Jordan Bak, a marvelous young violist, helped remind us that 20th-century American composers kept audiences in mind even as they created original, boundary-breaking concert music.
Read More »Jon Sobel
Music Review: Various Artists – ‘Jesus Rocked the Jukebox: Small Group Black Gospel 1951-1965’
Concord Music assembled this blast of classic gospel from the 1950s and '60s expressly to show the direct and multifaceted influence of gospel music on secular soul and rock 'n' roll. In addition to its historical and musicological interest, it's pure enjoyment any old way (but if you have a record player, get the 3-LP vinyl edition.)
Read More »Concert Review: Camille O’Sullivan Sings Jacques Brel (NYC, Oct 19 2017)
The Irish-French chanteuse strikes a teetering balance between a kaleidoscope of rocky personal emotional and an homage to a great inspiration.
Read More »Theater Review (NYC): ‘Am I Dead?’ by Kevin R. Free
The playwright had the brave idea of hanging emblematic tales of black men's struggles on the trellis of the ancient Egyptian myths of Isis and Osiris.
Read More »Book Review: ‘The Writing on the Wall: Rediscovering New York City’s “Ghost Signs”‘ by Ben Passikoff
Faded painted signs from times past linger on the sides of Manhattan's buildings, advertising everything from theaters to hosiery, meat markets to hotels, stables to department stores. Ben Passikoff's big, crisp photos of these relics preserve a vanishing history of industry in New York.
Read More »Concert Review: Joe Bonamassa (Beacon Theatre, NYC, 21 Sep 2017)
Not since Stevie Ray Vaughan has a true-blue blues guitarist captured a mainstream audience the way Bonamassa has.
Read More »Music Reviews: Brian Lisik and the Unfortunates – ‘We’re Sorry…’ and Thor Platter – ‘Take Time’
Straight-ahead but rough-edged and with quirky lyrics, Lisik's songs are self-aware with a sometimes tongue-in-cheek attitude but nonetheless soaked in real feeling.
Read More »Concert Review: Sonnambula – ‘Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Musician in Paris’ (NYC, 14 Sept 2017)
The early music ensemble Sonnambula opened its 'Women's Voices' season with music by an innovative 17th-century French woman composer.
Read More »Theater Review (NYC): ‘YŌKAI: Remedy for Despair’ from The Krumple
A witty and soulful amalgam of physical theater, clowning, dance, magic, and miniatures, this U.S. premiere from the Oslo-Paris physical theater ensemble presents a series of atmospheric vignettes on themes both tragic and comic, sad and romantic.
Read More »Music Review: Victor Wooten, Bob Franceschini, Dennis Chambers – ‘Trypnotyx’
As expected on a Wooten project, this new jazz-funk-fusion album seethes with virtuosity. But every track also drips with fun.
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