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Jazz Commentary: Three More Recent Composer-Driven Jazz Releases — Stretching the Boundaries of the “Conventional”

October 5, 2023
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These projects are more conventionally jazzish in their sounds than the four in the companion post, but that does not make their ambitions less worthwhile or less adventurous.

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Weekly Feature: Poetry at The Arts Fuse

October 5, 2023
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This week’s poem: Eliot Cardinaux’s “Said Regression.”

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Concert Review: Boston Chamber Music Society’s Season Opener — Savoring a Hidden Gem

October 5, 2023
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Performances of such zest and sensitivity deserve to be rewarded with rapt enthusiasm, even love.

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Book Review: “The Short End of the Sonnenallee” — A Sure Satiric Brush

October 4, 2023
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Cockeyed anecdotes roam merrily through a satiric tale set in an East Germany that’s too larky to be oppressive.

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Concert Review: Worcester Chamber Music Society’s “Time Changes”

October 4, 2023
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Now in its 18th season, the membership of the Worcester Chamber Music Society has remained remarkably consistent, boasting a number of familiar faces from Boston’s chamber music and orchestral scenes.

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Jazz Commentary: Four Recent Composer-Driven Jazz Releases — New Wine in New Bottles

October 4, 2023
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Four recent releases illustrate what can happen when the only limits are the imagination of the composer and the passion of the performers.

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Poetry Review: “Aquamarine” — Stonecutter’s Craft

October 3, 2023
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Valerie Duff’s polished style is thoughtful and observant, her fluent voice compressed and controlled. She constructs meticulous lines with (to borrow one of her phrases from these pages) a “stonecutter’s precision.”

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Jazz Album Reviews: Winners from Roy McGrath, Chembo Corniel, and Big Band Leaders Marcos Fernández and Arturo O’Farrill

October 2, 2023
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Big band leader Arturo O’Farrill points out that “Santiago Brooklyn Santiago” makes a forceful argument that the embargo between Cuba and the United States should be done away with.

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Theater Review: “Fat Ham” — Hamlet at the BBQ

October 1, 2023
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In “Fat Ham,” Black pain and repressed desire are transformed into a celebration of liberation and empowerment — once the villain du jour, the patriarchy, has been dispatched.

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October Short Fuses — Materia Critica

October 1, 2023
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Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.

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