71 stories by "Steve Elman"
In nearly 78 minutes of intensely concentrated playing, Jane Ira Bloom's album offers some of the greatest ballad performances I have ever heard.
Brian Carpenter and the Ghost Train Orchestra are not about re-creating either hot jazz from the '20s or novelty works from the '30s and '40s. They're interested in capturing the spirit that…
Peter Pullman deplores (without bathos) the wreckage of Bud Powell's life and mourns (without tears) the consequent loss of so much masterful music. And his story of Powell's life is even gr…
The Conservatory's Contemporary Improvisation program is one of the best things we have in New England music, and if you've lived for any length of time in the Boston area without attending …
Dave Holland's Prism tells stories, several of which are very effective. Scofield's, like his earlier Ãœberjam releases, extends the jam-band esthetic into jazz without completely giving i…
Ramsey's book on Bud Powell is both a provocative read and a disappointing one. Anyone thinking this will be an illuminating portrait of a jazz master is likely to suffer a serious case of b…
The SF Jazz Collective seems to embody a generosity of spirit reflecting the vibe of its home base.
The Druid, one of Ireland's most celebrated stage companies, undertook the project to celebrate Tom Murphy's work and to make the case for him as one of the world's leading living playwright…
Mark Harvey and the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra: It's hard to remember what the Boston jazz community was like before Harvey came along. In fact, the term "jazz community" would have seemed far-…
Honesty is Best Policy Disclosure: I was in the hall to hear Mostly Other People Do the Killing. I'd heard the band on CD, and I knew that the only way I could appreciate them fully was to a…
If you're a Gil Evans devotee, or even a casual appreciator, have I got good news for you: Ryan Truesdell's Centennial, more than 70 minutes of Evans that we never thought we'd hear, 10 tune…
It's a worthy effort "- and, as a listener, how many times will you have the chance for real adventure inside a concert hall?
Like other great artists "- Martha Argerich and Steve Lacy come to mind right away -- pianist Kirill Gerstein approaches every note with a sense of how important that note is in relation to …
When the jazz composer is the soloist, which is usually the case, he or she ironically revives one of the most venerable traditions in classical music.
Chick Corea's "The Continents: Concerto for Jazz Quintet and Chamber Orchestra" is filled with tuneful melody, shows off some superb playing by the soloists, breaks new ground in a number of…
Art with a capital A has been put on such a pedestal that Craft with a capital C has been downgraded to a shabby or rustic sort of activity of which the practitioner should be a little asham…
So Jason Moran has decided to re-create something that is already a pinnacle of a master's work "- something that could hardly be improved on. You could be expected to ask Why? and How?
Boston Conservatory's New Music Festival is inspiring a series of commentaries from Fuse Jazz Critic Steve Elman. Here is his third installment, which focuses on Gunther Schuller, who has in…
Boston Conservatory's New Music Festival is inspiring a series of critical and speculative commentaries from Fuse Jazz Critic Steve Elman. Here is the first.
The Steve Kuhn - Sheila Jordan partnership has been one of the luckiest things ever to happen to either of them, or for us as listeners.
In effect, "Playing for the Planet" is an open-ended floating world music festival featuring performers from New England.
