Music
Kris Davis appeared with her current trio of acoustic bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Johnathan Blake, a simpatico unit that clearly responds to both the pianist’s genre-pushing forms and spontaneous sense of adventure.
Fun may seem like a relative term for a singer who performs fragile, melancholy songs in dim stage light and doesn’t allow photographers, though cell phones rose like stars in her galaxy to record videos.
Looks at new music from Joel Ross, Al Foster, John Vanore & Abstract Truth, Tomeka Reid Quartet, and John Ellis & Double Wide.
Steve Reich’s 1976 minimalist masterpiece, performed by Ensemble Signal, was a special event to see and hear live.
“Evolution” is a major statement from master musicians building on a strong tradition and taking it forward into our own generation with passion and elegance.
The eighth iteration of “Which Side?” was a wild success, mixing musical genres from reggae to old-school Boston punk and punctuated by two moving (and brief) speakers.
In its first commercial recording, Frano Parać’s “Judita” wrings compelling drama out of the biblical tale.
Along with its slew of images — photos, sketches, and ephemera as well as album covers — WAIL offers what amounts to a compelling oral history of the mid-century explosion, not only of recorded jazz but of graphic design and, by extension, a burgeoning New York cultural scene.
Lauded in histories of Broadway but rarely performed, “Love Life” proves to be an insightful and effective work of social criticism, nearly eight decades after its premiere.
Arts Commentary: The Nelsons Case
Ultimately—and regardless of one’s take on Andris Nelsons as an artist—it’s hard to see how the institution’s long-term interests are served by last week’s developments.
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