Review
California has long been the home of fads, trends, new styles and the next new thing. It is where cool was and is created.
Two new films take a poetic and fantastical look at the artifice of sensual surfaces to imagine the horrific realities beneath.
Better than Ezra may be more than a hardworking, nice-guy band permanently fated to be overshadowed by more significant artists.
Tenor Nicholas Phan and pianist Myra Huang are a superb duo, and the pair’s recital was easily one of the highlights of this year’s concert season.
What makes “The Wholehearted” compelling is how it examines the metaphor of fighting as both a pubic career and as an aspect of domestic violence.
If Boy George had carried on in this vein — working the best of the old in with the new, and keeping the soul roots upfront — the night would have been a surprise triumph.
In moments like these, the band Riverside captures the Jimmy Giuffre ideals of sonority and counterpoint — where even the drums act as another complementary linear voice.
John Hubley was a dominant force in bringing animation out of the studio system and onto the drawing boards of individual artists . His life story is also an entryway into the social history and controversies of mid-20th century America.
It would take a series of spoilers to explain who might have killed whom in “The Galapagos Affair.” See the movie and find out, and revel in the grim gallows humor.
The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll at Mid-Year: Warming Up a Riff — How It Happened, and Why It Matters