Robert Baird

Robert Baird

A longtime resident of Brooklyn, NY, Robert Baird holds degrees in Creative Writing and Journalism from the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. He has spent the past three decades creating vital, appealing content both under his own byline and as editor. Eager to share his experience, Robert teaches music, film, and digital design at CUNY Hostos in the South Bronx, NY.

Is the CD making a comeback?

Vinyl LP pressing plants are churning out records at such a clip they're routinely backed up for six months or more. The once discredited LP has now become one of the few revenue centers for the record business outside of streaming. And now the thunderclap! The format predicted by a tenacious few since the invention of the MP3 - the lowly CD - has for the moment arrested its decline and is again posting sales gains. Defenders of the CD rejoice! Vindication is here! Or is it? Is the long slide really over?

The expanding power of women in jazz

In jazz, as in most other forms of popular music, it's women who are bringing the new and much needed energies to the cause of keeping the music relevant and important. Three recent releases, all of which vaguely fit under the moniker of jazz, are striking examples of the artistry and ideas that women are bringing to music today. In 1979, singer songwriter Joni Mitchell famously collaborated with jazz-bass visionary Charles Mingus just prior to his death on a record she called simply: Mingus. Filled with compositions written by Mingus for Mitchell, it remains a highlight of the more experimental phase of her long career. Mitchell herself has long been a frequent source of material for female jazz singers, including Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, and Holly Cole. The genesis of Both Sides of Joni began in rehearsals in the late Janiece Jaffe's barn in southern Indiana between the singer and her longtime friend, Monika Herzig, both faculty members at Indiana University's world renown music school. After sufficient time to work on the new arrangements by Herzig, the pair played the material live in March 2021 before heading into Airtime Studios in Bloomington, Indiana, to cut these by then well-honed tracks. Given the amount of Mitchell covers already recorded and out there, most singers will try and find a more obscure tune by the prodigious Canadian singer/songwriter to put their stamp on. But Jaffe and Herzig confidently wade right into a Mitchell Best-Of with upbeat versions of "Help Me," "Both Sides Now" and "River", all becoming an unqualified success in their respectful hands. The opener "Both Sides Now" is taken at a leisurely pace with saxophonist Greg Ward, another IU faculty member who has played with Prefuse 73, Tortoise, and William Parker, adding haunting sax solos while Herzig stretches out on piano. Ward returns on "Help Me," providing the mournful opening solo, before a stately, almost marching tempo by Herzig takes over. Jaffe carries the melody, aided by overdubs of her singing trio harmonies. This all adds up to a refreshingly different take on Mitchell's biggest hit.

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