Three great releases of lost concerts by Duke Ellington Orchestra, John Taylor & Stan Sulzman, and Joe Henderson
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In praise of failure
Andy Hedgecock interviews novelist LARS IYER on the publication of his new book My Weil, and the need for robust friendships in terrible times
[David Hall]
To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
If you can see past the relentless commodification you will be rewarded by enormously powerful work, suggests JENNY MITCHELL
CHRIS SEARLE revels in the one-off collaboration between an American polymath and a British Muslim, and detects the presence of their revolutionary forebear
GORDON PARSONS revels in an ebullient production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a thoughtful analysis of the Erdogan regime, viewed through the evolving history of a neighbourhood in Istanbul
GORDON PARSONS regrets the price, but is dazzled by an outstandingly ambitious study of the way art restoration in particular, and culture in general was weaponised by the Nazis
THE late EL Doctorow lamented the narrowness of contemporary fiction, suggesting it has “given up the realm of public discourse and the social and political novel.”
The work of Lars Iyer belies Doctorow’s pessimism. Iyer’s stories are unflinching examinations of the commodification and plunder of our economy, society and culture. What’s more, he’s one of very few writers to make me laugh out loud on the bus to work.
“Laughter is important — it’s necessary to breathe,” says Iyer, citing the Romanian philosopher EM Cioran’s view of writing as an escape from the suffocation of oppression.
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