Arts Fuse jazz critics offer their favorite performances from the Bird.
Michael Ullman
Jazz Album Review: Dave Pietro’s “Hypersphere” — Complexity, Made Clear
Dave Pietro is a fine, distinctive composer, an agile, precise saxophonist, and a band leader to be trusted.
Jazz EP Review: Esperanza Spalding and Fred Hersch: Live at the Village Vanguard — A Divine Duo
Yes, purchasing this EP will help out a good cause, but the musical value of this fabulous duo’s performance is priceless.
Jazz CD Review: “Both Are True” — A Big Band Chock Full of the Unexpected
What strikes this listener most is the writing’s disjointedly distinctive — sometimes unfathomable — sounds and textures, as well as the music’s unpredictable flow.
Jazz Album Review: Christian McBride’s “The Movement Revisited” — Continuing the Struggle for Civil Rights
In this disc dedicated to black heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, Christian McBride insists that everyone must be free if any of us is going to be.
Best Jazz Recordings (and Live Concerts), 2019
Pianist Kris Davis’s Diatom Ribbons and the multi-disc set Nat King Cole’s Hittin’ the Ramp: The Early Years (1936-43) are among the albums that made more than one list.
Jazz Album Reviews: The Music of Lerner and Loewe — Back in the Jazz Limelight?
The two new Arbors discs are intended to bring Lerner and Loewe back into the jazz mainstream. We will see what happens. But what wonderful music these two groups have produced!
Jazz CD Review: Pianist Erroll Garner — Remastered Sessions from His Prime
Octave is issuing twelve sessions (“newly restored and expanded”) of Erroll Garner material from the ’60s and ’70s, when the popular pianist was at the height of his career.
Jazz CD Review: Wadada Leo Smith’s “Rosa Parks: Pure Love” — Making History Present
Rosa Parks: Pure Love is a serious, substantial, and long work, alternately harsh and calming, one that I am sure should be seen as well as heard.
Best Jazz Recordings (and Live Concerts), 2018
A pair of our critics supply their favorite albums and live local concerts of the year.