Jazz
If drummer Ginger Baker’s staring into the abyss, he’s doing it with defiance and a good beat.
He knew what he wanted to do, he did it, and he took millions along for the ride.
Kris Adams is one of those singers who can do amazing things without ostentatious showiness.
The big “destination” jazz festivals are major events, but aficionados making vacation plans will be missing out if they don’t at least take a look at the musical offerings of the smaller festivals.
Ken Schaphorst and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts made the case for Sun Ra as an egyptologist (who claimed to be from Saturn).
Jazz Week 2014′s theme of “No Walls: A salute to the power of jazz to bring people together” emphasizes the place of jazz on the world stage.
In moments like these, the band Riverside captures the Jimmy Giuffre ideals of sonority and counterpoint — where even the drums act as another complementary linear voice.
“I love Fats Waller. Fats Waller will always be here because he is simply that magnetic a person(a).”
The first part of the evening worked: Robert Pinsky was a good enough actor, his poetry was sufficiently transparent, and Vijay Iyer proved to be a brilliant accompanist.
Music Commentary: Looking for the Real at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Mostly, I’m looking for that most elusive and hard-to-define quality — authenticity.
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