Steve Elman
The life of a working musician is not a second-class life, and Mimi Rabson’s is Exhibit A: “I try to get past the limits of the definitions and get to the joy.”
Jazz Review/Interview: Duncan Heining Revises His Landmark Biography of Jazz Composer George Russell
If you do not know George Russell, this book will bring you closer to one of the geniuses of American music.
Here is a personal selection of recordings in the saxophone trio format. These linear collaborations have been part of the jazz scene for at least seventy years now. The results are almost always illuminating and exhilarating, and a review of them offers a miniature history of saxophone styles.
Nothing detracts from the essentials here – three fine players in creative conversation.
This is what I feel can add: the perspective of a native-born son of the Rochester metro; and a view from the bridge through jazz-colored glasses.
Cécile McLorin Salvant understands that she is heroic.
Saxophonist Stan Getz knew whom to listen to and whom to borrow from, and the repertoire for the 1961 Village Gate gig was particularly satisfying.
A landmark concert from 1992 is a chance to rediscover Betty Carter’s greatness, to appreciate again how this artist was special to the very essence of her soul.
Whom can we thank at the Boston Symphony Orchestra for choosing James Carter to be the featured saxophone soloist in March 23’s concert at Symphony Hall?
Jazz Appreciation/Album Review — Carla Bley, 84 and Counting
Carla Bley’s last three CDs are not a casual sequence, and hearing all of them together, as I did recently, provides a refreshing reminder of her greatness.
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