Jason M. Rubin

Music Preview: Portsmouth, NH and PARMA Recordings Host an Eclectic Music Festival

August 6, 2014
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Given the diverse musical tastes of label head Bob Lord, it should be no surprise that the second annual PARMA Music Festival will be a thoroughly eclectic affair.

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Fuse Feature: Nothing But a Houseparty — Jamaica Plain Holds its 1st Annual Porchfest

July 15, 2014
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JP Porchfest organizers see it as an opportunity not only to provide grassroots entertainment, but also to launch a community-building event that represents and celebrates the area’s ethnic and artistic diversity.

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Jazz Feature: Teaching By Example – An Afternoon with Drummer Ra-Kalam Bob Moses

July 1, 2014
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One of drummer Ra-Kalam Bob Moses’s most resonant teachings was that it is better to find the infinite possibilities within a single idea than to keep changing ideas every ten seconds.

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Arts Commentary: The “Maleficent” Syndrome — Making the Villain the Hero

June 11, 2014
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Perhaps because real life is so painful, so tragic, we cannot bear to see evil in full flight. Evil must be relative, it must fly on wings of rationale, on a broomstick of retribution.

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Music Homage: Loose Salute — Monkeemania is Alive and Well in Boston

April 15, 2014
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Loose Salute uses its genuine love for the too-little-heard Michael Nesmith and too-little-respected Monkees songbooks as a springboard for inventive arrangements that are true to the unique character of the music.

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Fuse Music Interview: The Boston Jewish Music Festival Returns for Its 5th Year

February 15, 2014
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Boston was once the largest Jewish community in the country without a Jewish music festival — now the five-year-old Boston Jewish Music Festival (BJMF) is one of the most-attended of its kind in the nation.

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Book Review: “Learning to Listen” — Vibraphonist Gary Burton’s Musical Journey

December 16, 2013
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“Learning to Listen” is less about a jazz journey than it is about a prodigiously talented artist for whom music came easily while his own life was a puzzle.

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Rock Remembrance: Lou Reed Reaped What He Sowed — Art, Truth & Beauty

October 29, 2013
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Lou Reed has left us, but the truths he took pains to show us about ourselves and our society – much as we try to cover them up – remain.

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Jazz Review: The Messenger Legacy — Art Blakey Alumni Keep the Torch Lit

October 13, 2013
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Every few years, people ask, “Is Jazz Dead?” Nights like this, with living masters and future stars all paying homage to a dead legend whose music will live forever, refute the pessimism.

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Rock Concert Review: Channel Reunion — Reviving Memories of a Legendary Rock Club

June 24, 2013
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The crowd emptied into the humid Boston night having bridged the past and the present, thanks to the incredible talent of the city’s local music scene, reunited in tribute to a club that hosted many such moments over its 11-year history.

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