Other Voices, Other Rooms

At Photowehrks, Jason Lehr – Nippertown contributor and an ace photographer – reviews the Figgs’ annual holiday show at Valentine’s Music Hall in Albany last week. And along the way he offers a batch of snappy color shots of the Figgs and another black & white set of opening act the Charlie Watts Riots.

We’ve previously tipped you to Sebastien Barre’s views of the “Critical Stitch” group exhibition at Union College’s Mandeville Gallery in Schenectady. Now David Brickman weighs in with his insights on the exhibit at Get Visual. Check it out while you still can – the last day of the exhibition is Sunday.

Over at AlbanyJazz.com, Nippertown contributor J Hunter serves up his Capital Region State of Jazz report by listing his Five Best Jazz Shows of 2010 and passing out a bunch of awards to such folks as Sal Prizio, Tess Collins and Joe Barna to such revered venues as the Van Dyck, SPAC’s Gazebo and Skidmore College’s Zankel Music Center.

Also at AlbanyJazz.com, a half dozen contributors weigh in with their candidates for the Top Five Jazz Albums of 2010. And a quartet of contributing photographers – including Nippertown.com’s own Andrzej Pilarczyk – select their Top Five Jazz Photographs of 2010, too.

At Ramblin’ With Roger, Roger Green offers up his own ode to Nipper with “V is for Victor and Voice.”

And while we’re still in a Zappa-esque – which is pretty much all of the time, but especially after last night’s sold-out Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa show at The Egg – we’d like to recommend uber-producer Don Was’ column in this week’s Detroit Metro Times, which waxes nostalgic about Zappa’s classic “Freak Out” album and the death of the art of liner notes. With a tip of the hat to Andy Maroney…