Cécile McLorin Salvant understands that she is heroic.
Jazz
Arts Remembrance: Homage to Claudio Roditi
Apart from Claudio Roditi’s musical skill, what stood out was his warmth.
Jazz Album Review: Christian McBride’s “The Movement Revisited” — Continuing the Struggle for Civil Rights
In this disc dedicated to black heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, Christian McBride insists that everyone must be free if any of us is going to be.
Music Commentary: New Media, Jazz, and Camille Bertault
Camile Bertault is an uncommon talent. She has a crystalline voice, good intonation, understands the rhythmic and harmonic underpinnings of jazz and has a prodigious memory.
Jazz CD Review: John Bailey’s “Can You Imagine?” — Diz For Prez
I’m not sure Can You Imagine? will be able to summon back Dizzy Gillespie from the great beyond, but it’s not a bad way to pass the time while we wait.
Jazz Remembrance: Jack Sheldon
Trumpeter Jack Sheldon will be missed for much more than his musical output would account for.
Jazz Concert Review: The Swingles — The Music is A Lot Better Than the Name
The current incarnation of the Swingle Singers, just called Swingles, exemplifies why the group has survived 57 years.
Best Jazz Recordings (and Live Concerts), 2019
Pianist Kris Davis’s Diatom Ribbons and the multi-disc set Nat King Cole’s Hittin’ the Ramp: The Early Years (1936-43) are among the albums that made more than one list.
Jazz Album Review: Two More Adventurous Discs from the Inexhaustible Satoko Fujii
There’s no doubt that the Japan-born composer/pianist/bandleader Satoro Fujii is one of the most prolific recording artists of her time.
Book Review: “Irving Berlin: New York Genius” — A Significant Life
Biographer James Kaplan was aided by the assistance of Irving Berlin’s two elder daughters, and that makes this biography particularly valuable.