Ben Ratliff

Book Review: “Every Song Ever” — Notes From an Enigmatic Ear

July 26, 2016
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Ben Ratliff’s volume about how to listen to music is full of fairly radical but largely undefended assertions.

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Coming Attractions in Jazz: November 2009

November 2, 2009
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By J. R. Carroll After the New England Conservatory’s well-deserved turn in the limelight last month in celebration of the 40th anniversary of their jazz studies program, the Berklee College of Music comes to the fore in November with a strong series of performances on- and off-campus. Photo by Jesus Angel Hernandez de Rojas, available…

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Book Review: Trane’s Long Shadow

October 8, 2007
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Ben Ratliff, Coltrane: The Story of a Sound (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Reviewed by J. R. Carroll During an interview in Japan in 1966, John Coltrane was asked what he would like to be in ten years. Coltrane replied, “I would like to be a saint.” Lewis Porter, author of the definitive study John Coltrane:…

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