Music
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.
Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka, under conductor Christophe Rousset, shows why Berlioz and others loved “La Vestale”.
It was worth driving over 70 miles of snowy roads to be rewarded with such invigorating heat. Bravo tutti.
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.
For many years now, the Francis Davis Jazz Poll has collected brief lists of important jazz figures who passed in the previous year.
This doesn’t sound like any other quartet I know.
Mary Bevan, silvery soprano beloved in Boston, enchants anew in one of Handel’s most frequently performed and recorded operas.
Major record labels were once notorious for trying to entice jazz musicians into selling out; they now find it more expedient to ignore them, leaving them to sell themselves.
The special categories tend to get overlooked, or sampled erratically, in the new releases lists, so Francis Davis thought a nudge might help.
Jazz Reviews and Appreciations: Sheila Jordan at 95 and Ran Blake at 88
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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