Jane Ira Bloom
2025 turned out to be a feast year for devotees of soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom. The music found on both of these releases could be thought of as exemplifying three areas Bloom has explored in depth and refined to purity.
Jane Ira Bloom responded to her pandemic isolation with a CD of duets with bassist Mark Helias and a CD of duets with drummer Allison Miller. These two sessions are unique projects in her discography and beautiful testaments to her ingenuity.
I spoke with Jane Ira Bloom on September 21, 2021 via Zoom. This transcript has been edited for space and ellipses have been omitted for readability. Some paraphrases and details are added for clarity.
In two new releases, Jane Ira Bloom and Brian Carpenter complete their work on self-defined projects that are tonics for a time of trouble.
Over a dozen short notices of recent jazz recordings that I find musically stimulating.
In nearly 78 minutes of intensely concentrated playing, Jane Ira Bloom’s album offers some of the greatest ballad performances I have ever heard.
Jazz Performance and CD Review / Commentary: Jane Ira Bloom’s “Wild Lines” and “Early Americans”
Exposing the jazz impulses in Emily Dickinson’s poetry is not an agenda for the novice.
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