5 questions and answers with Jeff Miers

on October 10, 2014 - 1:24 PM, updated October 10, 2014 at 1:36 PM
News Pop Music Critic Jeff Miers chats with readers at buffalonews.com every Friday. Here are some of the best questions and answers from this week’s session, in which Miers touches on jazz, changing the world and the Wiggles.

Soapdish: Hey now, Jeff!! I hated missing Esperanza Spalding last night; ticket price a little too steep for me at this point in time. Do you think lack of jazz radio in Buffalo had something to do with the sparse attendance you reported?

Miers: Hey man! Yes, I really do. Radio support makes a huge difference, unquestionably. But jazz in general seems to be getting short shrift. Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter didn’t sell out the Center for the Arts either, and that is just surreal. And by surreal, I mean, WHAAAAAT? The ticket prices were in keeping with what these artists get in other similar markets. I understand about times being tough and cash being tight, believe me. But still – Fleetwood Mac will fill the arena and the very best seats are $180 each! Great band, obviously, but …

Dan: Hi Jeff. I would like to talk about the new Pink Floyd album. David Gilmour said it was the last music of Pink Floyd. At this stage of their game, it is honorable, they haven’t made an album in years, and I very much enjoyed David Gilmour’s “On An Island,” one of my favess. I still feel melancholy about the ends of bands with tenures like that. What do you think?

Miers: I am with you on “On An Island.” I loved that album, and the tour that followed it was outstanding. I wish that Gilmour and Waters could mend fences and work together, but it just is not likely to happen. I’m glad they are putting out the final Rick Wright recordings as an ode to him. They have not tried to pretend that this is anything other than what it is - instrumental recordings started in the studio, and finished later.

read more: http://www.buffalonews.com/gusto/music/5-questions-and-answers-with-jeff-miers-20141010