R.I.P. Country Joe McDonald

Impermanence is swift.

Muslimgauze

According to the New York Times, Kurdish forces in Iraq are preparing armed units that could enter Iran. The C.I.A. previously gave small arms to the Kurdish forces as part of a covert program to destabilize Iran even before the current war began, they report. 

The White House press secretary said reports that the president had any plan for the Kurds to launch an insurgency in Iran were “completely false,” so we know that it's true.

The Kurds, an ethnic group that stretches across parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, have long sought a national homeland, either as a state or through self-governed regions within other countries. But as the late British musician, Muslimgauze, points out, there is still no Kurdistan on the map. 

U.S. air strikes in western Iran have concentrated on locations near highways that run from the Iraqi border into Iran, hitting Islamic Revolutionary Guards facilities, police stations, and border-guard posts and communications towers. The bombing campaign would make an incursion by Kurdish forces from Iraq easier, reducing the strength of Iranian forces that could seek to stop the invasion.

The United States has a long history of abandoning the Kurds. After the 1991 Persian Gulf war, the United States encouraged a Kurdish uprising in Iraq, but then stood by as the Iraqi army slaughtered Kurdish forces. During his first term, the Stable Genius pulled back troops protecting Kurdish regions of northern Syria at Erdoğan's request so that Turkey could bomb the Kurds. 

Kurdish leaders are understandably hesitant to work with the U.S., given the potential costs to their people if the effort failed. Still, some Kurdish forces in Iraq have decided to go forward with a plan to send forces into Iran. Their hope is that once an insurgency is launched, local residents will join them. It is estimated there are 6 to 9 million Kurds among Iran's 90 million people.

Makaya McCraven and CJ Brinson & Family at Terminal West, Atlanta, March 3, 2026

Jazz at Terminal West! What a concept, and something I wasn't sure I'd ever see. I've been to TW countless times over the past decade, but it was almost always for indie rock bands. It was heartening to see jazz drummer Makaya McCraven booked there, and as equally heartening to see a good turnout in the venue. As Frank Zappa once said, "Jazz isn't dead, it just smells that way."

For reasons I know I don't understand, Atlanta doesn't have much of a jazz scene, so it was equally heartening to hear local openers, C.J. Brinson & Family, featuring Atlanta sax-man Kebbi Williams, with their feet planted firmly in modern jazz. 

The core band consists of drummer C.J. and cousins Preston and Brandon Stephens on bass and keys. While they're all good, the standout performance last night was Kebbi's tenor workout. The band played high-energy jazz with an emphasis on improv and open vamping, as featured on their excellent debut album, Constellation. Here's a video that was just released last Monday (March 2), the day before last night's show of one track from the album. 

Kebbi Williams is a fixture on Atlanta's improv music scene, such as it is, largely centered around the Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery. Propelled by C.J.'s skittering drums, he led the band through a great 40-minute set that had the audience roaring in approval.

The headliner was also led by a drummer, Makaya McCraven, who presented an all-star trio that also included Marquis Hill on trumpet and percussion and Junius Paul on bass.

 

Makaya is a powerhouse drummer, Hill was masterful with electronic effects on his trumpet playing, and Paul anchored everything together with his steady bass lines. It's easy to imagine how Makaya might overpower a band, especially an ensemble as delicate as a trio, but while there was never any ignoring his playing during the set, the bandleader made sure to let his support players get in their say. 

I've seen Makaya perform a couple of times before at Knoxville's Big Ears Festival, so it was a treat to see him here in the ATL. Here he is in Montreal back in 2022 with vibraphonist Joel Ross in addition to Paul and Hill.

I checked the schedule and, no, Terminal West hasn't become a jazz venue, and Atlanta is still first and foremost a hip-hop city. But last night's show was a real treat, both because of the singularity of this kind of performance and the outstanding quality of both bands. 

R.I.P. Éliane Radigue

Impermanence is swift.

The Things I Come Up With While Meditating

 

New Music Friday

"Phew and Danielle de Picciotto join forces for the first time on Paper Masks, out 20 February 2026. Developed over nearly five years between Tokyo and Berlin, the album fuses Phew's electronics and vocals with de Picciotto's poetry and voice, a collaboration born from experimentation, imagination and transformation."

K-Billy's Super Sounds of the '70s, Part 1

For Trio was released on March 1, 1978. The Trio, in this case, consisted of Anthony Braxton along with Henry Threadgill and Douglas Ewart. 

In March 1978, the U.S. music charts were dominated by the Bee Gees and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, with Night Fever and Stayin' Alive fighting for the top spot alongside Andy Gibb's (Love Is) Thicker Than Water. Other major hits included Eric Clapton's Lay Down Sally and Billy Joel's Just the Way You Are. I wasn't having any part of that shit back then, and had fully retreated into an alternative music universe of free and avant-garde jazz. My girlfriend, a hardcore folk music/Joni Mitchell fan, threatened to leave me if I ever played Braxton in her presence again. "Literally," she told me, "Anything but the Brax." So this was the sound of freedom and liberation to me.