Music
It was a rocking night, full of fun and energy. It was intelligent, maybe even a bit brainy at times.
For performers and audience members alike the Shalin Liu setting is as much a part of the experience as the music. It has quickly transformed the intimate hall into a destination location for a growing number of admiring artists.
Mark Harvey and the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra: It’s hard to remember what the Boston jazz community was like before Harvey came along. In fact, the term “jazz community” would have seemed far-fetched at best if anyone had used it.
Intimacy has been the key note of bossa nova performance ever since the initial murmurings of Joao and Astrud Gilberto, and singer Eliane Elias can whisper with the best of them.
This weekend’s soloist, Joshua Bell, is a performer who perhaps best approximates Leonard Bernstein’s charismatic personality in performance: a fully engaged interpreter, he does not shy away from physically expressing the emotional content of what he’s playing.
[Update: Tonight’s performance at Scullers by Mozik and special guest Rebecca Parris is still on. Rumor has it that the set will include Herbie Hancock’s “The Eye of the Hurricane”.] All treats, no tricks —it’s a great month for jazz in New England. The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra turns forty, and so does NEC’s Contemporary Improvisation department. Meanwhile, a raft of musicians make deep dives into electronica.
Jorge Luis Prats’ performance was absolutely breathtaking, and one had the sense of being at a historic recital, of discovering a hugely gifted, yet virtually unknown, artist.
Honesty is Best Policy Disclosure: I was in the hall to hear Mostly Other People Do the Killing. I’d heard the band on CD, and I knew that the only way I could appreciate them fully was to attend a performance.
The local Halloween tradition returns in which local bands play as one of their favorite, more mainstream bands.
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