Franco Ambrosetti In Splendid Company  For his album Long Waves, the Italian trumpeter and flugelhornist assembles a group of contemporaries to play his compositions and a couple of cherished standard songs. Ambrosetti’s fluid improvisations, sometimes with a Miles Davis bent, are consistently impressive. – Doug Ramsey
Pusillanimous Pussyfooters: Museums Object Mildly to the (unattributed) Threats to Iran’s Cultural Sites  It was disheartening to realize that almost all of the statements issued yesterday by museums and their professional organizations “condemn[ing] the targeting of cultural sites for destruction” failed to cast blame for those shameful threats directly where the blame lies — on President Trump. – Lee Rosenbaum
JFK’s Cold War Cultural Dogma — and Where It Came From  During the cultural Cold War, President John F. Kennedy delivered eloquent speeches claiming that only “free societies” fostered great creative art. But no one scanning centuries of Western literature and music could possibly believe that. Where did this Cold War dogma come from? One Nicolas Nabokov. – Joseph Horowitz
No Picture This Time, at the New Year  No picture this time because food was so bad. The kitchen, which prepared the takeaway in front of me, tried hard and worked like crazy, getting it hot and out. – Jeff Weinstein
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