Review

Blues Album Review: Gary Clark Jr.’s “JPEG RAW” — Branching Out in New Directions

May 15, 2024
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Gary Clark Jr.’s “JPEG RAW” could be seen as an orchard whose far-reaching sonic branches — nurtured by the rich, fertile, and ancient soil of the blues — stretch into jazz, hip hop, and funk.

Theater Review: Broadway’s “Water for Elephants” – A Counterargument

May 15, 2024
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“Arts Fuse” theater critic Christopher Caggiano, among others, found that the new Broadway musical “Water for Elephants” “has very little going for it.” Let’s agree to disagree

Jazz Album Review: Kenny Barron’s “Beyond This Place” – As Enthralling as Ever

May 15, 2024
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The spirited restraint of the pianist’s playing — its omnipresent precision and clarity — sounds contemporary and fresh.

Dance Review: “Naughty Bits” — Pushing Back on a Culture of Sexual Abuse

May 14, 2024
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Sara Juli has proven herself to be a master of using humor to examine subjects that are uncomfortable and not at all comic. 

Music Album Review: Josie Lowder’s “Here To Love” — Extraordinary Guitar Playing, Soulful Vocals, and Buoyant Personality

May 14, 2024
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Josie Lowder debut solo album “Here To Love” is more than a reminder of how good she was — it stands as incontrovertible evidence that she has grown as an artist and especially as a songwriter.

Opera Album Review: “Circé,” A Big Hit from the 2023 Boston Early Music Festival, Now Enchantingly Recorded

May 13, 2024
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The BEMF performed the work in July 2023 in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, to enormous enthusiasm.

Classical Music Album Review: Mendelssohn’s Complete Symphonies

May 13, 2024
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The Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich recording of Mendelssohn’s Symphonies doesn’t cast the composer as a radical, but the effort highlights the strengths of his music and finds ways to put distinctive interpretive stamps on several of these scores.

Visual Arts Review: A New Fashion Statement from the MFA — Consumer Dreaming and Catwalk Preening

May 12, 2024
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This midsized MFA project is a solid bid for summer foot traffic from the fashionista demographic.

Book Review: “The Jazzmen” — Three Private and Public Lives, Intertwined

May 12, 2024
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In this book, readers are given a full taste of the lives of three complicated musical artists.

Concert Review: Marc-André Hamelin plays Ives, Hamelin, Schumann, and Ravel

May 11, 2024
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Pianist Marc-André Hamelin demonstrated a total command and control of his materials.

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