Jon Garelick

Concert Review: Jazz Vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant — Falling in Love Again

February 14, 2024
Posted in , , ,

Once again, here was the shock in Cécile McLorin Savant’s subversive conceptual daring.

Read More

Opera Album Commentary: Maria Callas — Believe Her

October 31, 2023
Posted in , , , ,

A massive, comprehensive new box set once again shows us the diva’s indomitable place in the history of opera.

Read More

Book and Jazz Album Review: Henry Threadgill Explains It All For You

July 5, 2023
Posted in , , , ,

The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer eludes easy categorization, but Henry Threadgill’s new memoir — and his latest recording — take a step in defining his singular artistic personality.

Read More

Jazz Concert Review: Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science — Solid Music and Message

March 30, 2023
Posted in , , ,

Terri Lyne Carrington, on her home turf (she’s a native Bostonian and holds several positions at Berklee, including being founder and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice), augmented her six-piece band with three guests.

Read More

Jazz Concert Review: Jason Moran and the Big Bandwagon Pay Splendid Homage to “One of the Original Big Bangs in Black Music”

February 21, 2023
Posted in , , ,

Jason Moran, as virtuoso pianist and bandleader, enacted all of jazz history at the keyboard, from ragtime to no time, as the saying goes.

Read More

Culture Commentary: World War II Was a Race War, and It Isn’t Over

October 1, 2022
Posted in , ,

It isn’t exactly news that the genocide of Native Americans was a model for Hitler, but it hit with fresh force in The U.S. and the Holocaust.

Read More

Concert Review: The High Standards of Michael Formanek’s Elusion Quartet

September 16, 2022
Posted in , , ,

To hear free music so beautifully contained and expressed in such inventive forms isn’t unheard of (Henry Threadgill? Vijay Iyer? Wadada Leo Smith?). But bassist Michael Formanek has his own way.

Read More

Jazz Concert Review: Two Trios Bring Compositional Acumen to Spontaneous Collective Improvisation

July 27, 2022
Posted in , , ,

Such a beautiful evening of music — two relatively concise sets, one an hour long, another a little less — adding up to an integral whole.

Read More

Concert Review: The 2022 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival — The Blessed Return of Musical Serendipity

May 29, 2022
Posted in , , , , ,

We’d returned to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. We’d ridden a paddle-wheeler on the Mississippi River. It was good to be back, and why we’ll go back every chance we get: to life.

Read More

Album Roundup: Adventurous Solo Performances from Jazz Pianists

December 6, 2021
Posted in , ,

Solo performance is still a way ahead for jazz pianists, judging from four CDs released in 2021.

Read More

Recent Posts