijinks thing in which she plays her classic chanteuse persona and is even addressed as "Miss Kitt", and St Louis Blues, a musical biopic in which she sings alongside a bunch of other jazz greats. Neither of the films is considered a masterpiece, but Eartha is as scorchingly hot as always, and demonstrates that she could have become a legend in movie musicals if the roles had been there for her. In short, vote for Eartha Kitt because (1) she has JUST ENOUGH credits to count as a movie musical diva, (2) think of all the other Eartha Kitt movie musicals we COULD have had if not for racism, and (3) she's Eartha Kitt, certifiably the hottest old movie woman. Please and thank you." - anonymous

This is Round 5 (quarterfinals) of the Movie Musical Divas tournament. Additional polls in this round may be found by searching #mmround5, or by clicking the link below. Add your propaganda and support by reblogging this post.

ADDITIONAL PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA UNDER CUT: ALL POLLS HERE

Judy Garland:

"I was so surprised to discover that no one has submitted propaganda for Judy Garland yet! Unless the list hasn't been updated, in which case, never mind. But either way, here are some of my favorite Judy moments:

This version of Old Man River hits me square in the feels, holy crapProof that not only was she an unbelievable singer, but she could keep up with both Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire on the dance floor!

She was such an icon and a massive inspiration for me! She definitely deserves to go far in this tournament!!" - @mygreatadventurehasbegun

Photos and video provided by: @mygreatadventurehasbegun

Eartha Kitt:

Photos and video submitted by: anonymous

[doyouknowthisactor]

By "roles" I mean playing a different character, and in a different piece of media; someone playing one character across a franchise only counts as one thing for the purposes of this poll, as does playing multiple characters in one franchise/piece of media

Please only consider acting roles, and not music-only performances

Below are some of this actor's roles. Please only check after voting!

The Wizard of Oz as Dorothy Gale

Judgement at Nuremberg as Irene Hoffman (Oscar nomination)

A Star is Born 1954 as Vicki Lester (Oscar nomination)

Meet Me in St Louis as Esther Smith

Garland was the mother of actors Liza Minnelli and Lorna Luft

[dustedmagazine]

Fly or Die — Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) (International Anthem)

Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) by jaimie branch

In an oft-referenced interview with Aquarium Drunkard, jaimie branch – an innovative and dynamic trumpet player, composer and bandleader who didn’t like capital letters – said that she’d initially shied away from the vulnerable emotional component of improvised music, “because I thought it was cheesy or corny or something like that. Like playing a simple melody is probably not something I would have done in 2007 or 2008.” 

Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)), the last record by the branch-led quartet Fly or Die, released almost exactly a year after her death on August 22, 2022, is marked by just these sorts of simple melodic phrases. You can understand why a young, punkish, avant-garde artist might avoid crowd-pleasing earworms, but emotional sincerity suited branch well. As she put it, she meant every note that she played.

Lead track “aurora rising” opens with the sound of an organ (convincing, though it’s really branch on keyboard) dirgy at one end and bright at the other, laughing, almost, over Chad Taylor’s stormy timpani. branch announces herself with a regal flourish of trumpet. It’s a moment of almost smirking formality before the organ marches into “borealis dancing,” bringing bassist Jason Ajemian and cellist Lester St. Louis along into a heavy Latin groove.

Through the rousing major chords of the first half of “baba louie,” branch’s ebullient trumpet dances along with sparkling percussion, then the song dramatically shifts to showcase the sultry end of branch’s vocal range. We hear another side of her on the clamoring, frantic “take over the world.” It’s not without a little well-aimed menace that she vows to give the world “back back back back to the la la la land.” A version of the Meat Puppets’ “Comin’ Down” (here titled “the mountain” ) – a track which feels both out of place and well-placed on the record – we hear yet another side of branch as she harmonizes with the handsomely-voiced Ajemian.

branch’s work was always characterized by seamless genre fluidity, thanks to a  mishmash of influences. She was born in New York to a  Colombian mother and then raised in Chicago; she picked up  trumpet from her brother and was naturally very good at it. Her family introduced her to Michael Jackson and the Beastie Boys  and Streisand and Elvis, and then she discovered punk, grunge and Ornette Coleman. Throughout her life, she collaborated with many different artists and made music that sounded both familiar and excitingly new. She was, by all accounts, a great listener, as one in her artistic position would have to be.

Political protest was baked into her music, often in very explicit ways. Performing “prayer for amerikkka pt 1&2,” from 2019’s FLY or DIE II: bird dogs of paradise in Switzerland, she reminded her audience, “it’s not always time to be neutral.”

Speaking truth to power (or audiences, anyway) is one thing, but branch engaged in the arguably more difficult political project of community-building. On the snakey, heart-thumping “burning grey” she warns that there are people out there who will tear your heart out without a second thought. “Everything feels broken,” she sings, but “trust me/just for one moment/believe me/the future lives inside us/don’t forget to fight/don’t forget to fight/don’t forget/don’t forget/don’t forget.” She lets out a wolf-like howl, and I believe her.

Margaret Welsh

[outofcontextdanandphil]

Ok Nick and Charlie

[terribleinfluence-tour]

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[the1920sinpictures]

August, 1916 Lester and Helen Henderson in their front yard at 4006 Lincoln Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri. From Vintage America Uncovered, FB.