Review

Jazz Album Review: Wolfgang Muthspiel’s Superb “Angular Blues”

June 4, 2020
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The precision and inventiveness of Angular Blues more than meets our high expectations for this terrific trio.

Television Review: “Ramy,” Season 2 — An Egyptian-American Muslim on a Hilarious Quest

June 2, 2020
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Much of the fun of Ramy comes from its deadpan embrace of heightened absurdity.

Jazz Album Reviews: Matthew Shipp and Whit Dickey — Unrepentant Proponents of Free Jazz

June 2, 2020
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Decades on, Matthew Shipp and Whit Dickey have grown into mature models of how to keep the faith when following an idiosyncratic muse.

Book Review: “The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien” — Ignoring the Poetry

June 1, 2020
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This is a beautifully produced book, replete with illustrations. Full-page photos of evocative landscapes are supplemented by both maps and smaller shots detailing architectural features.

Jazz EP Review: Esperanza Spalding and Fred Hersch: Live at the Village Vanguard — A Divine Duo

May 31, 2020
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Yes, purchasing this EP will help out a good cause, but the musical value of this fabulous duo’s performance is priceless.

Pop Album Review: “how i’m feeling now” by Charli XCX — What Life is Like, Sheltering in Place

May 29, 2020
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Charli has successfully dramatized her impatiently jagged state of mind, supplying an emotionally honest stream of consciousness that suggests what she (and no doubt many others of her generation) is feeling and thinking in quarantine.

Book Review: “Immigrant Architect — Rafael Guastavino and the American Dream,” a Splendid Book about Design for all Ages

May 29, 2020
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A book to cheer you in these challenging times, providing destinations to explore when this pandemic is over, and a story to inspire the more inventive young among us.

Film Review: “The High Note” — Too Many False Notes

May 28, 2020
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This is a feminist battle where all participants wear marshmallow boxing gloves.

Book Commentary: “Pandemic!” by Slavoj Žižek — Choosing Reality and Survival Over Panic and Barbarism

May 27, 2020
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“In a crisis we are all Socialists,” goes an old adage. But can that instinct be trusted in an increasingly barbaric world?

Jazz CD Review: John Scofield’s “Swallow Tales” — Steve Swallow’s Quirky Romanticism

May 27, 2020
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This is an intelligent, inventively performed, be-boppish tribute to a composer I now know better than ever.

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