Cécile McLorin Salvant
Newport Jazz sold out all three days in advance for the second year in a row, which made scheduling the primary acts across three stages prone to occasional mismatches between space and demand. But it’s still a golden ticket.
Once again, here was the shock in Cécile McLorin Savant’s subversive conceptual daring.
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
It’s hard to think of music that is more foolishly impractical than jazz, even with its pursuit of lofty ideals.
To some degree, everything fit under the resilient umbrella that the late George Wein raised at the edge of Newport Harbor.
There’s a pleasing variety in this collection, which serves up valuable music that might not have otherwise been heard.
To hear this performance properly. you must do a bit more work than you might do ordinarily . . . but great art deserves such work.
The disc mixes classics and originals in a set of tunes perfect for late-night reveries or for anytime sojourns to a place of unhurried passion.
The recital of this remarkably self-aware singer was a series of highly literate and musically satisfying mini-dramas.
The 20th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Poll: Vocal Jazz Albums
In recent years, the category has been dominated by Cécile McLorin Salvant, who won handily again this year, her seventh time, one for each of her albums.
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