I've written a review 'in brief' of Judith Tick's new Ella Fitzgerald biography for the latest Prospect - an exceptional book worthy of your attention, at last the definitive Ella.

prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/books/…

The inner workings of Sonny Rollins' brain - my review of the Rollins Notebooks for The Spectator World

thespectator.com/book-and-art/u…

Out today! My piece about Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind exhibition at Tate for the April issue of Prospect

prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/65025/…

“Nobody could write uncomplicated affirmation like Bernstein…tonality for him could never just be blind affirmation. Composition needed to express doubt and disorientation, too; affirmation sometimes needed to be tested against uncertainty.” —Philip Clark go.nybooks.com/3vOvn9t

My review of Will Hermes' fine new biography of Lou Reed for The Spectator World

thespectator.com/book-and-art/l…

Rethinking Leonard Bernstein and modern music in the light of a problematic biopic - my essay for The New York Review of Books

nybooks.com/articles/2024/…

Our 2/8 issue is now online, with Philip Clark on Bernstein and Maestro, David Cole on cancel culture, Laura Kolbe on that time of the month, Vivian Gornick on Lore Segal, Geoffrey O’Brien on hard-boiled gumshoes, and much more. go.nybooks.com/47zAcAJ

James Bond is a man of mystery—and so was his author, Ian Fleming.

Does a new biography of Fleming finally get to the bottom of this undemonstrative man?

Not quite, says Philip Clark:

prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/64485/…

From Claudio Monteverdi to John Butcher, via Pharoah Sanders, Beethoven and the much-missed Jaimie Branch - my albums of the year for Prospect

prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/64365/…

A piece for Prospect about the past, present and possible futures of minimalism, riffing off an excellent new book by Will Robin and Kerry O'Brien.

prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/music/…

Philip Clark (Philip Clark) on the lines Chuck Berry crossed go.nybooks.com/3EWWPTJ

My piece about Chuck Berry for the latest issue of The New York Review of Books

nybooks.com/articles/2023/…

Found this in an old (1829) Harlem newspaper and thought you’d like it Olivia Smith

It's 2023, & a dim smirking man thinks the acceptable way to win a political argument with a woman is to dismiss her as someone he wouldn't want to shag.

Fox gets away with stunning sexism Ava-Santina as GB News presenter Dan Wootton finds it funny too.

Act, Ofcom.

Next Dispatches...

Star Wars, 1923

A newly reissued 1977 record by Pharoah Sanders, @adamshatz writes, “finds depth in simplicity, a sense of radiant presence in the ephemeral.” go.nybooks.com/3PPNhz5

Composers looking for a subject - this is a GIFT.

So did anyone in 1994 collect their FREE Blue Note watch?

Wire subscribers can read Robert Barry's cover featured interview with Áine O'Dwyer from March 2017 via our online library:

reader.exacteditions.com/issues/55209/s…