Music
The young baritone Will Liverman’s performances are full of spirit and a wide range of moods.
This was a generous two-set show whose imaginative pacing spotlit exploratory jams and interesting reconstructions of classic Dead fare.
For Joan Tower fans, this disc is a must; for the Tower-curious, it offers an excellent introduction to the composer’s wider work, all of it compellingly played.
It might seem a stretch to pair drummer Andrew Cyrille’s disc with composer/trumpeter Amir ElSaffar’s. But both spent time under the tutelage of the redoubtable Cecil Taylor, and it shows.
Interpretively, this installment in the BSO’s cycle of Dmitri Shostakovich’s fifteen symphonies is occasionally (and a bit surprisingly) spotty.
Leon Bridges is the master of soft sensual tones, particularly when he intermingles the romantic and the steamy.
The Everly Brothers’ close harmony work was so sinuous it sometimes seemed close to witchcraft.
Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein gave Charlie Watts a shout-out, while Wilco’s Glenn Kotche displayed the words “Charlie is my Darling” (the title of a 1966 Stones tour documentary) on the head of his bass drum.
Watts’ relentlessly unembellished drive on dozens of classic songs, from “Satisfaction” and “Shattered” to “Connection,” is what makes them so danceable.
Music Remembrance: Gospel singer Lee Williams
A household name in Black America, Lee Williams had little need for the kind of crossover project that can earn a gospel act attention from the secular music media.
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