No Song is Safe From Us

No Song Is Safe From Us - The NYFOS Blog
 |  Joe Nocera

When Native Dancer was first released in 1974, it was marketed as a Wayne Shorter album. That made a certain undeniable sense: an alumnus of one of Miles Davis’s greatest groups (it also included Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams and Ron Carter), Shorter was by then part of the wildly popular jazz fusion band Weather Report. Native Dancer was sold […]




 |  Joe Nocera

If you read my final New York Times op-ed column on Tuesday, you know that it drives me batty that American’s greatest opera company won’t perform America’s greatest opera. It has been nearly a quarter of a century since the Metropolitan Opera last put on a production of Porgy and Bess. Am I the only one who finds […]




 |  Joe Nocera

It is not exactly news that Adam Guettel is a composer of immense talent.  The grandson of Richard Rodgers (one is required to note that when writing about Guettel), he has a transcendent melodic gift, and has written more than his fair share of gorgeous theater songs. Alas, Guettel, at 50, has had only three […]




 |  Joe Nocera

On March 7, 1965, Louis Armstrong was in Denmark, where he watched in horror the televised images of civil rights marchers in Selma being brutally attacked by police. When Danish reporters asked Armstrong for his reaction, he said angrily that he had become “physically ill” watching the beatings, and added, “They would beat Jesus if […]




 |  Joe Nocera

I fell in love with Joyce Moreno—musically, that is—two years ago when I stumbled into Birdland one evening in search of a Brazilian music fix. The well-known composer-singer Dori Caymmi (“Obsession; “The Look of Love”) was playing that night, and his group included a special guest from Rio de Janiero, a woman known only as […]




 |  Joe Nocera

Today’s Song of the Day selection comes from New York Times columnist Joe Nocera: When Native Dancer was first released in 1974, it was marketed as a Wayne Shorter album. That made a certain undeniable sense: an alumnus of one of Miles Davis’s greatest groups (it also included Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams and Ron Carter), Shorter was by […]




 |  Joe Nocera

Today’s Song of the Day selection comes from New York Times columnist Joe Nocera: If you read my final New York Times op-ed column on Tuesday, you know that it drives me batty that American’s greatest opera company won’t perform America’s greatest opera. It has been nearly a quarter of a century since the Metropolitan Opera last put […]




 |  Joe Nocera

Today’s Song of the Day selection comes from New York Times columnist Joe Nocera: It is not exactly news that Adam Guettel is a composer of immense talent.  The grandson of Richard Rodgers (one is required to note that when writing about Guettel), he has a transcendent melodic gift, and has written more than his fair share of […]




 |  Joe Nocera

Today’s Song of the Day selection comes from New York Times columnist Joe Nocera: On March 7, 1965, Louis Armstrong was in Denmark, where he watched in horror the televised images of civil rights marchers in Selma being brutally attacked by police. When Danish reporters asked Armstrong for his reaction, he said angrily that he had become “physically […]




 |  Joe Nocera

We’re excited to have New York Times columnist Joe Nocera join us to curator this week’s Song of the Day. Welcome, Joe!  From Joe Nocera: I fell in love with Joyce Moreno—musically, that is—two years ago when I stumbled into Birdland one evening in search of a Brazilian music fix. The well-known composer-singer Dori Caymmi (“Obsession; “The […]