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      Elton John Says a Serious Eye Infection Limited His Vision in One Eye

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      The entertainer said on social media that it would “take some time” before sight returned to his eye.Elton John said he was recuperating from a severe eye infection that limited his vision in one eye, but that he was optimistic about his recovery.“Over the summer, I’ve been dealing with a severe eye infection that has unfortunately left me with only limited vision in one eye,” the entertainer wrote in a statement posted to Instagram on Tuesday. “I am healing, but it’s an extremely slow process and it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.”Thanking a team of nurses, doctors and family members who have cared for him, he added that he was “feeling positive about the progress I have made in my healing and recovery thus far.”John, 77, has faced other medical challenges recently.In January, he won an Emmy for outstanding variety special for his live streamed farewell concert at Dodger Stadium, making him the 19th person to secure an EGOT, or win all four prestigious entertainment awards: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. But he was not present at the ceremony because of a knee operation.The “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, billed as his last, stretched across 330 concert dates from its start in 2018 to 2023. Some of the tour dates were postponed while he underwent hip surgery after a fall and when he contracted the coronavirus.He decided to stop touring to spend more time with his husband and children, who live in Britain, his representatives have said.John, a longtime leader in gay rights activism, was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Joe Biden in 2022. More

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      A New ‘Red Hot’ Album Tackles a Hot Topic: Transgender Awareness

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      “Transa,” with 46 tracks due Nov. 22, brings together artists including Sam Smith, Sade, André 3000 and Jayne County.Over a soft piano riff wafts the unmistakable voice of Sade, singing a song to her son. The lyrics she wrote for the piece — her first new track in 14 years, titled “Young Lion” — are steeped in empathy and regret. “Young man, it’s been so heavy for you/You must have felt so alone,” she sings. “I should have known.”She’s addressing her real-life son, Izaak, whose identity as a transgender man escaped her perception for some time. “Shine like a sun,” she sings to him. “You have everything you need.”Massima Bell, a musician, model and activist who is transgender, said she’d never heard a song like that before. “It’s amazing to hear a legendary musician like Sade sing about her heartfelt experience as the parent of a trans child,” she said in an interview. “It’s incredibly powerful.”It’s also humanizing, nailing a key goal for the sprawling new musical project that contains it. Titled “Transa,” the album, which Bell worked on as a creative producer, is the latest venture from Red Hot, the organization co-founded 35 years ago by John Carlin at the peak of the AIDS epidemic. The organization started with a star-studded album titled “Red Hot + Blue,” designed to raise funds for the fight against the disease.In the decades since, Red Hot has released more than two dozen sets, involving hundreds of top musicians, to benefit a wealth of related causes. (The organization said it has given away $15 million over its lifetime, primarily raised by record sales.) Still, it’s been years since it has focused on an issue with the topicality of “Transa,” a project due Nov. 22, which was partly inspired by the death of the producer Sophie in 2021.Beverly Glenn-Copeland, left, and Sam Smith. Both musicians contribute to “Transa.”Eleanor PetryWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Big Band Jazz

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      Big bands were built in the 1920s and ’30s to blast young dancers with layers of rhythm, but creative composers seeking a larger canvas have kept the form alive. Hear 12 big selections.“Big band music” isn’t everybody’s first thought when they’re pondering what to punch into Spotify, we’ll grant you that. But if all big bands make you think of is “jazz hands” and flappers and early black-and-white films, let’s take five minutes to change that.Of course, the best way to experience a jazz orchestra is not on a streaming platform — it’s live. The format was first built in the 1920s and ’30s to satisfy Lindy hoppers and other young dancers across the country. The real point of getting more than a dozen horn players together with a rhythm section is to blast you with layers of rhythm: A big band is a sonic engine, with interlocking gears and heat and pulse.Still, with great writing, jazz orchestras can also be fun to hear up close on recordings. At this point, it’s been over half a century since most big bands made actual dance music, anyway. What has really kept the big band alive is its attractiveness to creative jazz composers seeking a larger canvas. The big band has been embraced over the years by jazz’s left wing (David Murray, Sam Rivers, Carla Bley, Horace Tapscott and of course Sun Ra), by innovators after something closer to a Third Stream fusing classical and jazz (Toshiko Akiyoshi and Maria Schneider), and recently by a veritable movement of under-50 composer-bandleaders like Darcy James Argue, Miho Hazama, Igmar Thomas and Anna Webber.For a primer on the big band canon, look no further than the 12 picks below, courtesy of musicians and writers who know the medium well. You can find a playlist at the end of the article, and be sure to leave your own favorites in the comments.◆ ◆ ◆Ted Nash, saxophonist and composer“A Tone Parallel to Harlem” by Duke Ellington“Sing sweet, but put a little dirt in it.” Duke Ellington could say so much with very little. With “A Tone Parallel to Harlem,” a long-form piece that evokes vibrant neighborhoods in New York City, Duke, in just under 14 minutes, expresses everything I love about music: swing, grooves, simple themes, development, complex harmony, tension, release, expressive dynamics, featured soloists and the blues. Though it was originally commissioned by Arturo Toscanini in 1950, as part of a larger New York City-inspired orchestral suite, Toscanini never conducted it. In his memoirs, Duke describes composing “Harlem” on a sea voyage from Europe to the United States. I can’t help thinking about Duke’s reflections on returning to his home while composing this poignant masterpiece.In 1999, a year after I joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, we celebrated Duke’s centennial by playing exclusively his music for that whole year. As we started the season, I was skeptical — which exposed my ignorance. Over that year I learned not only about Duke Ellington but about music. When I first heard “Harlem,” it changed me. It allowed me to discover the power of musical expression. Through his music, Duke teaches us about being human. When we listen with our hearts, we have the opportunity to become better people.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Mk.gee, an Unlikely Guitar God, Chases the Promise of Pop

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      On first listen, or even fourth, the songs of Michael Gordon, a guitarist, producer and vocalist who performs as Mk.gee, are not the sort one imagines generating a modern frenzy.Cracked, shrouded and fuzzy, with jazz, AOR and classic rock DNA — far from the trendiest of building blocks — Mk.gee’s music can feel like a strange whisper or a brief tantrum. Its hooks are sneaky, the payoff more often implied than obvious. And it’s never one thing for very long before warping into something else or stopping altogether.His breakout album, “Two Star & the Dream Police,” which Mk.gee considers his official debut, is just over 30 minutes long. At concerts, he has taken to playing a track called “Candy” twice. With repeat exposure, it all starts to click.“This record was supposed to feel like a little forest fire,” said Gordon, a boyish 27, with greasy hair and an understated murmur, from the porch of his Silver Lake, Calif., home and studio, in a rare interview. “Little refractions of perfect songs amid a lot of chaos and weird atonal moments,” he added, calling it “a new recipe” that he hasn’t quite perfected.Yet since the independent release of “Two Star & the Dream Police” in February, and especially since the sold-out spring tour where the album’s 12 songs blossomed, that fire, stoked by word of mouth, has been spreading wildly. And it’s putting Mk.gee’s status as a connoisseur’s cult figure — your favorite musician’s favorite musician’s favorite musician — at risk.Michael Gordon, who performs as Mk.gee, is bringing guitar music into unexpected places.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Ease Into Fall With 7 Songs for September

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      Listen to tracks inspired by this month of transitions and memories from Green Day, Barry White, Fiona Apple and more.Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, whose “September” song is often misinterpreted.Gabrielle Ravet for The New York TimesDear listeners,In previous installments of this newsletter, I’ve compiled collections of songs about specific months, like June and August. But we’re now entering one that has a particular and persistent hold on the musical imagination (sing it with me now): Sep-tem-ber. This definitely calls for a playlist.Why are there so many songs about September? I think some of it has to do with the musicality of the word itself — its meter, its mouthfeel and the fact that it rhymes with one of the more evocative verbs in the English language: “remember.” That moment when late summer gives way to early fall is also a period of transition, a handy metaphor for growing older and a poignant seasonal reminder that time is indeed passing. Exactly the kind of poetic sentiment out of which countless great songs have emerged.For all the wistfulness that the month inspires, I find it interesting that the song most closely associated with it — Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” — is ecstatic and joyful. It makes prominent use of that September/remember rhyme scheme, but the tone is far from the self-reflective nostalgia of, say, Frank Sinatra’s “The September of My Years” or Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” I wonder if that variation on the theme has something to do with the Earth, Wind & Fire song’s continued popularity. Plenty of tracks about remembering focus on loss. “September,” instead, reminds us that there is an alternative: to celebrate a beloved memory by throwing a party and filling the dance floor in its honor.Naturally, Earth, Wind & Fire kick things off on today’s playlist, which also features more introspective songs from Big Star, Barry White and — a great artist with a seasonably appropriate name — Fiona Apple.Sharpen those freshly purchased No. 2 pencils, pull that favorite sweater out of the back of the closet and press play.Also, if you’re not ready to say goodbye to summer just yet, there’s still time to submit your personal song of the summer for a future Amplifier playlist. Keep those recommendations coming!We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sabrina Carpenter Beats Travis Scott to No. 1 by a Hair

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      The pop singer and songwriter’s “Short n’ Sweet” debuts atop the Billboard 200 with the equivalent of 362,000, the third-best opening of the year.In an extraordinarily close contest on this week’s Billboard album chart that left the music industry biting its collective nails with anticipation over the holiday weekend, the pop singer Sabrina Carpenter triumphed over the veteran rapper Travis Scott to clinch the No. 1 spot — but just barely.Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet,” her sixth studio LP, featuring infectious tracks like “Espresso,” “Please Please Please” and “Taste” that have dominated streaming and radio playlists this year, opens at the top with the equivalent of 362,000 sales in the United States, according to the tracking service Luminate. That is the third-best opening week of the year, behind only Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, and it is Carpenter’s first time at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.But Carpenter, who released “Short n’ Sweet” on Aug. 23, came close to losing her big moment to a 10-year-old mixtape by Scott, “Days Before Rodeo,” which was rereleased on the same day. Scott’s album was credited with 361,000 sales — meaning the race came down to a margin of only about 1,000 copies, give or take a few. (Luminate’s publicly announced numbers are rounded.)Carpenter, 25, who began her career as a Disney Channel actress, has been releasing music for a decade. But she has been a major pop contender only for the last couple of years, with a string of bubbly and smart singles, like “Feather,” that have been pop-culture bulls-eyes; this year and last, she also performed as an opening act for a number of dates on Swift’s Eras Tour. She was widely expected to open on the chart with a big splash — until the rerelease announcement a few days earlier by Scott, who in addition to his popularity as a rapper is a master direct-to-consumer marketer.Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet” garnered 233 million streams in the United States. According to the formula that Billboard uses to reconcile streams with album sales, that means that clicks on streaming services gave her the equivalent of 176,000 album sales, nearly half Carpenter’s total for the week. She also sold 184,000 copies of the LP as a complete package.Scott’s “Days Before Rodeo,” revisited almost exactly 10 years from its initial release, had never been released commercially before, nor had it been widely available on all streaming services, according to Billboard. Yet streaming ended up being a relatively small part of its total consumption, with about 41 million clicks, equivalent to about 30,000 album sales.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sabrina Carpenter and Pop’s Next Gen Have a Secret Weapon: Amy Allen

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      Some well-played profanity can make a pop song sizzle.But few expletives in recent memory have had the potentially career-altering crackle of the one let fly by Sabrina Carpenter, a former Disney Channel star, on “Please Please Please,” her Dolly Parton-meets-Abba confection that became a surprise No. 1 hit this summer.“Heartbreak is one thing, my ego’s another,” Carpenter flutters, before a plea to a new fling: “I beg you, don’t embarrass me, little sucker” — except instead of little sucker (the radio edit), she rhymes an unprintable four-syllable term of tongue-in-cheek endearment, dropping her voice low and lathering it in a knowing hillbilly sass.Carpenter sells it. But she had help — a playful, foul-mouthed voice in her ear insisting that a pop star these days might as well run Dolly through a TikTok-friendly system update, or sneak a Dada phrase like “that’s that me espresso” into the cultural lexicon.“Five years ago, I would have never thought it was OK,” said Amy Allen, the hit songwriter credited on “Please Please Please,” along with “Espresso” and every other track on Carpenter’s breakout album, “Short n’ Sweet.” But Top 40, in no small part thanks to Allen, is entering a much-needed era of quirk, in which regular jolts of the unexpected are cutting through a sludge of smooth-brained content.“Now I feel scared of generic things that sound like No. 1s,” said Allen, 32, who landed her first chart-topping hit, “Without Me” by Halsey, five years ago. “Listeners are just getting smarter and smarter now,” she added. “They want something to be odd, something to be off, something to be really catchy and unexpected about a lyric or melody. The days of really polished pop are shifting out.”“There’s not a lot of women that have a ton of longevity as songwriters, which is really upsetting,” Allen said. “I will do everything in my power to break that stereotype.”Adali Schell for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What if Orchestras Were More Like Netflix?

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      As subscriptions face an uncertain future, classical music could look to the membership models of streaming services and gyms for inspiration.Perhaps you spend your mornings at the gym, working out with the help of a playlist on Spotify. In the evening, you wind down with Netflix or a movie on Max. As you go to bed, you might even open a meditation app to help you fall asleep. Then you wake up, and do it all again.A routine like that is built on memberships that provide unlimited access to something for a monthly fee, and are tightly woven into our lives in part because they’re convenient. (Dangerously so: I’m far from alone in having realized too late how many free trials have turned into valves quietly hoovering up money from my bank account.) Why, then, have they not caught on in classical music performances?The model could go something like this: You pay a monthly membership fee to your local symphony orchestra that entitles you to attend however much you’d like. As with a gym or a streaming service, some people may go often; some, not at all. Regardless, the orchestra receives steady revenue, and you have full control of your calendar, with the ability to make plans even the day of a performance.While a handful of orchestras have experimented with this model, it hasn’t become standard because most institutions already have a long-established ticketing program they prefer: subscriptions. In that system, people are sold packages for a season, which involves planning evenings out up to a year or more in advance. This works for those who like to go on the same night of the week, or sit in the same seat. Orchestras, in turn, are provided with financial security.According to the League of American Orchestras, subscriptions have bounced back from a pandemic slump strongly enough that they grew by 7 percent from 2019 to 2024. Administrators, however, have long been anxious about the future of the subscription model. Less than a decade ago, the League itself commissioned a study that revealed subscriptions were not only in decline, but also out of touch with how people plan and purchase entertainment today.The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, shown performing in April, was an early adapter of the member model. “There just aren’t that many people in April who want to commit to concerts from September to June,” the ensemble’s leader said.Claire Loes for the St. Paul Chamber OrchestraWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More