Tag Archives: Reviews
Album review…Shirley Horn, “Live at the 4 Queens” (Resonance Records, 2016)
Resonance Records continues its spate of stellar historical albums with a previously unreleased live recording of the late pianist/vocalist Shirley Horn and her long-standing trio, bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams. The set, recorded at the 4 Queens Hotel in Las Vegas, occurred the day after Horn’s 54th birthday during a year in which she […]
One More Once: Echoes of Past Futures and Inaugurating Redress in the New Term(s)
“When children grow up, where does the hope go? Is it outgrown like a pair of shoes or has it gone to sleep? Or is it lost somewhere inside of us?” – William Parker Because of an early start to the Spring 2017 semester, I missed the superb Winter Jazz Fest this year, following from […]
Book review…Tsitsi Ella Jaji, “Africa in Stereo: Modernism, Music, and Pan-African Solidarity”
My review of Tsitsi Ella Jaji’s excellent new book was just published in Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute. I’ll post a pdf to my academia.edu page soon, but until then, here’s the complete text and citation. Mark Lomanno. 2016. “Book Review. Africa in Stereo: Modernism, Music, and Pan-African Solidarity. By Tsitsi Elli Jaji.” […]
Book review…Oxford Series in Recorded Jazz
My review of the first five books of the Oxford Series of Recorded Jazz was just published in the journal Twentieth-Century Music. The complete text (with hyperlinks added) is below and available on my academia.edu site as published. Here’s the proper citation: Mark Lomanno. “Oxford Series in Recorded Jazz.” Twentieth-Century Music vol. 12, no. 2 (September 2015): 279-285. […]
Review…’The Amazing Bud Powell’ by Guthrie Ramsey
[This review was published in the journal Jazz Perspectives (vol. 8, no. 1). Download a copy from my academia.edu webpage. -ML] The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop. By Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0520243910 (hardcover). 240 pp. $34.95. In The Amazing Bud Powell: Black […]
Polyphonies of Art and Action: Samuel Torres Premieres “Forced Displacement”at Zinc Bar
On Wednesday, August 12, 2015, conguero and composer Samuel Torres premiered his new recording, Forced Displacement (Zoho Records), at Zinc Bar in the West Village. As he explained in his introduction to the audience, the album is just one aspect of an ongoing project in San Juan de Urabá, Colombia, which will include a documentary […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Rhythm of Study 