Steve Elman

Jazz Album Review: Abdullah Ibrahim’s “3” – Meditations on a Legacy

March 5, 2024
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A new release from Abdullah Ibrahim adds almost 100 minutes to a legacy of paramount importance to jazz, to world music, and to our understanding of a life lived in art.

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Book Review / Jazz Essay: A Complicated Matter — Stephen Provizer’s “As Long as They Can Blow”

January 24, 2024
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This is a story about jazz that we only think we know: the book challenges our preconceptions with admirable restraint, and generously invites others to build on its work.

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Jazz Reviews and Appreciations: Sheila Jordan at 95 and Ran Blake at 88

January 4, 2024
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It is something of a miracle that we can still hear Sheila Jordan and Ran Blake in live performance, and those experiences should be treasured by their audiences because those opportunities are so precious.

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Jazz Album Reviews: Cal Tjader’s Quintet and Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio in the Mid-’60s

November 15, 2023
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Two upcoming releases of restored radio broadcasts offer so much good listening and so much deeply satisfying jazz that they deserve to share the spotlight. One of them is destined to be seen as a landmark document in jazz history.

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Arts Remembrance: Robert Brustein — A View from the Seats

October 31, 2023
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The late Robert Brustein’s shadow is long. But his legacy is problematic.

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Arts Remembrance: The Passage of a Giant — Carla Bley, 1936 – 2023

October 18, 2023
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Carla Bley was an original. We will never see her like again. It is a great blessing that she left so much music.

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Jazz Commentary: Three More Recent Composer-Driven Jazz Releases — Stretching the Boundaries of the “Conventional”

October 5, 2023
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These projects are more conventionally jazzish in their sounds than the four in the companion post, but that does not make their ambitions less worthwhile or less adventurous.

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Jazz Commentary: Four Recent Composer-Driven Jazz Releases — New Wine in New Bottles

October 4, 2023
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Four recent releases illustrate what can happen when the only limits are the imagination of the composer and the passion of the performers.

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Music Concert Preview: Where to Hear “The Place Between” — In the Months Ahead

February 7, 2023
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Here are some recommendations of concerts with hybrid works coming to the Boston area in the months ahead.

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Music Commentary: The Place Between “Classical” and “Jazz” Becomes a Destination

February 6, 2023
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2022 was a year in which hybrid musical forms reached more Boston audiences than ever before. 2023 promises to open even more doors. The Place Between is no longer dangerous territory, a detour, or a side road. It has become a destination in itself.

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