Music

Book Review: “The Soundies” — A Definitive Study of the Musical Film Shorts of the ’40s

January 13, 2024
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Author Mark Cantor has been the go-to guy for jazz film for decades: this authoritative book solidifies his position.

Jazz Album Review: The Baritone Sax of Josh Sinton — Exploring the Possibilities

January 12, 2024
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These pieces are an intellectual challenge to the listener as well as a sensual pleasure. They should send saxophonists back to the practice room.

Concert Preview: The Salt Collective — A Multipronged Octet

January 12, 2024
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A single listen to The Salt Collective’s album disabused me of my initial skepticism. The recording is as enjoyable and interesting as one would hope for from an effort featuring this gang of eight.

Opera Album Review: An Award-Winning Recording of a Spontini Opera Championed by Maria Callas

January 11, 2024
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Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka, under conductor Christophe Rousset, shows why Berlioz and others loved “La Vestale”.

Concert Review: Concord Chamber Music Society’s “The Music of Memory” — An Unusually Beautiful Program

January 10, 2024
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It was worth driving over 70 miles of snowy roads to be rewarded with such invigorating heat. Bravo tutti.

Album Review: Lou Reed’s “Hudson River Wind Meditations” — Meditative Loop-De-Loops

January 10, 2024
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It may not be one of ambient music’s masterworks, but this 2007 album deserved far better treatment than utter neglect from Lou Reed fans.

Arts Remembrance: Jazz Notables We Lost in 2023

January 7, 2024
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For many years now, the Francis Davis Jazz Poll has collected brief lists of important jazz figures who passed in the previous year.

Jazz Album Review: Rich Halley’s “Fire Within” — Free, But Still Together

January 6, 2024
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This doesn’t sound like any other quartet I know.

Opera Album Review: An Award-Winning Recording of Handel’s Most Comical Opera

January 5, 2024
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Mary Bevan, silvery soprano beloved in Boston, enchants anew in one of Handel’s most frequently performed and recorded operas.

Jazz Reviews and Appreciations: Sheila Jordan at 95 and Ran Blake at 88

January 4, 2024
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It is something of a miracle that we can still hear Sheila Jordan and Ran Blake in live performance, and those experiences should be treasured by their audiences because those opportunities are so precious.

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