Jazz

The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll at Mid-Year — Listomania! Confessions of a Bad Voter

July 11, 2025
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So what am I saying? That the system is imperfect, corrupted by bad voters like me (there must be a few others who didn’t listen to even close to everything on this list — show of hands?)

Concert Review: Point01 Percent — Something Was Going On. But What?

July 11, 2025
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A particular guttural sequence of phrases from accordionist Ted Reichman suggested a musical cadence, and I felt myself respond with the jazz fan’s involuntary noise of appreciation: “Unh!”

Jazz Album Review: Trombonist/Composer Matteo Paggi’s “Giraffe” — Surprisingly Tall

July 5, 2025
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The planned variety of sounds and rhythms is the adroit work of a composer dedicated to both freedom and his own version of continuity.

Jazz Commentary: John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” Turns 60 — A Homage

June 29, 2025
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This year marks the 60th anniversary of the release of John Coltrane’s magisterial album “A Love Supreme,” which has meant so much to so many.

Musician Interview: Saxophonist, Composer, and Historian of Early Jazz Allen Lowe — An Invaluable Maverick

June 22, 2025
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Allen Lowe is a saxophonist, composer, and historian of early jazz and roots music who doesn’t think he’s getting a fair shake from jazz’s gatekeepers.

Jazz Concert Review: Tight Like That — Steven Bernstein and Sexmob

June 21, 2025
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The whole band demonstrated an expressive variety of mark-making, as visual artists like to say: lines and squiggles and blotches, graceful or rude.

Jazz Album Reviews: Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans — Two Indispensable Recordings

June 20, 2025
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Happily, these clean, bright Craft reissues make some invaluable music glisten.

Jazz Concert Review: Eliane Elias — One of a Kind

June 11, 2025
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The magic in Eliane Elias’s performances is in how easily she slips from one musical dialect into another.

Latin Jazz Album Review: Noteworthy Albums from Alex “Apolo” Ayala, Unity Quartet, and Adam O’Farrill

June 9, 2025
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A trio of superb albums run the stylistic gauntlet, from the traditional to the experimental. 

Jazz Album Review: Mehmet Ali Sanlikol’s Distinctive “7 Shades of Melancholia”

June 3, 2025
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I don’t know anything quite like Mehmet Ali Sanlikol’s Turko-jazz playing. (I invented the term.) I am glad it’s here for us to enjoy.

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