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.
Steve Elman
Jazz Feature: A Conversation with Jane Ira Bloom
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.
Jazz Review and Perspective: Sheila Jordan’s “Comes Love”
Comes Love was Sheila Jordan’s first full recording session as a leader, and it automatically becomes a collector’s item for those who love the legendary jazz singer’s work.
Jazz Performance Review: Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner at Home
To hear this performance properly. you must do a bit more work than you might do ordinarily . . . but great art deserves such work.
Jazz Special Feature: Chick Corea (1941-2021) — Memories and Impressions
Fuse critics pay homage to Chick Corea performances and recordings that they found memorable.
Music Profile: Violinist, Teacher, Composer, and Arranger Mimi Rabson — Making a Life in Art
The life of a working musician is not a second-class life, and Mimi Rabson’s is Exhibit A: “I try to get past the limits of the definitions and get to the joy.”
Arts Feature: Significant Jazz Experiences, 2020
The magazine’s jazz critics look back over the past year and highlight their favorites — performances, recordings, and books.
Jazz Appreciation/Album Review — Carla Bley, 84 and Counting
Carla Bley’s last three CDs are not a casual sequence, and hearing all of them together, as I did recently, provides a refreshing reminder of her greatness.
Jazz Review/Interview: Duncan Heining Revises His Landmark Biography of Jazz Composer George Russell
If you do not know George Russell, this book will bring you closer to one of the geniuses of American music.
Jazz Survey: Chordless Drills – A Listener’s Guide to the Saxophone Trio
Here is a personal selection of recordings in the saxophone trio format. These linear collaborations have been part of the jazz scene for at least seventy years now. The results are almost always illuminating and exhilarating, and a review of them offers a miniature history of saxophone styles.