Steve Elman

Book Review and Commentary: Testaments to the Wonderful Ears of Ralph J. Gleason

July 26, 2016
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A writer has to write for the now or to write for the ages. Gleason almost always chose the now, but his best moments go deeper.

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Music Review/Commentary: Anat Cohen’s Tentet & SFJAZZ Collective — Strength in Numbers

May 5, 2016
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Jazz groups of eight to eleven often make fascinating and unusual music, but they rarely survive.

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Book Review and Appreciation: Murray Talks Music, and So Much More — the Legacy and Lessons of Albert Murray

May 2, 2016
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Murray Talks Music shows how brilliant Albert Murray could be even when he didn’t have time to polish his prose.

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Music Review/Commentary: David Bowie’s “Blackstar” and Norbert Stein’s “Das Karussell” — When Words Rule Music

February 16, 2016
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Both David Bowie and Norbert Stein present distinctive and subtle approaches to the hybridizing of poetry and music.

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Classical Music Review/Commentary: BSO / Pianist Kirill Gerstein – Whose America?

July 20, 2015
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The BSO’s Americana concert could only provide four beautiful snapshots of a very complicated landscape.

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Music Commentary: Jazz and the Piano Concerto — Ave Sine Vale

July 2, 2015
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The great mistake we make as listeners or viewers is passivity. Music deserves and needs our active involvement.

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Music Commentary: Jazz and the Piano Concerto — A Coda without a Finale

June 3, 2015
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What we know of mass-market choice suggests that the more choices a person has, the more likely it is that the person will be dissatisfied with any one choice.

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Music Commentary Series: Jazz and the Piano Concerto — The Zebra in the Room

May 22, 2015
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Much more work could be done fertilizing the fields of cross-cultural music, sowing seeds collected from the great touchstones of American culture – innovation, integration, risk, reward.

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Music Commentary Series: Jazz and the Piano Concerto — The Straddlers, Part Two

May 11, 2015
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I would like to think that there are more composers working today who think of themselves as beyond category.

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Music Commentary Series: Jazz and the Piano Concerto — The Straddlers, Part One

May 4, 2015
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Time to look at the maverick mavericks, composers with feet firmly planted on either side of the dividing line between jazz and classical.

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