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Book Review: ‘The Heart Does Not Grow Back’ by Fred Venturini
The Heart Does Not Grow Back, the 2011 debut novel from Fred Venturini available in paperback from Picador November 4, begins as what would seem to be a realistic, almost conventional story of teenage...
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Music Review: Sergio Mendes –‘Magic’
Sergio Mendes, arguably the man most responsible creating the groundswell for Brazilian pop music and jazz in the U.S. back in the day (certainly one of the prime movers), makes his debut recording for...
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Music Review: Tony Scott –‘Tony Scott Lost Tapes Germany 1957/Asia 1962...
As the liner notes to the Jazzhaus release Tony Scott Lost Tapes Germany 1957/Asia 1962 point out, after a nine-month stint as music director for Harry Belafonte, in 1956 the clarinetist came out with...
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Theater Review (Broadway): ‘It’s Only a Play’ by Terrence McNally
Photographer: Bruce Glikas, © Broadway.com Given the importance of star power in Broadway success, it is little wonder that the updated revival of Terrence McNally’s It’s Only a Play is busily selling...
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Music Reviews: Phil Bowler & Pocket Jungle, Tim Ferguson Inside/Out, and...
Phil Bowler & Pocket Jungle – Phil Bowler & Pocket Jungle After a lapse of some 20 years Pocket Jungle, which began as a project for veteran bassist Phil Bowler, is back with a new album...
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Music Review: Frank Catalano and Jimmy Chamberlin –‘Love Supreme Collective’ EP
A Love Supreme, the brilliant John Coltrane hard bop suite, long the hallmark of avant-garde jazz at its creative peak, has been an inspiration to other artists almost from its inception. There have...
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Frankenstein, Dracula, and Eight More Early Tales of Terror for Halloween...
Celebrate Halloween with one or two of the earliest examples of the horror novel. Before there was an H. P. Lovecraft, before there was a Stephen King, there was: The Castle of Otranto by Horace...
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Music Review: Gabriel Espinosa and Hendrik Meurkens –‘Samba Little Samba’
Demonstrating yet once more after their initial successful collaboration on Celebrando that you don’t need to be a Brazilian to have an authentic feel for Brazilian jazz, Mexican bassist Gabriel...
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Music Reviews: Quartetto Di Lucca –‘Quartetto,’ Piero Umiliani –‘Da Roma a...
Two very interesting RCA Italiana jazz album reissues are due for release from Ishtar Records’ Schema Rearward label, both reflecting the far-reaching influence of the patently American genre. Both...
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Book Review: ‘Phantom Limb’ by Dennis Palumbo
Phantom Limb is the fourth in Dennis Palumbo’s Daniel Rinaldi mystery series, and if, like me, you haven’t yet read his first three efforts, number four is likely to whet your appetite. Rinaldi is a...
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Music Review: Wadada Leo Smith, Jaime Saft, Joe Morris, Balazs Pandi –‘Red Hill’
Much like avant-garde classical music, avant-garde jazz is not everyone’s cup of tea. It requires a special kind of sensibility both in the artist and in the audience. It is not easy to understand. It...
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Music DVD Review: ‘The Language of the Unknown: A Film About the Wayne...
When it comes to innovative jazz visionaries, 81-year-young Wayne Shorter may well be the leader of the pack. So the opportunity to see and hear the man himself, as well as the musicians he has...
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Music Review: Steve Heckman Quintet –‘Search For Peace’
For Search For Peace, saxophonist Steve Heckman’s latest album, he has resurrected the quintet team from his 2013 disc, Born To Be Blue, this time for a compact set filled primarily with compositions...
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Book Review: ‘Forest of Fortune’ by Jim Ruland
Perhaps my biggest disappointment with Jim Ruland’s debut novel Forest of Fortune is that it is not quite as good it could have been. There was so much promise: stylishly inventive prose that ranged...
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Music Reviews: Kelly Suttenfield, Kaoruko Pilkington, Nancy Kelly
Kelly Suttenfield – Among the Stars Among the Stars, a collection of mostly late 20th century tunes exotically reinterpreted, is the second album from hush-voiced chanteuse Kelly Suttenfield....
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Music Review: Jane Bunnett and Maqueque –‘Jane Bunnett and Maqueque’
Canadian mistress of the flute and saxophone, Jane Bunnett, continues her long love affair with Afro-Cuban music when she joins with Maqueque, an all-female Cuban sextet, in their self-titled September...
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