Author Archives: mlomanno
Nature Evolves toward the Beautiful: The Maria Schneider Orchestra at the Jazz Standard (November 28, 2014)
Every year the Maria Schneider Orchestra takes up residency at the Jazz Standard. This year they’re celebrating their 10th anniversary with an engagement that continues through November 30, 2014. I joined them on Friday, November 28th, for the 10pm set. The Orchestra began with “Dance You Monster to My Soft Song” from Evanescence, Schneider’s 1994 […]
Spring 2015 course preview – Traditional Musics of World Cultures
The course I’ll be teaching in the Spring 2015 semester, “Traditional Musics of World Cultures,” will feature a survey of world cultures and how people preserve, celebrate, and alter their traditions through music. Knowledge of and participation in traditions create senses of belonging and can be crucial sites of identity formation. While some view tradition as immutable and […]
Listening with Sympathetic Eyes: Sara Serpa and Ran Blake Live at the Kitano (June 6, 2014)
How appropriate that the Thursday night performance at the Kitano by Sara Serpa and Ran Blake began with “The Short Life of Barbara Monk”: the duo—still basking in the glow of their most recent and highly successful record Aurora—performed this Blake original as the first of many short vignettes, all characterized by subtle musicality and understated but unceasing […]
My Fall 2014 Courses at Swarthmore
This upcoming Fall I’ll be teaching two exciting, brand new courses at Swarthmore College. They’re open to all students on campus, as well as students at Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and some students at the University of Pennsylvania. (Swarthmore music majors or minors can receive credit in the Music Program for these programs with the completion of […]
A belated happy 1st birthday to TRoS & the best 2013 jazz albums I (haven’t yet) heard
Such is the life of full-time professor who blogs part-time: lesson plans, class prep, and grading always come before new posts (the numerous half-drafted entries notwithstanding). I have been so immersed in grant applications, freelance academic writing, but most especially my majors-level jazz theory & improv course that I even forgot to mark the one-year […]
Concert Review…Celebrating Cecil at the Painted Bride
At the Painted Bride Saturday night (March 8th), five titans of improvised music gathered in honor of their friend, colleague, and mentor Cecil Taylor in anticipation of the pianist’s upcoming 85th birthday. The performance was the first of three concerts—billed as the “Still the New Thing” Festival—which saxophonist Bobby Zankel is curating. In his program notes […]
Album review…Mara Rosenbloom Quartet, “Songs from the Ground” (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2013)
Pianist Mara Rosenbloom suffuses artistic vision into each musical gesture—each corner and crevice—of her recent release, Songs from the Ground. The album’s cover art shows her audience in simple and poignant terms the foundation for her music—roots. More specifically, the cover art shows the roots of an orchid, photographed by childhood friend and long-time collaborator […]
Considering the Approach before the Aesthetics: Vijay Iyer’s Research and Writings on Jazz
As a recently announced recipient of both the MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius Grant” and a professorship at Harvard University, pianist Vijay Iyer is commanding a level of public attention seldom witnessed among those in the jazz world. The attention has drawn praise and ire, with opinions ranging from extolling his virtues to questioning not just his […]
Album review…Nick Finzer, “Exposition” (Outside In, 2013)
Earlier this year, trombonist Nick Finzer released his debut album, Exposition, a compelling opening statement for the beginning of his recording career and an enticing introduction to the subsequent albums that will surely follow. Featuring a cohesive group of young musicians with strong individual skills, Exposition comes together around the strength of Finzer’s compositions and […]
The Rhythm of Study 