Steve Provizer

Jazz Appreciation: Rahsaan Roland Kirk — A Musical Force Field

August 8, 2020
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If there’s ever been a more distinctive jazz musician than Rahsaan Roland Kirk, you’ll have to prove it to me.

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Jazz Commentary: Ornette Coleman — An Outsider Cracks the Egg

July 28, 2020
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The final, ineluctable quality that Ornette Coleman brought to the table was that he had an individual “voice,” which is the sine qua non and preeminent ethos in jazz.

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Book Review: Ornette Coleman –The Life of a Jazz Visionary

July 27, 2020
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“Ornette was looking for those notes, the ones that feel no pain.”

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Jazz Album Review: “Ballads for Two — Chet Baker and Wolfgang Lackerschmid”

July 8, 2020
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The playing on this 1979 album, which would generally be considered as flawed, is part of the singular (mature) Chet Baker gestalt.

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Arts Commentary: The Music Biz — When Difficult Becomes Dire

June 15, 2020
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The advantage of localism enjoyed by a club down the block disappears in cyberspace.

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Jazz CD Review: Cory Smythe’s “Accelerate Every Voice” — Densely Layered; Simultaneously Music and Cryptic Puzzle

June 9, 2020
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This is virtuosity-driven chamber music with fluctuating levels of oxygen, shadows, and light.

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Jazz Commentary: Sinatra — Myth, Reality, and a Critic Standing in Line at Arby’s

May 21, 2020
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A review of the 60th anniversary reissue of Frank Sinatra’s album Nice ‘n’ Easy. Though not without a few rounds with the Sinatra mythology — not the complicated man, but his music.

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Television Review: “The Eddy” — Damien Chazelle and Jazz — Love/Hate or Hate/Love?

May 11, 2020
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One of the show’s impressive accomplishments is that its creators managed to find musicians who could act.

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Arts Commentary: A New Safety Net for Musicians?

May 8, 2020
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Are we seeing the birth of a competing union, one dedicated to mobilizing a generation of musicians whose needs aren’t being met by the American Federation of Musicians?

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Arts Commentary: The Late Annie Ross — An Appreciation

April 21, 2020
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Renowned singer and actress Annie Ross is urgently in need of financial assistance to pay for home care during this pandemic.

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