The true jazz experience happens onstage in front of an audience—our concert and festival reviewers take you there.
Knoxville, Tenn.’s determinedly eclectic Big Ears Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary with a packed long weekend of boundary-stretching music from March 21 to 24. Rather … Read More “Live Review: Big Ears Festival 2019”
Black Mountain College was a noble experiment in progressive education that existed from 1933 until 1957. Its legacy is preserved in downtown Asheville, N.C., by … Read More “Live Review: Fresh Cut Orchestra Plays the Freedom Now Suite in North Carolina”
The 15th annual Winter Jazzfest in New York opened on Friday, Jan. 4 at Le Poisson Rouge with “Thing Called Life: Prince Reimagined,” a concert … Read More “Live Review: New York Winter Jazzfest 2019”
Helsinki in December looks ominous when your plane touches down. At noon, the world is dim in the fog. Black sky descends to the ground. … Read More “Live Review: We Jazz Festival in Helsinki, Finland”
There came an aha moment at the NEC Jazz Orchestra’s Dec. 6 concert in Jordan Hall that doubled as a reminder of why it was … Read More “Live Review: “Vanguard: The Music of Ran Blake” in Boston”
The Art Ensemble of Chicago in full cry, especially on a 50th-anniversary tour, is a powerful way to kick off a jazz festival. That said, … Read More “Live Review: 2018 JazzMi Jazz Festival”
The idea of the avant-garde has always been built around the shock of the new, the unceasing urge to push further, reinvent, or question what’s … Read More “Live Review: 2nd October Revolution in Philadelphia”
How to play a chord that feels like Toni Morrison writing, “I didn’t fall in love with you, I rose in it”? How to play … Read More “Live Review: Pérez, Cohen, Potter Quintet in Washington, D.C.”
Nicole Mitchell’s Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds, which her Black Earth Ensemble performed at the Pritzker Pavilion on the first day of the 2018 Chicago … Read More “Live Review: 2018 Chicago Jazz Festival”
