Jazz
Thelonious Monk can sound like someone skipping (or even tripping) — and yet the swing is there.
WasFest was a unique spread of mostly Blue Note artists covering classic albums of either their own or their inspirations, and the first two nights offered a range of jazz permutations.
These pieces integrate the various, varied sounds James Shipp and Nadje Noordhuis produce into something rhythmically as well as melodically exciting and coherent.
The trio on hEARoes is enthralling; it doesn’t sound like anything I have heard.
I wonder why this fine session was withheld for 49 years. It might be the bitter-sounding texts, or the very fact of vocals in a jazz session.
Sloane: A Jazz Singer is very sweet film that never cloys because of the singer’s naturalness, honesty, occasional self-deprecation, and sense of humor.
Both of these documentaries offer gratifying viewing for any curious roots music fan.
“Everyone involved was committed to doing something different and eclectic,” WasFest curator Don Was said. “It’s a mixed bag, and that’s what we wanted.”
At New Hampshire’s just-christened Nashua Center for the Arts, 68-year-old jazz guitarist Pat Metheny shared a wily sidelong glance at his own broad compositional and improvisational history.
As usual with Craft Recordings reissues, these lps are impeccably produced: the silence of the recording before the music starts is almost startling, but it’s the clear sound of what follows that is most impressive.
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